Winter Film Awards International Film Festival Announces 2020 Edition

Winter Film Awards International Film Festival (WFA-IFF), a New York City competitive Festival with a special emphasis on showcasing the work of women and under-represented filmmakers, has announced selections for its 2020 edition. WFA-IFF received more than 650 submissions and has selected 79 films from 27 countries to be screened in February. The films include the following genres: Narrative Feature, Narrative Short, Documentary, Horror, Animation, Music Video, and Web Series.

The Festival will run from February 20 through February 29 at its main venue Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) in Greenwich Village. In addition to screenings and filmmaker Q&A sessions, WFA-IFF will present an opening night film and entertainment industry networking event on February 20th, a series of educational sessions geared towards emerging filmmakers, including Shooting Difficult Scenes / Sex & Violence for Filmmakers, Distribution 101, All About Music for Filmmakers, Crafting an Amazing Opening Scene with Annette Insdorf, The Art of the Pitch with Seed&Spark, Camera Hacks for the Frugal Filmmaker and more. The Festival comes to a glittering close on February 29th with a Gala Award Ceremony Red Carpet event at a leading NYC nightclub. Details, schedule and additional events can be found on https://winterfilmawards.com/wfa2020/

WFAIFF's Executive Director Steffanie L Finn said of the 2020 edition, "Emerging filmmakers with low budgets and no connections are so often ignored in favor of the standard big budget generic action films. Diverse, exciting low budget films are created all over the world; it is critical for film festivals to showcase them. Indie film festivals are often the sole means for the community to share personal stories from around the world, and WFA's location in the center of the action provides our filmmakers with a dazzling chance to begin their careers in the film industry."

WFA-IFF's list of sponsors and partners for 2020 includes the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC & Company Foundation, Jungle Software, Magix Software, NYU Women's Initiative, Final Draft, Rosco Laboratories, Elvid and Accenture. Several of the Festival's networking events will be organized in collaboration with Liberty Coca-Cola, Boxed Water and other beverages.

WFA-IFF ensures that each submission receives a fair, complete and bias-free consideration. Festival submissions are viewed and scored by a team of 75 film industry professionals from around the world. Each submission is viewed by 4-6 screeners and scored in 8 technical categories and an overall star rating. Final selections are chosen based upon average score.

WFA-IFF's awards jury consists of a fresh set of 40 film and festival professionals from around the world. The awards jury will select award winners in thirteen categories: Best Picture, Best Short Film, Outstanding Women Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Animated Film, Best Director, Best Documentary, Best Horror Film, Best Music Video, Best Student Film, Best Web Series, and the New York Perspectives Award for outstanding depiction of New York City.