2021 Sundance Film Festival
CALL FOR ENTRIES
(Feature-length, all genres)
Telefilm Canada is currently accepting Canadian entries on behalf of the Sundance Film Festival.
Unfortunately, due to the global crisis the selection screenings in Montreal will not take place. Instead, Sundance is offering a fee waiver for the Canadian films that register via Telefilm Canada.
Open to narrative and documentary feature-length films (50+ minutes), world and international premieres only.
The festival
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, the Sundance Film Festival is organized by the Sundance Institute, a non-profit organization that actively advances the work of independent storytellers in film. Each year, the Sundance Film Festival highlights new trends in independent filmmaking and introduces emerging filmmakers and artists.
The Sundance Film Festival selects around 120 feature films, 70 short films, 12 episodic projects, and 25 New Frontier performance and exhibition projects to play within its Festival programs.
INTERNATIONAL SECTIONS
- World Cinema Dramatic Competition: a selection of new films from emerging filmmakers. Must be World or International premiers.
- World Cinema Documentary Competition: a selection of new films from visionary documentary filmmakers. Must be World or International premieres.
- Premieres (fiction/documentaries): a selection of world premieres from established American and international directors.
- Spotlight (narratives): a tribute to impressive films that have screened on the festival circuit.
- Park City at Midnight: an eclectic mix of horror, sci-fi, over-the-top-comedies, surreal tales, and bizarre stories that defy categorization.
- New Frontier: celebrates experimentation and the convergence of film, art, and new media technology as an emerging hotbed for cinematic innovation.
- Kids: dedicated to a family audience.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Feature films
To be considered, your film must:
- Have a world or international premiere status.
- Be completed after January 1st, 2019.
- Have a running time of 50 + minutes.
- Not have been released theatrically, screened at festivals, broadcast or streamed on television or the Internet outside of their country of origin prior to February 1, 2021.
SHORT FILMS need to be submitted directly to the festival. They must be under 50 minutes and do not need any premiere requirements. They may have screened at festivals or public theatrical exhibitions anywhere in the world, be broadcast or streamed on television or the Internet, and still remain eligible for Festival consideration.
NEW MEDIA: If your project is not an experimental film that could play in a traditional theater, but a VR/AR/MR/XR project or a proposal for a media installation or a cinematic piece that incorporates a live performance or other interactive elements beyond traditional filmed media, it needs to be submitted online to the Festival’s New Frontier section.
New Procedure for 2021
- Complete the Telefilm Canada application form
- Once your application has been approved you will receive a waiver code
- Complete the Sundance Film Festival application and apply the waiver code. Deadline October 2, 2020.
- The festival will send the decision letters later this year.
Your contacts at Telefilm Canada
If you have any questions regarding the festival, please contact Ann-Marie Picard (ann-marie.picard@telefilm.ca) at 438-469-1242 or 1-800 567-0890.
If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Myriam Blais (myriam.blais @telefilm.ca).