*Please Note: We are an IMDb qualifying event. Also, since June 2018 all nominated films will be provided with soundbite reviews during our announcement period.

The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards is an awards body dedicated to independent film. With competitions every two months and a changing judge panel of film critics, actors and filmmakers working within the industry, we dedicate ourselves to awarding films based on their originality and creativity, whilst considering their budget restrictions.

We consider production limitations as part of what allows us to judge your creativity and originality. In our opinion, an independent film shot for a shoestring budget should not need to compete with one produced on a larger independent budget for the best prize.
Likewise, we believe that all films competing should have the opportunity to enter just the main competition, or other categories.

Our main competition is divided into budget groupings split across various media forms: short films, feature films, web-series and our scriptwriting competition. Within these three production categories we separate the projects by their budgets: under $5,000, between $5,000-$10,000, and over $10,000.

When submitting your project you automatically enter the ‘Other Categories’ competition. All films in these areas are judged on an equal level regardless of length or budget constraints. For a complete and up-to-date list of our categories, please visit our site.

The script competition for unproduced material is split into three categories: best genre piece, best technique, and best micro budget material.

The Music Video competition for released videos is split into three categories: best cinematography, best editing, and best music video.

The production competition, which focuses on 'greenlighting' super short micro budget films, operates individually from The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards. For further details regarding how this competition works, please visit our website.

All selected participants within the main competition will be considered for the Jury Prizes. No films will be selected for our competition without a specific nomination.

For an extended review of your film or webseries, please enter Review Project. The reviews average around 300 words each. We are currently unable to provide reviews for unproduced scripts.

Entries to Horrors4You categories are considered separate from The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards, and will be published and part of the Horrors4You Awards body - though this is our sister awards body and all terms and announcement dates are the same. Please visit Horrors4You's website - https://horrors4you.com/ - for more details of that award category.

Awards & Prizes

A detailed review of around 150 words in total will be written for the Jury winning film(s) on our website. All films entered into the competition will be considered for this award by the jury.

Laurels will be provided to all winning films of the main competition, as well as a 100 word (approx.) review on our site.

All nominated films, and 'Other Categories' winners, will receive at least a 10-word note about their projects and achievements.

All selected projects are nominated projects. Nomination laurels will be provided for nominated films. All laurels can be accessed on our site.

Only four scripts will be awarded in the script competition. There will be a maximum of five runners-up for this competition.

Rules & Terms

Please submit the film digitally through FilmFreeway exclusively. We do not accept hard copies due to our changing judging panel.

All selections are final and no correspondence can be entered into. The judging panel is mostly independent of the selection committee, making their voting entirely independent of one another.

There are no public screenings for our film awards, so that we do not affect your other submissions or premiere status.

You may have multiple entries and submit to multiple categories, but each entry and submission must have its own submission fee.

Submissions in a language other than English must have subtitles. Works in progress are accepted.

Press kits are not required for our site. In the instance of errors and/or inconsistencies, this page may be updated without notice - please contact us if there are any issues which you have noticed (contact email can be located on our FilmFreeway listing).

Entry fees are non-refundable. Projects can be from any of the last five years (production having been completed by December 2012). Entry Fees are in $USD.

As of June 2018 we no longer provide interviews for winning Jury films.

Terms and conditions pertaining to our production competition are outlined on our website. http://themonkeybreadtree.com/about-filmsbytmbt/

LAST UPDATED - 9th June 2018 - Revised details of festival. Entries are subject to their festival type dependent upon entry period.
214 Reviews
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  • Álvaro Beltrán Janés

    It is a great satisfaction to be part of a festival that from the very beginning transmits its commitment to filmmakers. You only have to see how they communicate through their website to see that they make a difference.

    December 2024
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  • Heesh Daddy

    Thanks so much for my win for Curry Sauce Ninja 2024 and my win for War Criminal 2022. Two times winning awards in this festival makes me think that your jury is comprised of really clever and artistic people : )

    December 2024
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  • Brian Gregory

    A very constructive and erudite set of feedback from the team. Definitely worth entering.

    June 2024
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  • Rachel Saunders

    So tremendously grateful to Monkey Bread Tree for their nominations. Absolutely right that Bear Thompson should have been recognised for her amazing performance in Terrible and given the prize for Best Actress, so thank you for that. And thank you for appreciating the screenplay enough to award that too! Communication with TMBT Film Awards team has been excellent and the whole experience went far beyond the admission fee. Thank you!

    June 2024
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  • William Mullins

    Thanks for your efforts! The communication has been clear from members of the event team.

    June 2024
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