Film Festival of the Day: Winter Film Awards

We hear you, it’s only June – but winter is coming sooner than you think! The Winter Film Awards 2020 edition is now open for submissions.

New York City’s Winter Film Awards (WFA) is a volunteer-run and -operated celebration of the diversity of local and international filmmaking. Their mission is to recognize excellence in cinema and promote learning and artistic expression for people at all stages of their artistic careers with a focus on nurturing emerging filmmakers, helping them gain recognition & contacts to break into this difficult industry.

The WFA prides themselves on their diverse collection of festival selections, allowing their audience to enjoy films they normally wouldn’t think to seek out. Now in its ninth year, the rapidly growing indie film festival showcases the work of emerging filmmakers from around the world.

For the 2019 Festival, 89 films from 32 countries were screened, including an eclectic mix of animated films, documentaries, feature narratives, horror films, music videos, narrative shorts and web series, including 34 first-time filmmakers. 50% of the films were created by women, 53% were created by or about people of color.

Works of all genres, forms, and lengths are considered. All selected films are screened at Cinema Village, NYC’s top indie cinema in the heart of Greenwich Village. The Festival includes ten days of film screenings, educational panels, professional development workshops, and industry networking afterparties, which will conclude with a glittering awards ceremony to be held on February 29, 2020.

Outstanding work will be awarded for each category, along with Best Director, Best Actor/Actress, Outstanding Woman Director, Best Student Film, and the NY PERSPECTIVES Award for best depiction of the New York multicultural experience.

Winter Film Awards International Film Festival is an IMDB-qualifying festival.

Like many of the great film festivals across the country and the world, WFA seeks to bring its audience compelling and unique content that inspires the viewers and honors the filmmakers. There are hundreds of film festivals in New York City; what makes the Winter Film Awards different is their intense focus on a bias-free submissions review, the variety of their films, and helping new filmmakers reach what may be their first real audience.

WFA is a minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. They work with all local NYC film schools, colleges, arts high schools, and many cultural societies.

Here’s what people are saying about the festival:

“An exquisite selection of films, lovingly composed, very well organized with excellent web presence, communication & networking -thank you @Winter Film Awards for a wonderful experience !!”
—Bettina d’Mello

“One of the best film festivals I’ve been a part of. The parties were awesome, the screenings were well attended. They also did an excellent job with social media. And my film looked and sounded great!! Their swag bag was full of cool stuff. I will definitely continue to apply in the future!”
—Stacey Larkins

“Wonderful festival with a lot of opportunities to network, learn and watch wonderful films, friendly staff and well organized.”
—Vivian Rivas

“Great venues! And the atmosphere of the parties and awards presentations was top-notch. All of the folks on the team at the festival treated filmmakers with love and respect. We really felt special! And they work extremely hard to promote the selected films and help you build an audience. Overall Winter Film Awards is a great NYC festival that offers amazing exposure for your film.”
—Joshua Wick

“Our film screened in 7 festivals in 2015/2016 and this festival was by far the best festival we attended when taking in the quality of the venue, the caliber of the films and the attention to the filmmakers with opportunities for networking.

“This is a real festival with a real intention to showcase emerging talent and pay homage to independent film – Bravo Winter Film Awards Team – I hope we have the chance to attend again with our upcoming feature!”
—Kylie Garcelon