Zensa Media International Film Festival prides itself on promoting local and international talent. We are looking for short films that inspire, educate and entertain general audiences. Local and international filmmakers may apply for all categories with the exception of the Quebecois Cinema category that is a spotlight category for local filmmakers. We are also proud to share that we are now a IMDB qualifying film festival.

Films must be suitable for a general audience.

We are accepting short films, short documentaries and feature films (various themes). We also have a few special theme categories: Environment, fashion, comedy, food, dance, sports, documentary, short film (various themes), music videos and film trailers. For the first time, we also created a new additional category for student filmmakers that are up and coming talent and studying in a reputable school at any level.

The audience will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite film and the Audience choice award will also be given to the film with the most votes. The winning film will win a 50$ cash prize as a token of appreciation from our festival team.

This will be a fun event with an opportunity for the public to watch films from around the globe and a great networking event for filmmakers. We will also have our much appreciated audience raffle later in the evening at our film festival.

Our second event for our festival is our yearly Media Panel with well known professionals and artists who work in the media industry. Stay tuned for more information on this.

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Zensa Media International Film Festival.
@zensamedia

Host: TBA

*We appreciate the ongoing support of local elected politicians and the companies that support creativity and high quality film shown at our event every year.

Awards & Prizes

Best short film, best comedy film, best fashion film, best environment theme based film, best food theme film, best dance film, best trailer, best documentary & Audience Choice prize.

The Prestigious Artist of The Year award will be presented to an accomplished artist who is not only respected for their work in the industry but for the work they do for the public to make a difference in society. This year 2025 Artist/Public figure award will be presented to Mike Cohen (entertainment journalist at The Suburban/Cote St-Luc City Councillor/Representative for the EMSB school board).

Stay tuned to find out who will be awarded this prestigious prize.

Laurel provided for selected films and winning films
Prizes from sponsors provided in some of the selected categories.
Audience choice prize as voted for by the public.

*Cool Sponsored prizes in select categories.

Rules & Terms

Films should be submitted on a good quality online screener such as youtube or Vimeo. If you have a password to your video, please make sure to provide it with your application. If your film is accepted and another format is required, you will be contacted at a later date to provide the appropriate format.

This festival is for a general audience therefore should not contain any graphic violence and no pornography. Such films will be disqualified.

Person submitting their film must have all copyright clearances. Zensa Media International is not responsible for any claims made on films submitted. Filmmakers are responsible for all related issues or claims that may arise in regards to their films.

Zensa Media International reserves the right to use a short clip of film or photo stills for promotional related activities in regards to its film festival.

All non English films MUST have English subtitles.

All entry fees to our festival are non refundable.

Filmmakers can submit more than one film and submit to multiple categories.

Each entry and submission category must have its own submission fee.

There are no screening fees.

To be fair with everyone, we cannot grant ANY fee waivers.

No film may be withdrawn from the festival program after its selection.

We accept local and international short films that fit the themes mentioned above.

Looking forward to seeing your films.

7 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Cindy Welik-Salgado

    Thank you for the generous Honorable Mention for my film Beyond Borders: a documentary in dance! I am very honored and wish I could've made it to Montreal to see the winning films. I reached out through a private review to express some communication concerns and the festival was VERY quick to respond with a thoughtful response. I am grateful for what they stand for and feel fortunate for their acknowledgement of our work.

    December 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Hi Cindy,

    Firstly, a big congrats for your honorable mention status for your film. We will be sending out laurels later this week. Apologies if you felt you didn't get information you expected. This is a first to get this question, because generally we notify the official selections filmmakers and if we give a honorable mention laurel like you got, we generally send it after a week or so of the festival. We normally do notify the laurel will be on the way, but we realized that we might have just missed notifying you by mistake for that. Apologies. We would have loved to have had you attend as the festival program was very well received by the audience.
    Your project was really lovely and we appreciate your work. Looking forward to hopefully seeing more great work from you.

  • Ms. ELENA

    5 STAR ALL AROUND. ONE OF MY FAVORITE FILM FESTIVALS !!! LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEARS EVENTS. THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL AWARD FOR OUR DOCUMENTARY “AROUND THE WORLD WITH CHEF DEVAN”

    January 2023
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks so much for the very kind comments. Much appreciated. We look forward to seeing more great work from you.

  • Stuart Chambers

    This is a really great festival and we were extremely happy to participate

    January 2023
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks so much. We look forward to seeing more great work from you.

  • Elliott LOUCIF

    Good communication and happy to participate.

    December 2021
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much. We look forward to seeing more great work from you.

  • Glen MacKay

    The festival showcases many genres. The organisers truly care. Great communication, encouragement and support.

    December 2019
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Very kind of you to say. Our Zensa Media team is looking forward to seeing more great work from you.