Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago

The Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago is a theatrical screening event in Chicago for independent films featuring female filmmakers, actors, directors, writers and producers from all over the world. This is an amazing opportunity to showcase the talent of female directors, writers, actors, and everything in between right here in one of the world's fastest-growing film communities. The Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago also recognizes exceptional filmmaking and screenwriting with awards and nominations by our judging panel. Submit your film if you meet AT LEAST ONE of the following requirements:

Female Director
Female Writer
Female Producer
Female Lead Actor
All-Female Cast
Female-Centered Plot

Script writers, in addition to submitting your script to the festival we also provide optional script coverage. Script coverage with our festival includes the price of your submission fee. Your work will be analyzed by a Cinema Life filmmaker who’s produced award-winning films, has extensive writing experience, and also understands the indie way of filmmaking.

Best Comedy
Best Mockumentry
Best Political Comedy
Best Television Pilot Episode
Best Dark Comedy
Best Music Video
Best LGBTQ Comedy
Best Animated Short
Best Short Screenplay
Best Feature Length Screenplay
Best Television Episode Screenplay
Best Director
Best Cinematography

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

• Please fully fill out your submission profile to avoid hold-ups in the judging process.

**** Submission fees are non refundable.****

• If you submit a Film in process and it gets selected, please notice we expect it to be completed within two weeks after the Notification Date. Otherwise, it will be disqualified. No exceptions. It is every submitter's responsibility to read the Rules and Terms of each Festival before submitting.

• If your film is selected you are not to submit any other updated, altered version of your film. If you send a film that is different from or longer than what was initially selected by the festival judging team, your film may be disqualified to the discretion of the festival director.

• If your film is selected, you are expected to provide a link to download your film so that we can project it at the festival. Only Google Drive and Dropbox are accepted. You can also make your film downloadable on FilmFreeway or Vimeo.

• All films must be under 4GB and 1080HD Max in either MP4 or MOV format.

• We do not accept DCP files.

• We do not screen 720p or SD Files.

• We do not stream from YouTube or Vimeo at the event.

• The Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival and for promotional purposes on our website, newsletter, and social media platforms. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations. The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless The Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

• The Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago DOES NOT offer refunds on submissions.

• We reserve the right to deny entry or disqualify any project, at the discretion of festival leadership, for any reason.

Overall Rating

Quality

Value

Communication

Hospitality

Networking

Kristen McCabe

When I started the festival submission process, this was number one on my list, and upon acceptance, I was absolutely delighted by the process and in-person festival experience.

To start, the communication and care for filmmakers was wonderful. While I'm not proud to admit that I missed including a required element for the submission, it's worth sharing, because the Women's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago actually took the time to reach out, let us know, and get our materials in in time to be selected.

From the moment we arrived at the festival, we were welcomed with a smile and a personal greeting.

Most of all, I cannot speak highly enough about the sense of community that was created from a one day festival. My team and I walked in only knowing each other, and left with friends that I can't wait to collaborate with in the future. It may have been a competition, but the event's atmosphere was so incredibly supportive - the perfect place for women in comedy to take risks, share our work, and feel the comradery and celebration of showing our work to each other.

I truly loved attending this festival and am so thankful to have been a part of it - cannot wait for next year! :)

October 2022

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Vanessa Powers

This festival is definitely cool - I love a festival celebrating women in comedy, but I felt their sister festival in Atlanta did a bit more with Social Media and communication. I was hoping for more of that in its Midwest counterpart.

July 2022

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Emilie Svensson

I wholeheartedly support women in film, women in comedy and women overall, but speaking truthfully, this was the most unorganized festival experience I've ever had. The lack of communication and accommodation from the people running the festival led to our film's disqualification. The first email claimed that there was an error with our video file, (I've never received that comment before from any other festival after being accepted), and the file was openly listed and downloadable with the submission link from Vimeo. After this was resolved through quick email explanation, my team and I received NO further communication other than a disqualification email. After reaching out to explain that my team members and I have not heard anything more after the initial acceptance, (including checking our spam filters), the festival did not take any ownership of the miscommunication, and did not pursue any other accommodation. This was entirely unprofessional, and their lack of experience is proven as they have only been running for two years. This festival is a scam.

July 2022

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Response from festival:

Hi Emilie, you were disqualified because you did not accept your official selection as instructed in your welcome email. We give all filmmakers several weeks to do so, and because we received zero respond to multiple emails, we replaced your project with a film whose team was incredibly excited to be part of our festival. Calling our festival a scam is incredibly hurtful and damaging to our mission to promote women in film. I am sorry that your lack of communication and professionalism led to this result but our festival is not to blame for your failure to respond to emails.
Kate Alden

Great festival, thanks for having us!

July 2022

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Nathalie Galde

Such a valuable experience and quality feedback. Not to mention the energy in the room, getting to be in the company of such talented and generous actors, writers, producers, creators. The whole thing was abuzz. There's nothing quite like having your words lifted off the page by your peers, getting to experience your own work through someone else's point of view. Thank you for making the space for Dick's Everywhere.

July 2022

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