2017 Winter Film Awards Independent Film Festival Calls for Entries

The Winter Film Awards Independent Film Festival (WFA) announces a Call for Entries for its 6th Annual celebration of independent film, to be held February 23 - March 4 2017 in New York City.

Filmmakers from around the world will travel to NYC to attend the Festival's full week of film screenings and industry networking after-parties, which will conclude with a glittering awards ceremony to be held on March 4 2017 in the luxurious EMPIRE Room at Club 230 Fifth, one of NYC's premier nightclubs.

The rapidly growing Festival - which was recently voted one of the top 100 best reviewed festivals on FilmFreeway - seeks a diverse collection of creative indie films from NYC and worldwide in all genres - ranging from narrative features to short films, from documentaries to animation, and from music videos to web series and horror films. Outstanding work will be awarded for each category, along with Best Director, Best Actor/Actress, Best Original Score, Best Student Film and the NY Perspectives Award for best depiction of the New York multi-cultural experience. For the 2016 Festival, 86 films from 26 countries were selected for screening, including 40% made by women, 40% made by people of color and 26 first-time directors. Works of all genres, forms, and lengths are considered for Festival screening.

Independent filmmakers from around the world are invited to submit films online via FilmFreeway at filmfreeway.com/festival/WFA

Milestone Dates are as follows:
September 1 2016 ... Early Bird Submissions Deadline
October 15 2016 ... Regular Submissions Deadline
November 15 2016 ... Late Submissions Deadline
January 5 2017 ... Entrants to be notified of final decisions
February 23 2017 ... Festival Opening Night Celebration
February 24-March 3 2017 ... Screenings, Discussion Panels & Networking After-Parties
March 4 2017 ... Gala Red Carpet & Awards Ceremony

Steffanie Finn, WFA Executive Director says "At Winter Film Awards, we believe everyone deserves a fair shot at getting their voices heard. Emerging filmmakers with low budgets and no connections are so often ignored in favor of the standard big budget generic action films - exciting low-budget films are created all over the world; we need the opportunity to actually see them! It's so exciting for WFA to help get these stories seen and to provide our festival attendees the opportunity to view films they might never think to seek out otherwise."

Winter Film Awards is an all-volunteer women and minority-run 501(c)3 organization founded in 2011, which celebrates diversity of local and international filmmaking. It was built with the dream of making diverse indie film more accessible to the public and providing driven, talented artists the opportunity to break through competitive barriers to establish meaningful careers in film. The focus is on showcasing emerging filmmakers from every age, ethnic, racial, religious, cultural, political and geographic perspective while providing a stepping stone for all filmmakers, from students with blossoming careers to established industry veterans, to screen their work in front of a large audience and gain recognition for their achievements.

For more information about Winter Film Awards events and sponsors, visit www.WinterFilmAwards.com.