2025 Sundance Film Festival
CALL FOR ENTRIES
(Feature-length, all genres)
Telefilm Canada is currently accepting Canadian entries (feature-length films) on behalf of the Sundance Film Festival.
TELEFILM will coordinate a selection screening session with two Sundance senior programmers in a private theater in Montréal from September 1st to 4th.
Open to narrative and documentary feature-length films, with a world or international premieres only.
DETAILS
- Registration fees are waived for films submitted at the screening session organized by Telefilm Canada.
- Short films and TV series need to be submitted directly to the festival.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Feature films need to:
- Have a World or International premiere status.
- Be completed after January 1st, 2024.
- 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, 2025.
Please note that the submissions will be collected through Dialogue events
REGISTRATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
- Complete the “Sundance 2025 preselection screenings” form on Telefilm Canada’s platform.
- Provide a private downloadable screening link.
- Your image editing should be final. The programmers are used to viewing work at the post-production/rough cut stage (i.e. with no colour timing, no final mix, temporary music, etc.) and, as such, know how to “fill in the technical gaps.”
Selection process
Films entered through this process that meet the eligibility criteria for the festival will be screened by the festival’s delegates. Telefilm Canada does not filter nor preselect films.
Once the screenings are over, if a film is preselected (“shortlisted”) by the delegates, we will inform the applicant by email right after the screening session. Then, the shortlisted films will move to step 2 and be reviewed by the festival committee in Los Angeles between September and October. Final decisions taken will be communicated directly to the applicant by the festival in late November.
ABOUT
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, the Sundance Film Festival is recognized by the industry as the leading festival in the United States. It 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. The festival selects around 120 feature films and 60 short films.
Canadian feature-length films that have premiered at Sundance in recent years: IN A VIOLENT NATURE, KIDNAPPING, INC., THE LONGEST GOODBYE, TWICE COLONIZED, INFINITY POOL, MY ANIMAL, FRAMING AGNES and THE NIGHT LOGAN WOKE UP (Episodic section).
The festival international programming dedicated to feature-length films comprises:
- World Cinema Dramatic Competition: a selection of 12 films from emerging filmmakers. Must be World or International premiers.
- World Cinema Documentary Competition: a selection of 12 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, 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.
Telefilm Canada recognizes a selection of a film in the Festival for applications to its International Promotion Program.
Promotion and Communications
Telefilm Canada, Montreal
DL-festivals@telefilm.ca
1 800 567-0890