Through Women's Eyes International Film Festival

Welcome to Reel Equals International Film Festival, a production of Through Women's Eyes in beautiful Sarasota, Florida! Our signature 27th annual festival, Reel Equals, is March 5-10, 2026, and we supplement this with year-round Pop-Up film showings. We are a mission-driven festival, dedicated to supporting upcoming women filmmakers and films that address issues inadequately represented in the mainstream media. We are an international festival, and every year we host significant numbers of films from all over the world.

We frequently select films that go on to commercial success (RBG), publicize the work of voices that need to be heard (Nobel Prize Winner Nadia Murad), and remind the world about issues that need more attention (violence as an act of war in the DRC featuring Nobel Prize Winner Dennis Mukwege).

In 2021, our festival successfully launched on a virtual platform, resulting in our most successful festival yet, with viewers from 38 U.S. states and 13 countries. In 2026, our films will be shown in three ways: in person at theaters in Sarasota (March 5-10, 2026); on our virtual, on-demand platform for a global audience (March 5-10, 2026); and in select, invitation-only settings throughout the calendar year.

PLEASE READ OUR SUBMISSION CRITERIA WITH CARE

We actively seek films that showcase efforts to bring about gender equality, important social themes and current events, films that reflect the LGBTQ+ experience, and films that reflect the full diversity of the globe. We are looking for films that illuminate women's universal experiences and we welcome films from any country. All of our films must be captivating and, if there's some humor, that never hurts!

We accept films:
- made by anyone identifying as female or non-binary; or
- made by any filmmaker whose films focus on women's stories, interests. and lives.

We strongly encourage selected filmmakers to attend our in-person festival; it is a great opportunity to publicize the film, answer questions from the audience, and participate in our receptions and panel discussions with other filmmakers. We have a very engaged base of supporters who host filmmakers and appreciate the entire weekend.

Our organization, Through Women's Eyes, is a non-profit gender equality and advocacy organization.