Reelworld Film Festival

1) ELIGIBILITY

- Eligible film submissions must be directed by Black, Indigenous and/or People of Colour Canadian filmmaker;
- All submissions and exhibitions must have captions (if selected, any subtitles must be burned into final submission file);

- Must not be available online, via any home device (blu-ray, DVD, etc.) or screened/released theatrically or on TV in Canada by the time of the festival exhibition until after the final festival date Oct 26th, 2026;
- Rough cuts and works-in-progress will be considered during the selection process.
- Entrant confirms and warrants required legal authority to submit the entry into the Reelworld Film Festival and to use all music, images, and content in the entry; Entrant hereby grants Reelworld Film Festival permission to screen and otherwise use the entry in connection with the 2026 festival. Your film festival acceptance also grants Reelworld permission to use stills and excerpts from the entry for promotional and publicity use.

2) PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATION

We accept narrative films, documentaries, animation, webisodes (web series), and episodic content, by Black, Indigenous, Asian and People of Colour Canadian filmmakers. All programs are carefully curated and submissions will be fully considered by the Reelworld Film Festival programming team. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR SCREENER PASSWORD IS CORRECT AT TIME OF SUBMISSION.

3) FILM LENGTH
For the purposes of eligibility and awards consideration, Reelworld uses the following definitions:
Feature-Length: 45 minutes or longer
Short: up to 30 minutes
Episodic: up to 45 minutes (must be part of or intended to be part of a 3+ part series)

4) SELECTION & NOTIFICATION PROCESS
Accepted applicants will be notified of programming decisions before August 28th. Final programming, categorization and slotting of films will be determined by the Reelworld programming team. Their decision is final. Successful applicants will receive this information in their official invitation.
Selected applicants must send in a film trailer and a one-minute scene of their choosing. Other requirements, such as social media handles, press information, etc will be outlined in your selection letter.
Acceptance of your invitation into the festival indicates an understanding that filmmaker must provide a DCP for the in-person screening. Depending on the venue, a physical DCP might be required.
Selected Applicants will receive passes to the Festival and complimentary tickets to their screening. These details will be outlined in your selection letter.
5) ACCEPTED EXHIBITION FORMATS

For accessibility, all accepted films should have subtitles or closed captions in WebVTT or TTML file format included with the delivery (can be sent via email when directed, with the file clearly labeled with the film title and the subject header: "Subtitle/Closed Captions: [Film Title]")
All film assets, as well as film stills, director bios, and other relevant marketing information that will be outlined in the acceptance letter must be received by the deadline listed.
Selected applicants must provide a digital or physical DCP format, digital file in .MP4 format and or digital file in .MOV formats of their digital film or video work. The exact requirement will be detailed in the acceptance letter.Please contact the festival directly if you have other formats for consideration.

6) ARTIST FEES
Reelworld is committed to paying artist fees to directors in selection and follows standard rates set by the Independent Media Arts Alliance (http://www.imaa.ca/). Artist fees will be paid via e-transfer after the festival.