Skip Navigation Links

Festival de Cannes 2025

Cannes, France, March 3 to 6, 2025

CALL FOR ENTRIES | Canadian Preselection Screenings

(Feature-length narratives)  

Telefilm Canada is currently accepting entries of Canadian features for the Cannes Film Festival (May 13 to 24, 2025), “L’Officiel”, as well as the one of its parallel sections, the Critics’ Week (reserved to debut and 2nd features).  

Every year, Telefilm Canada invites members of the selection committees from the Cannes Film Festival, as well as its parallel sections, to screen the submitted Canadian features on a big screen in a private theater in Montreal. In 2025, the screening sessions will be carried from March 3 to 6. 

The Directors’ Fortnight will not travel to Canada to screen films due to the preference of new management, therefore, for this section, you will have to submit directly on their platform and pay the related entry fee.  

The Critics’ Week section will not travel to Canada. Registering your film with Telefilm will give eligible films a promotional code applicable on submission fees when applying directly on the Critics’ Week platform. Once registered with us, we will send you a code. 

DETAILS 

  • Competitive: Yes 
  • Documentaries and short films must be submitted directly to the Cannes Festival and its parallel section, the Directors’ Fortnight and the Critics’ Week and submissions fees must be paid.
    • This screening and submission process is open for narrative features only. Cannes rarely programs documentaries and for this reason will prioritize features films while in Montreal. 
  • Submission fees: 
    • Films submitted via Telefilm Canada to Cannes Film Festival, “L’Officiel” and screened in Montreal will be exempted from the festival submission fees.
    • Eligible feature films submitted to Critics’ Week will receive a promotional code that may be applicable on submission fees.

* Due to the increased number of entries over the last years, and the high volume, we can not guarantee that all films will be screened while the programmer is in Montreal.

The programmer will choose the titles to view and will watch the maximum that can be screened in 4 days. If your film is not evaluated and screened in Montreal, you will ne notified in March, and you will have to submit it directly on the festival platform and pay the related entry fee, by early April.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 

Eligibility criteria for all sections:  

  • To be considered eligible, a film: 
    • Must be over 60 minutes;
    • Have been completed within the 12 months prior to the festival;
    • Only features with a World premiere status are eligible.
  • Specific to the Critics’ Week, a film: 
    • Must be the director’s first* or second feature film. 

*By “first feature film” the festival means that it must be a first cinematic film (fiction, documentary, or animation) from a director who has never directed a film longer than 59 minutes, that was theatrically released or selected in an international Class A festival.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT

*Please note that the submission link is also the link to submit to the Locarno Film Festival Preselections. You may submit to both at the same time.

HOW TO SUBMIT 

  • Complete the Telefilm application before February 7, indicate the different sections for which you want to submit the film (Festival de Cannes – Official Selection; Critic’s Week). 
  • Insert your downloadable screening link and password in the form. 
  • Films in English are accepted without French subtitles at the evaluation stage. 
  • N.B.  Your image editing must be final. However, your film can still be in post-production, and this is not an issue at all. The programmers are used to viewing works at the post-production stage (with no color timing, no sound mix, no final music, missing effects, etc.) and, as such, know how to “fill in the technical gaps.” 

SUBMISSION FORMATS 

Technical specifications to follow: 

  • Only downloadable Vimeo links are accepted. 
  • All titles should be in MP4 format, at a bit rate of 15 000Kb/s 
  • 1920 x 1080 @23.976 or 24 Frames Per Second 
  • Colour Space should be Rec 709 
  • We accept audio in either 2.0 channels, or 5.1 channels 

SELECTION PROCESS 

The Festival de Cannes and the Critics’ Week are managed by two distinct entities. Delegates will screen separately and evaluate the entries for their respective sections. 

Once the screenings are over, if a film is preselected (“shortlisted”) by one or the two delegates, we will inform the applicant of the next steps via email. Films that have not been preselected by the festival delegate(s) will also receive a notification by email from Telefilm in April. 

ABOUT 

FESTIVAL DE CANNES – OFFICIAL SELECTION
The Official Selection presents 80 features among its various categories: Competition, Out of Competition, “Un Certain Regard” and Premières.

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
This parallel section programs approximately 25 features. The films are eligible for several prizes given by different partner associations.

CRITICS’ WEEK
This parallel and competitive section is reserved for debut or second features and only showcases 10 features. The films are eligible for several prizes. 

MORE INFORMATION 

Regarding the festival and the preselection screenings: 

For assistance in the submission process and delivery of your screening link: 

Promotion and Communications 
Telefilm Canada, Montréal 
DL-festivals@telefilm.ca  
1 800 567-0890