*** World Premiere is IMDb recognized and a top level California Film Festival that awards in multiple categories for a single entry fee! ***
It takes many talented people to make an excellent film but you can't afford to pay an entry fee for each member of your team!
We also want to level the playing field and provide an equal platform for all entries. To do this, we group films based on length and budget. Films with similar length and budget are evaluated together. So we do ask that you provide an approximate budget for your short or feature film.
We guarantee your project will be seen and judged fairly.

All winners will receive a beautiful WPFA certificate that you can be proud to display.

We have found that it costs an arm and a leg to get a review of your work. So we also offer an in depth review of your film for a very reasonable rate. Simply choose the appropriate review category in addition to your submission category.

A little bit about us…
The World Premiere Film Awards is a quarterly festival that finishes the year with a gala online event where a Grand Champion will be determined and presented with a handsome trophy. The Tenth Annual WPFA Gala will be held in June 2026. Finalists will be notified by email in spring 2026.
The quarterly selection schedules are:
Winter Selection (January – March)
Spring Selection (April – June)
Summer Selection (July – September)
Autumn Selection (October – December)
The entry deadline for our next selection is June 30 and the winners will be announced at the end of July 2025.

Awards & Prizes

Best Short under $5K
Best Short under $15K
Best Short under $25K
Best Short over $25K
Best Feature under $25K
Best Feature under $250K
Best Feature under $500K
Best Feature over $500K
Best Documentary Short
Best Documentary Feature
Best Animated Short
Best Animated Feature
Best Music Video
Best Trailer
Best Artwork
Best Screenplay Feature
Best Screenplay Short
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Ensemble Cast
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Color Treatment
Best Sound Design
Best Director
Best Student Film
Best 1st time Filmmaker
Best Original Score

We also award by genre, for example, Comedy, Thriller, Humanitarian, Adult ... and anything else we consider worthy.
Oh... and we don't charge you for the certificate or the Grand Champion trophy that you earned!

Rules & Terms

Rules:
You are entitled to enter as many films as you like during a festival quarter. If an entry does not win it may be re-submitted in another quarter. We prefer online screeners for the judging process. YouTube or Vimeo links are welcome and we will accept DVDs. We also require an electronic press kit (synopsis and poster or screen grab) to post on our site. Please identify the key credits for your submission. It helps us to award your team members correctly.
An accurate Production Budget amount must be entered in your submission. If no budget is entered for Short or Feature Films, the submission will be judged in the category having the highest budget.
First-Time Filmmaker (Yes/No) must be entered.
Screenplays should be in PDF format and in English.
Project completion date no more than 2 years old.
Must be in English (or with English subtitles).
WPFA will not make your property available online.
We DO accept partially completed films.

Notification:
Accepted entries will receive an Official Acceptance notification and after judging is completed, winners will receive a second email with their really nice certificate.
After an entry has been selected and the filmmaker notified, the film will be listed on the WPFA Facebook site as an Official Selection. After the final judging, the award winners will be listed on the WPFA Facebook site as Award Winners.

Disclaimer:
By submitting your film you agree that you own the rights to it and are responsible for the content. By submitting you are granting WPFA the right to post the name, synopsis and artwork on our Facebook site. There is no refund given if your film is not selected for the festival.

Laurels:
Filmmakers are allowed to use the WPFA Laurels on their winning or selected film ONLY. They can be used on posters as well as other related media.

125 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • JOEY MEDINA

    It was an honor to be part of this great festival, and it was especially honorable to win Best Drama, Best Genre Film, Best Produced Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound Design for our film ARTHUR AVE. Thank you so much.

    May 2025
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    Response from festival:

    We were very impressed with ARTHUR AVE. Thank-you for your review and best wishes.

  • Fei Han

    It’s very glad that our director Emerald Nguyen won the Award for Best First Time Filmmaker Short for Golden. Thank you, WPFA. The professionalism of the film festival impressed us deeply. It's definitely worth recommending to my filmmaker friends to attend. We can't wait to bring our other films to the next grand event.

    May 2025
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    Response from festival:

    Thank-you very much. Emerald shows great promise.
    We would love to see more films from you and your team.
    We wish you much success with Golden and any other projects you work on.

  • Ritchey Cable

    Thanks to everyone behind the World Premiere Film Awards. We appreciated being honored at their awards and walking away with a number of wins. Fun to see an awards system that thinks differently and is able to highlight the voices of independent filmmakers. Thank you!

    March 2025
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    Response from festival:

    Congratulations on the wins. You have assembled a great team. We wish you all success with Parable and your future projects.
    Thank-you

  • Paramasivan Sivasubramanian

    Greatly honored by the recognition and award I received from you

    February 2025
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    Response from festival:

    Thank-you for reviewing, Paramasivan. We were pleased to award Round Trip and we wish you much success.

  • Jim Norman

    When your screenplay wins an award, it's difficult not to say nice things. In the case of this festival, it's worthy of praise even if you don't win an award.

    February 2025
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    Response from festival:

    Thank-you so much, Jim. That is very kind.
    We look forward to reading your scripts and Fast Pitch and Best of Times did not disappoint.
    We wish you the very best of success.