The IMDb qualifying seasonal and annual Montreal Independent Film Festival has turned into one of the most popular emerging film festivals in the world. The festival has created many opportunities for independent film projects and artists to be noticed, awarded, screened and recognized in the film industry. Cannes award winners and Oscar nominees have also joined emerging independent artists to compete in various sections of the festival.

With thousands of international entries every year, MIFF became a hybrid film festival with annual live screenings and seasonal online screening options for the official selections. Our annual screening takes place in the spring of each year. Montreal Independent Film Channel is our online web channel which screens the award winners and the official selections of the season upon request. Montreal Independent Film Magazine is our online magazine which promotes the award winners of the season in association with Film Daily.

The winners of the season are further nominated to be an official selection of the annual festival in spring of each year. All the seasonal winners can also request for a bonus for Film Daily promotion and film industry marketing.

Through our screening platform, we offer daily, hourly and weekly screenings of independent features and shorts throughout the whole season. We screened hundreds of independent shorts and features in the last year from all over the globe. Some of our indie films had thousands of views and were selected by other festivals and secured distribution deals.

MIFF also continues to select jury members who are assigned to various sections of the festival in each season. The festival invites filmmakers, critics, actors, writers, composers, cinematographers and many agents and distributors from all over the world. MIFF also provides the option for the winners of each season to vote for the new edition of the festival.

We are an organization committed to selecting, awarding, promoting, featuring and screening international and Canadian projects of all genres.

Awards & Prizes

$30,000 is shared annually with award winners through bonuses, products and cash prizes in the seasonal and annual fest.

$6,000 in bonuses for Film Daily promotion and film marketing is available for the winners in the seasonal festival.

Seasonal Categories:
Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative short
Best Feature Documentary
Best Short Documentary
Best Canadian Film
Best Horror
Best Comedy
Best Animation
Best Science Fiction
Best Web Series/TV Pilot
Best Experimental
Best Human Rights
Best Environmental
Best Female Director
Best First Time Filmmaker
Best Independent Film
Best Student Film
Best LGBTQ
Best Music Video
Best Unproduced Script
Best Thriller
Best Trailer
Best Director
Best Script
Best Producer
Best Cinematographer
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Editor
Best Composer

Rules & Terms

Films must have been completed in the past 3 years.
Montreal premiere is required for the annual festival.
We consider films regardless of their premiere status in our seasonal. Even if your film has already premiered at another festival, whether it screened at a physical venue or online, it’s still eligible for consideration in the seasonal festival.
Online screening is optional in the seasonal competition and it has to be requested by the producer and is not mandatory for entering various sections of the competition due to premiere status of projects. Screening is only mandatory for the annual competition of the festival in spring.
The applicant holds the sole responsibility of copyright clearance of any copyrighted material in the film.
The festival has the right to use a trailer, stills, pics and posters for promotional purposes in various film magazines, social media, websites, etc.
Entry fees are non refundable since our programmers need to evaluate each project twice.
English or French subtitles are required for foreign language films. Films in English or French do not require subtitles.
Shorts must be less than 50 minutes. All projects over 50 minutes should submit to the feature category.
The festival will only communicate with the submitter of the film project.

393 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Angel Baltasar

    Ha sido una grata experiencia ser parte de este gran festival y un orgullo haber sido semifinalista con The Submerged Voice. Muchas gracias.

    January 2022
    Helpful
  • Antonio Gil Aparicio

    A fantastic festival and highly recommended. We were selected with our film "If Talía Were Blind."

    February 2022
    Helpful
  • Angela Onuora

    Thank you for selecting my project to be screened at your festival. It was a very good way to start the year and I look forward to sharing more of my work with your audience.
    Here's wishing MIFF more continued success!

    February 2022
    Helpful
  • Hebert Poll Gutierrez

    Thanks to the organization of the festival for giving me the opportunity to share my work with the world. Congratulations on creating a space to transform realities through art.

    February 2022
    Helpful
  • Lizet Benrey

    Beautiful experience!
    Thank you Montreal Independent Film Festival!

    MoonTalk
    Lizet Benrey & Michael Hawk

    February 2022
    Helpful