Chicago Indie Film Awards celebrates independent U.S. and international film and script projects of all genres. 

Every monthly edition, the award winners are credited on IMDb and will be promoted through Chicago Movie Magazine and social media. The winners can request for online screening.

U.S. and international projects compete together in various sections of the festival. The official selections of the monthly editions are screened privately to jury members of each edition in various categories. Our team consists of filmmakers, actors, directors, writers and critics from all over the world.

We believe that we live in a new era of digital technology and the festivals need to be able to adjust to various forms of online competitions, screenings and virtual events in order to recognize and promote talented artists working in media.

Chicago Indie Film Awards is committed to supporting international and American indie film projects of all genres.  

Awards & Prizes

Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary short
Best Experimental
Best Animation
Best Science Fiction
Best Horror
Best Director
Best Producer
Best Cinematography
Best Editor
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Script
Best Unproduced script
Best TV Series/Pilot/Web
Best Comedy
Best Student Film
Best Music Video
Best Thriller
Best Trailer
Best Composer
Best First Time Filmmaker
Best Female Filmmaker
Best Indie Film

Rules & Terms

Films can be available online and still submit to our monthly festival.
Films must have been completed within the past 4 years.
Shorts must be less than 50 minutes.
Chicago Indie Film Awards can use stills, poster, headshots and trailers to promote films and artists.
Entry fees are non refundable since our programmers will go through all submitted projects.

164 Reviews
Overall Rating
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Networking
  • Barry Levy

    Great to be a part of this great awards program this year! Cheers!

    June 2021
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  • Iannis Aliferis

    I feel very honoured to have my screenplay be part of this festival.

    June 2021
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  • Yuxin Zhao

    It's so honored to be selected. Great experience!

    June 2021
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  • Uwe Schwarzwalder

    Great to be part of this amazing festival. Thanks for the award!

    June 2021
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  • Bryan Downey

    Honored to be a part of this and to actually won an award....wow.

    June 2021
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