Mississauga is a big city filled with dynamic, creative people with big personalities, big ideas and big ambitions. The City of Mississauga is hosting the Our Future City Short Film Competition where people can express these big ideas for the future and watch them unfold on the big screen in their community.

If you live, work, play or learn in Mississauga, you’re invited to submit a short film (up to 5 minutes in length!) that tells your story of the future of Mississauga. Showcase your filmmaking talent to the City and industry professionals and help build the cinematic story of Canada’s sixth-largest municipality!

Winning films will be screened at a City-led film event organized with Hot Docs, on November 2, 2019 at the Noel Ryan Auditorium (Central Library) in Mississauga. Winners will have an opportunity to meet honoured guests, network with industry professionals and receive a variety of prizes including Hot Docs festival passes and vouchers for filmmaking workshops provided by Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) and Charles Street Video.

* Open to professional and non-professional filmmakers

* Entrants must be 14 years of age or older and be residents of Canada

* To be eligible, films must envision the future of Mississauga in terms of everyday experiences, local matters or urban aspirations

* Films cannot be longer than 5 minutes (including credits)

The City of Mississauga’s Our Future City Short Film Competition is part of an initial conversation with the community on the City’s Official Plan Review. The Official Plan guides future growth in the city and contains policies on the social, economic, cultural, natural and built environments. The review will consider the changing needs, opportunities and aspirations of the community.

The Official Plan Review will take place over the next couple of years. There will be many opportunities for the public to get involved. For more information about the City’s Official Plan Review, visit mississauga.ca/portal/residents/mississaugaofficialplan.

Awards & Prizes

Best Film Award
* Awarded to the best overall film by a filmmaker 18 years and older
* Donated by Hot Docs, the winner will receive 2 Industry Networking and Conference passes to the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival (www.hotdocs.ca) in Toronto (April 30 – May 10, 2020)

Unique Vision Award
* Awarded to the most creative film by a filmmaker 18 years and older
* Donated by Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), the winner will receive a voucher to be used for a LIFT (lift.ca) filmmaking workshop of their choosing

Film Chops Award
* Awarded to the most technically accomplished film by a filmmaker 18 years and older
* Donated by Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), the winner will receive a voucher to be used for a LIFT (lift.ca) filmmaking workshop of their choosing

Future Filmmaker Award
* Awarded to the best overall film by a filmmaker younger than 18 years
* Donated by Charles Street Video, the winner will receive unlimited access to filmmaking workshops for a year with the Workshop Membership from Charles Street Video (charlesstreetvideo.com)

Rules & Terms

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To be eligible for this Competition, entrants must be legal residents of Canada and be at least 14 years of age at the time of the public announcement of the Competition on Wednesday, September 4th 2019.

To enter, entrants must create a FilmFreeway profile and submit their film through the Our Future City Short Film Competition FilmFreeway page. Films must be submitted in digital format (MOV, AVI, MPG, MP4).

The Competition shall run between Wednesday, September 4th 2019 and Mondau, October 21, 2019 at 5:00pm EST, (the “Submission Period”) after which time no further entries will be accepted.

Upon completion of the Submission Period, films shall be pre-screened to determine eligibility for consideration in the Competition, based on the following criteria:

* Films adhere to the themes: films must envision the future of Mississauga in terms of everyday experiences, local matters or urban aspirations
* Films do not have a running time of greater than 5 minutes (including credits)
* Films do not portray, infer or illustrate foul language, violence and racist, sexist, homophobic or degrading content

Eligible films will be eligible for prizes awarded in various categories. Films will be scored by a jury comprised of City of Mississauga staff, following the judging criteria found in the supplementary Rules and Regulations document below.

The films selected for the Best Film Award, Unique Vision Award, Film Chops Award, and Future Filmmaker Award will be screened at Our Future City: A Film Event Presented by the City of Mississauga and Hot Docs, taking place on Saturday, November 2, 2019 (11:00am – 8:15pm EST) at the Noel Ryan Auditorium in Mississauga. The screening of the selected films will occur at 4:00pm – 5:00pm. The 4 award-winning filmmakers will receive their prizes upon the screening of their films. Depending on the volume and quality of submissions, the jury may select additional films they deem to be worthy of honourable mention. These films may also be screened during the aforementioned time slot if time allows it.

Entrants grant the City the right to use the films for public presentation, promotion and education. For the purposes of public presentation, promotion and education, all entries will be identified as follows: “Provided courtesy of the filmmaker and the City of Mississauga”.

Depending on the volume and quality of submissions, the City reserves the right to upload and present award-winning films, as well as other noteworthy films from the pool of eligible entries, on the City’s social media channels. Entries selected for presentation will be kept by the City and archived for controlled use as reference material.

For further information, prizing details and judging criteria, please see: https://www7.mississauga.ca/documents/Business/Contest_Rules_-_Our_Future_City_-_Short_Film_Competition.pdf