Eligibility:
01. All submissions must be made through FilmFreeway
02. Films of all genres and styles are welcome as long as they align with the specific categories of The Reel Review International Film Festival
03. Submissions must be the original work of the applicant(s) and must not infringe upon any third-party copyrights or trademarks
04. Films that have been publicly available online for free are not eligible.
05. Submissions may not contain any defamatory or illegal content. Other than this, we're open to reviewing your work.
06. The filmmaker retains full ownership and copyright of his/her film/submission
07. By submitting, the filmmaker grants The Reel Review International Film Festival the right to screen their film and use promotional materials for marketing purposes
08. Films found to contain plagiarized content or violate submission guidelines will be disqualified without a refund
09. Each month's officially selected submissions will be screened online each month. The winning submissions of all months of the year will be voted on and only the top-performing, top-voted films will be selected for a screening at a physical venue (details are announced each January). We wish you an amazing journey and we will be approach each selected submission with respect and careful attention
Don't forget:
+ Our team will be reviewing your work, therefore we will select the works which professionally qualify and whose messages we feel inspired to review.
+ The festival is not responsible for any claims, liabilities, or disputes arising from submitted works
Reminder:
A. If your film submission is accepted, we will provide you with a detailed critique of your film as well as personalized videos by actual viewers of your works
B. If your film submission is not accepted, we will provide a shortlist of reasons why. Remember: a shortlist. We know how valuable this is.
C. If your submission is not accepted in the month you submit it, then you will know the reasons why, have the opportunity to fix it, and resubmit in a later month with its appropriate fees. We absolutely know the value of this, too! Most festivals do not do this but we founded The Reel Review International Film Festival specifically on this very point - that we know how valuable feedback is if a film is accepted and especially if a film is not. It will be up to you, each filmmaker, to accept or reject those suggested changes and then execute them, and then resubmit in another month.
Submission Period:
+ The Reel Review International Film Festival accepts submissions on a monthly rolling basis. Submissions open on the 1st of each month and close on the last day of the same month. Films submitted after the deadline will be considered for the next month’s competition
Categories:
Best Director: Recognizing outstanding direction
Best Drama: Honoring compelling narrative storytelling
Best Music Video: Celebrating creativity and innovation in music video production.
Best Short Film: Highlighting short-form storytelling (under 30 minutes)
Film Length Guidelines:
Mini Short: 1min to 5min
Short Film: 6min to 39min
Episodic Film: 40min to 59min
Feature Length Film: 60min and up
Documentary: 120min max
Music-Video: 10 min max
Under the Mini Short, Short Film, Episodic Film, and Feature-Length Film categories are the following sub-categories:
Drama
Romance
Social Awareness
Psychological
Suspense
Fantasy
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Original Music
Under the Music Video category are the following sub-categories:
Best Song
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Director
Best Concept
Fees:
Each submission must be accompanied by its own appropriate entry fee Entry fees are non-refundable Discounts may be accepted only during promotional periods with appropriate discount codes
Language:
All films (including English) must include embedded English subtitles Check to make sure subtitles are free of mistakes attention to such tiny details is evidence for your audience evidence of how much care went into your work
Required Materials:
+ A completed FilmFreeway submission form with confirmed paid fee
+ A secure, high-quality screener link (private Vimeo or unlisted YouTube preferred). We do not accept GoogleDrive, DropBox, MediaFire, or any other version that requires us to download the video we will not download video but will only watch it on a streaming platform such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc)
+ Screeners must be a minimum of 720p
+ Screeners must contain embedded English subtitles even for English-speaking film
Your FilmFreeway profile must contain a director/producer statement, names of actors/actresses and their corresponding characters, promotional stills, and posters. Your submission will not be accepted without them
Multiple Entries:
Filmmakers may submit multiple films across multiple categories, but each film and submission must be entered separately with its own entry fee
Reminder: all submissions must be made through FilmFreeway
Judging
Films will be evaluated by a panel of industry professionals and festival curators.
Judging criteria include originality, storytelling, technical excellence, and alignment with the category.
Notification
Selected films will be notified by email. Winning films for each category will be announced on our website.
Awards and Prizes
Winners in each category will receive:
A custom festival trophy or certificate
Official laurels
Promotion on the festival’s social media and website
Opportunities for interviews and networking within the film community
Ownership and Rights
+ The filmmaker retains full ownership and copyright of their film
+ By submitting, the filmmaker grants The Reel Review International Film Festival the right to screen their film and use promotional materials for marketing purposes.
Disqualification
Films found to contain plagiarized content or violate submission guidelines will be disqualified without a refund.
Screening
Selected films will be screened online or at a physical venue (details will be announced each month).
Liability
The festival is not responsible for any claims, liabilities, or disputes arising from submitted works.
