New York City's Winter Film Awards (WFA) is a volunteer-run and operated celebration of the diversity of local and international film-making. Our Mission is to recognize excellence in cinema and to promote learning and artistic expression for people at all stages of their artistic careers with a focus on nurturing emerging filmmakers and helping them gain recognition and contacts to break into this difficult industry. We pride ourselves on our diverse collection of Festival selections, allowing our audience to enjoy films they normally wouldn’t think to seek out.
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COVID-19 NOTICE: Winter in September? Winter Film Awards is dedicated to hosting a live in-person event and we have decided to wait until New York City reopens for our 10th anniversary Festival. Tentative dates for WFA21 are September 23-October 2.
No one can be sure what the world will be like by next summer; we do not know if our venues will be open, we do not know if our sponsors will still be available, we do not know if people will be able or willing to go out. Due to the uncertainty, we have cut our submission fees in half and have extended the submission period.
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Now in its tenth year, the rapidly growing Festival showcases the work of emerging filmmakers from around the world. For the 2020 Festival, 79 films from 27 countries were screened, including an eclectic mix of Animated films, Documentaries, Feature narratives, Horror films, Music Videos, Narrative shorts and Web series, including 21 first-time filmmakers. 50% of the films were created by women, 53% were created by or about people of color.
Works of all genres, forms, and lengths are considered. All selected films are screened at Cinema Village, NYC's top indie cinema in the heart of Greenwich Village. The Festival includes ten days of film screenings, educational panels, professional development workshops and industry networking after-parties, which will conclude with a glittering awards ceremony .
Outstanding work will be awarded for each category, along with Best Director, Best Actor/Actress, Outstanding Woman Director, Best Student Film and the NY PERSPECTIVES Award for best depiction of the New York multi-cultural experience.
Winter Film Awards International Film Festival is an IMDB-qualifying festival.
Like many of the great film Festivals across the country and the world, WFA seeks to bring our audience compelling and unique content that inspires the viewers and honors the filmmakers. There are hundreds of film festivals in New York City; what makes us different is our intense focus on a bias-free submissions review, the variety of our films and helping new filmmakers reach what may be their first real audience.
WFA is a minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We work with all local NYC film schools, colleges, arts high schools and many cultural societies.
Over $75,000 in Swag, Prizes & Distribution Opportunities! Winners will receive prizes and distribution opportunities on various platforms and more!
Previous year's prizes have included distribution services, a $5k Tag Heuer wristwatch, a DJI drone, one-week theatrical run at a NYC theater, tons of software and equipment and more!
Winter Film Awards is dedicated to helping emerging filmmakers get recognition and press -- we work to ensure our films get written articles, video promos and red carpet interviews. We create an SEO enhanced page on our website for each accepted film, written reviews for all films over 20 minutes and tons of on camera interviews.
