The Best Director Award – New York is an International Bi-Monthly IMDb Qualifying Competition with Annual Screening Event, celebrating Film Directors from all over the world. Our Mission is to recognize talent and passion and to award the Best Performances in Film Directing of independent cinema. Only the Best Films of a whole year will be selected by the Jury for the Annual Screening Event in New York City.

Partner Festival:
filmfreeway.com/BestActorAward

(Best Director Award™ – New York is a registered Trademark - All Rights Reserved 2018-2021)

During the Bi-Monthly Competition, our Jury will only award the Best Directors through private screenings. We may award Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze, depending on the judgment of the performance. There may be Honorable Mentions to those Directors who haven’t won their category, but whose skills deserve to be celebrated. Moreover, we award the very Special “Outstanding Performance Award” that will receive an Exclusive Interview on our website. All the Winners of the Bi-Monthly Competition will receive a Winner Laurel, our Official Certificate (digital format) ready for printing, will be listed on our web site and may upload their credits on IMDb. Only the Best Films of a whole year will be selected by the Jury for the Annual Screening Event, that will take place in New York City in February 2022.

The Award Categories:

Special Jury Award: Outstanding Performance
Best Director of a Comedy
Best Director of a Dark Comedy
Best Director of an Adventure Film
Best Director of an Action Film
Best Director of a Thriller
Best Director of a Mystery Film
Best Director of a Fantasy
Best Director of a Sci-Fi
Best Director of a Horror
Best Director of a Drama
Best Director of a Historical Film
Best Director of a War Film
Best Director of a Noir Film
Best Director of a Detective Film
Best Director of a Western
Best Director of a Romance
Best Director of a Musical
Best Director of a Fan Film
Best Director of a Parody
Best Director of an LGBTQ Film
Best Director of a Biographical Film
Best Director of a Nature Film
Best Director of an Ethnographic Film
Best Director of an Inspirational Film
Best Director of a Social Justice Film
Best Director of a Sport Film
Best Director of a Documentary
Best Director of a Web-Series
Best Director of an Animation
Best Director of a Music Video
Best Director of a Silent Film
Best Director of an Experimental Film
Best Director of a Commercial
Best Student Director
Best 1st time Director of a Feature
Best 1st time Director of a Short

What we’re looking for: Feature Films, Short Films, TV/Web-Series, Indie Films, Student Films, Music Videos, Commercials, Animations, Experimental Films, Documentaries. We accept films in any length, genre and language. Non-English films must have English subtitles.

We do not accept: 1. Amateur videos. 2. Extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organizations. 3. Pornography. 4. Films with a poor production standard (bad sound, lack of subtitles/captions for non-English films, video resolution lower than 1080p HD). 5. We don’t accept scripts. 6. We don't accept excerpts/scenes from films: you must submit the entire film.

BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT PLEASE READ ALL RULES AND REGULATIONS.
By submitting your film, take note that: The Best Director Award is hereby granted the rights to utilize an excerpt (trailer/teaser/poster/stills) from any film submitted for promotional purposes. The films will not be available online. Multiple entries are allowed for each filmmaker and each entry may be submitted to multiple categories. Winning categories vary every month depending on the submissions we receive and on the performances. If we think the categories submitted are not to a standard of the Best Director Award win, they will be removed. If you submit your film to the category ‘Best 1st time Director of a Short’, it must be your first or second time directing a short film; If you submit your film to the category ‘Best 1st time Director of a Feature’, it must be your first or second time directing a feature film: otherwise, your film will be disqualified from that specific category. Trophies are optional, are not included in the submission fee and all Winners may order the trophy by paying production costs and shipping costs. The Competition reserves the right to refuse entries and the Jury can remove the movie from the competition at any time. Entry fees are non-refundable. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for possible screening (private and/or public) and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations. Only the Best Films of a whole year will be selected by the Jury for the Annual Screening Event. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Best Director Award, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss or damage of the screening videos entered. By submitting your film, you acknowledge you have read, understood and accepted all rules and regulations.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Stephen Phillips

    I had a great experience at this festival and I will be applying again on my next film.

    October 2021
  • VERY productive and timely with their updates and communication. Thank you for the "outstanding performance" award. Social media and website were updated very quickly which made for great promotion! Thank you!!

    September 2021
  • Jihane Bougrine

    Thank you for the nomination ! We are so blessed and grateful !

    September 2021
  • Zayed Rizwan

    Very good festival with high quality contents, very honoured to be a part of it, it could have been better if the winners get like 50% discount on the trophies

    September 2021
  • It was great to be included in this festival. Thank you for hosting our film. Great communication and amazing programmers who went above and beyond!

    September 2021