WIFF Local

Festival Dates - OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 2, 2025
WIFF is delighted to support and promote the talents of our local filmmakers.

1. OBJECTIVES:
WIFF is a not-for-profit charitable organization enriching audiences across Windsor-Essex and Greater Detroit by showcasing Canadian, local, and international feature films of artistic and cultural significance. As part of its mandate, WIFF is committed to promoting and fostering local films and filmmakers. The 48-hour FlickFest, for example, was initiated as a vehicle for local emerging film artists to showcase their talents. WIFF also supports Windsor-Essex filmmakers by welcoming short and feature film submissions for programming consideration to the core festival. Films will be selected based on quality and originality and their ability to contribute significantly to the overall success of WIFF 2025.

2. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Feature films 70 mins and above, as well as Short films 20 mins and below will be considered for programming. Exceptionally, films in the 21 min to 69 min range may be considered as well.

Eligible Short Films for the Best Short Film Prize must be 20 mins or less.

3. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
i) The film must be a premiere screening for Windsor-Essex that has not been:
(a) screened commercially, publicly at festivals or in theatres, or broadcasted in Southwestern Ontario before December 3rd, 2025,
(b) made available to stream publicly anywhere on the internet before November 3, 2025
ii) At least one of the producers, writers, directors, and/or lead actors must be a current resident of Windsor-Essex,
iii) One film representative must attend the screening and be available for a post-screening Q + A and/or panel discussion.
iv) Entry Format: Films with commentary or dialogue in languages other than English must be subtitled in English for consideration. Preview copies of entries must be submitted on filmfreeway.com with a password protected/or private Vimeo or YouTube link that is available until the notification date.
v) The film must have a completion date after August 2, 2024.

4. DEADLINE: The submission deadline is Monday, July 21, 2025.
Early submission is recommended. Late entries will not be considered.

5. SELECTION:
(i)An independent jury of film professionals will select all ‘Local’ films presented at the festival.
(ii) The WIFF programming committee schedules films and reserves the right to make changes and/or amendments to the selection process for any unforeseen situation not covered by these guidelines.
(iii) If your film is accepted, you must provide your film to WIFF in a Presentation Format as specified by WIFF upon acceptance by September 5, 2025.
PRESENTATION FORMAT: If selected for official programming.
- While not yet mandatory, the inclusion of Closed Captioning is preferred and will become mandatory in future years.
- Digital submission via dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Drive, Cinesend, etc.
- No physical media will be accepted.
- Professionally authored DCPs are accepted, but digital file submission is preferred
- VIDEO:
- Resolutions Accepted: 1920x1080; 1998x1080; 2048x858
- Formats Accepted: ProRes; .mov; High-quality H.264 MP4;
- 50 minimum bitrate, 2 Pass if possible
- AUDIO
- Stereo audio is perfectly acceptable
- 5.1 splits preferred if available
- 5.1 Audio layout:
- 1 - Left (Front)
- 2 - Right (Front)
- 3 - Centre (Front)
- 4 - LFE
- 5 - Left Surround (Rear)
- 6 - Right Surround (Rear)

6. NOTIFICATION:
Filmmakers selected to participate in WIFF “Local” 2025 will be notified by the notification date listed on FilmFreeway.

7. SUBMISSION MATERIAL AND PROCEDURE:
Please submit your application, application fee, and a private, secure, password-protected link to submission through FilmFreeway.