Our 5th season is now in motion! Nominees in this June-November window will battle (some screenings with us) in Little Rock, Arkansas in mid January. Arkansas winners will qualify for the Best of the Year round in September 2023 (Green Bay). Our January-May window following this one will screen in Green Bay in May 2023.
In this new season, same low submission prices. Our newest hot item is the Best Short Film Screenplay category with 4 nominees each window (the June-November and the January through May) with 2 winners at each gala. The top 4 winners will battle at our Best of the Year Gala in Green Bay, in September 2023. Award-winning actor, Tony Shalhoub, will help us pick the final Best Screenplay of the year winner and this will be announced at the September 2023 Gala, back in Green Bay.
We are based in Green Bay Wisconsin and run 3 in-person screenings & awards gala events per year: in Arkansas (January qualifier in-person screening gala... we just finished it), Green Bay (May 28-29 qualifier in-person screening gala) and the Best of the Year Gala (September 2-4) in Green Bay. Iconic Tarlton Theatre in the heart of Green Bay is confirmed for September 3-4, 2022. Tickets start selling June 15 on filmfreeway.com/sceneawards (our sister fest and co-organizers). Follow up on weekly updates on facebook.com/mlcawards
We accept most genre shorts, feature films, music video entries. Animated or non-animated productions, narrative fiction or non fiction, independently produced or in union status. You name it: shorts, features, pilot or series eps, music or creative videos and documentaries. Westerns/ Sci-fi / Halloween-themed are all welcome. If you go to mlcawards.com/results you may notice that when we announce nominees (May 2) we like to add some of the nominees to additional categories not listed in the submission column, depending on what talent our team of 8 judges (spread throughout WI, IL, OH, PA, AR) can see.
For horror types, which we accept here, we also have our sister competition Scene Awards, also being at the same Galas we co-host (filmfreeway.com/sceneawards) but horror with sci fi or sfx elements is also welcome here under category 5. Also comedy, romance, thrillers, SFX films under this same category. We also love music videos (we call them jewels).
MLC stands for Mobster (as in drama, thrillers, scifi, horror, crime) - Latinx - Comedy. While those are three basic pillars in what we like to judge in productions, we are open to and have many awards in other aspects--see submission categories and awards on mlcawards.com).
Back to our current window, the MORE categories you think your film will fit in, the BIGGER the chances of selection, nomination or even award or a chance to have your film screened. We also do videos (creative, experimental... see Best Jewel submission category).
We also honor cast even beyond what the submission categories indicate. This means that if we like a supporting or day player actor, or a specific sound or color treatment aspect, we can nominate and award this actor.
We select over 60 films per semester/window.
We celebrate all genres, but most especially "M-L-C components" described in the Awards & Prizes section. MLC stands for Mobster - Latino - Comedy. We also love Midwest-Made productions (see our Midwest section) and anything loaded with VFX, great sound, animation, etc. We also welcome creative youtube videos, promo videos, trailers of movies, etc.
See Rules & Terms (or the categories themselves) for a detailed explanation on our submission categories.
In our 5th season, where we have 2 windows just like in season 4. The particularity with our current Rise semester window is that Nominees picked in November could get a double chance to screen their work with us, both, in January (should they win or become a wildcard) and in September 2023.
In September during the Best of the Year MLC Awards Gala we will screen some of those Fall and Rise winners and wildcards thus giving some of you exposure to audiences in the South and the Upper Midwest. Rise window winners and wildcards will be announced in June. And then the Best of the Year Winners will be screened (some of them) , decided and announced at the September 2022 Gala in Green Bay.
We issue awards recognizing all budget type productions--besides cast and crew--every 4-5 months in over 30 categories. Indeed, other than the awards listed on each category (see each submission category), we also have Honorable Mention (HM) and Special Jury Mention (SJM) Awards. These, along with the Semester (Fall or Rise Semesters) Award winners receive an e-certificate. Wildcards do not receive a certificate, but get Outstanding Achievement credit on IMDb and can order a trophy.
Visit www.mlcawards.com for winners and nominees of our previous window, but do keep in mind the new changes, expanding awards (see categories and pricing).
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