Welcome to HOLLYWOOD INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

​

Please read the entire content of this text carefully before submitting your project to the festival.

The Festival was created to celebrate the art of filmmaking and to honor the filmmakers who make it all possible.
The entire application process is done online.

​

How the Festival works:

In the first round, the jury members choose the films and scripts in a broader way. Selected films and screenplays will receive a link to the official selection Laurel.

​

In the second round, the jury members re-judge the selected films and scripts, analyzing each project in more detail and more rigorously.
They then decide the winners of each category as well as the jury's special awards.

Only the winners will be invited to the awards ceremony, where they will receive a trophy and certificate.

The trophies and certificates of the winners who do not attend the event cannot be sent by post or other shipping company. They will receive a digital version of the certificate only.

​

*** IMPORTANT INFORMATION ***

This Festival is presential but in case of political instability, martial law, war, natural disaster, pandemic diseases, or any situation that put at risk the organization of the event and the people involved, automatically the Festival will be switched to ONLINE FESTIVAL.
All submitters will be notified about that on the notification date.
The winners will receive the online version of the certificate.

​

AWARDS & PRIZES:

Trophy and Award Certificates to the categories:

Best Short Film
Best Documentary
Best Feature Film
Best Student Film
Best Animation
Best Music Video
Best Web Series
Best Screenplay Short
Best Screenplay Feature
Best Latino Short Film
Best Latino Feature Film
Best Asian Short Film
Best Asian Feature Film

The Asian Short and Feature category allows only films from these Countries : Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar.

 

ATTENTION: For the Special Jury Award and Photography Categories
the winners will receive only the award certificate.

​

*** CERTIFICATE ONLY ***
Special Jury Award
Best Photography - Nature
Best Photography - People​

​​

​

RULES & TERMS:

All non-English films must have English subtitles.
At this time, we are only requesting online submissions and all materials must be viewable online, as we want to remain as green as possible.
By submitting to the festival, you agree to allow your film (or other artistic work) to be screened by the festival during the festival run, for which you are submitting, at no charge to the festival. If there are to be any additional screenings, we will come to a mutual agreement between the filmmaker and the festival. All media selected by the festival will be asked to provide promotional materials, but we ask that no promotional materials be sent until selection. By submitting to the festival you are admitting copyright ownership of everything submitted.
The festival reserves the right to disqualify any submission at any time if there is any question of ownership, copyright infringement, or any sign of disrespect (in any form of media) to the festival or its representatives.

​

RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING POSTERS AND TRAILERS:

It is very important for all filmmakers to readily have available posters and trailers and additional materials possible to submit to film festivals at the submission stage. Film festival directors appreciate these materials to work with, should your film get accepted to the festival submitted. As a Festival Director, I see professionalism and dedication to the film when the submitter sends a well-made poster and a short trailer. This also helps the film festival better promote selected films.

​

POSTER :
It’s important to get a frame from the movie or a photo still of the film that makes people look at it and think “I want to see this film” or “Who is that guy and why he is running?” or “Why is that woman crying?”.
A good poster should immediately grab people’s attention. A poster with only the title a background doesn’t convey any emotion and doesn’t mean anything.
Film festivals prefer to have posters in the following proportion.
Recomended file size: 1400 pixels x 2100 pixels at 300dpi.
Make the Title stand out, but don’t make it so big that it distracts the important images in your poster.
Make sure to export it as a JPEG, PNG or PDF.

​

TRAILER:
The trailer has to give the audience a glimpse of your film and just enough so as not to reveal important parts of it. This will make the viewer curious about your film.
Place important information like Title, Directed by…, important actors in the poster. Include festival laurels like Winner of Best Film or Best Director, and Official Selections from important festivals such as Sundance, TIFF, etc...
Duration: The recommended length of a trailer should be between 1 and 2 minutes maximum.
Export : 1080p – MP4 or Quicktime mov file.
Even if your short film is 3 to 5 minutes long, creating a 1-minute trailer will make a good impression.

​

FINAL THOUGHTS:
When a film is submitted to my festivals without a poster or trailer or sometimes without both, the judges take points off the final rating of the film.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

#filmfestival #internationalfilmfestival #cinefestival #cinefest #awards #bestfilm #festivalawards #bestshort #bestfeature #bestdocumentary #bestanimation #shortfilm #featurefilm #documentary #animation #worldfilmfestival #filmcompetition