ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival

Overview

>> >Join ReelHeART For Our Exciting 20th Season! <<< >> Prizes Include Collectible, Original ART! Mentorships! Sponsor Awards!<< >> Our Awards Are REAL - And Personalized. Not just a Printed Certificate. Our Awards Are Voted On By Judges, Programmers + The Viewing Audience. ****ENTRY RULES, TERMS & GUIDELINES**** *ALL FILMS* + *DOCS* + SCREENPLAYS* *MUST BE A PREMIERE* This Includes Feedback Festivals, Online Festivals and Award Only Festivals. Any Film or Screenplay that has been Selected, Awarded, Nominated, Been Given Feedback, Played Online, Seen By Judges and/or in a Live Or Online Screening in and around the Province of Ontario or Quebec and/or has received a Nomination and/or Award BEFORE JULY 2024 will be DISQUALIFIED. Your FILM CANNOT Play or be Judged by any Contest In ONTARIO or QUEBEC CANADA PRIOR TO JULY 2024. No Feedback. No Awards. No Round Placements. Nothing! >>>About ReelHeART<<< Fresh. Indie. Anti-Niche. We Believe In All Cultures Under One Roof. ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival is a fully Registered 20+ Year-old Not-For-Profit Arts Organization. ReelHeART Celebrates the Culture of Film from Around The Block and Around The World, and all Aspects of Indie Filmmaking From Acting, To Script, To Screen. Each season we hold a Premiere Only, Worldwide, Fiercely Independent Week-long Festival generally during the 1st week of July out of Toronto, Canada. >>>ReelHeART Plans to Stay Online In 2024<<< We Reach 99% of Our Filmmakers Around The World On Zoom Audiences Watch Great Indie Films For FREE During Festival Week We Built A Proprietary Online Cinema And Lead In The Online Experience >>>Covid19 Took a Lot From The World For 3 Years This is the ReelHeART Way of Putting Something Good Back Into The World<<< >>All Film Premieres, Q&As, Live Script Reads and Workshops Are FREE >>All Will Take Place Online During Festival Week July 07-13, 2024 >>All Filmmaker Q&As Happen on Zoom Directly AFTER Your Film Premiere >>All Q&As are Edited and Branded For Your Use or Promotional Materials >> If we Hold a LIVE 'Brick and Mortar' Event It will be the Final Weekend ONLY<< ReelHeART is Open Genre. Any Type of Film or Screenplay is Accepted. We are a Premiere Only Competition For Films And Screenplays. Please Make Sure Your film or Screenplay is (in the least) an Ontario and Quebec Premiere. Our Screenplay Competitions are very robust with Short and Feature Scripts as well as TV Pilots, Story Bibles and PitchDecks competing from Around The World Each Year. Each Script Entrant Receives Free and Extensive Feedback. We are an IMDB Eligible festival. This means Filmmakers will be able to post their Nominations and Wins on their IMDB Profiles. Category Information ReelHeART accepts Films, Documentaries, Music Videos, Web Series, Experimental, Animation and Dance and Music Related Films of all genres, countries and film lengths. All Categories are Competition. ReelHeART is dedicated to supporting the need for exposure for ALL LEVELS of independent filmmakers around the world. We put emerging and student artists alongside established and master filmmakers in an effort that all filmmakers can be recognized for their art, rather than their credits. We also have a goal to satisfy and challenge the interests of filmgoers and film supporters, to encourage, reward and celebrate the “Real HeART” and 'Real Guts' of Independent Filmmakers and Screenwriters. Whether filmmaker, movie-goer, reviewer, screenwriter, media or industry professional, the welcome and networking opportunities you experience at ReelHeART will be talked about from one year to the next! Filmmaker and Screenwriter Information ReelHeART International Film Festival is for Films and Screenplays with ‘Real Guts’ and ‘Real Heart’. We celebrate films that are Original. International. Independent. Regardless of genre, it’s the story we’re interested in. If your film or documentary has that balance of a terrific story, an interesting vision and solid production standards, then we think an audience should see your film. We’ll do what we can to make that happen. Any Genre is accepted at ReelHeART: Feature and Short Narratives such as: Drama, Comedy, Black Comedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Film Noir, Satire, Mockumentary, Animation, Experimental, Music Videos, as well as Feature and Short Documentary, Profiles, Underground and more. What kind of film or documentary do you have? Is it a fun film, an outrageous film, a quirky film, an intense film; a film that will rip your heart out or a film that will make your ribs hurt with laughter, a gut wrenching, bittersweet or tragic story? Then ReelHeART is for you… Screenwriters, we haven’t forgotten about you. #1: ReelHeART was the 1st Screenwriting competition in the WORLD that offered a Rehearsed Cast-to-Type Live Read for its Top 3 Feature Script Winners. We do that for our Top 3 Short Screenplay Winners and TV Pilots too. Winners get a semi-staged Live Script Read with Actors that go through an audition process, so they can bring your script to life right in front of your eyes. #2: Unlike many other Screenwriting Competitions, we do not charge extra for Feedback #3: We provide AMAZING Industry relevant Coverage and Story Editing FREE! (Value $7500 Per Entrant) #4: Amazing things have happened to a large number of our Top 3 Winners. Agent representation, Options at big Hollywood studios like CAA, Paramount, and Disney. And one of our writers even became a jury member for the Golden Globes. Pretty cool huh? Never entered a film festival before? If you have never entered a competition before for film, documentary or screenplays, ReelHeART should be your first film festival stop. Local Film Industry pros affectionately refer to us as “The Filmmaker’s Bootcamp” as the only film festival that shows all levels of filmmakers ‘the complete indie package’ on how to hit the ground running with promotion, marketing, networking and how to garner distribution interest. Filmmakers refer to us as “The Filmmaker’s Film Festival”. We are proud to wear both banners. We invite you to find out why… The experience you gain at ReelHeART along with the networking opportunities and the welcome you’ll receive are among our priorities and quite possibly one of the top film festival events you’ll ever experience. TYPES OF FILMS AND DOCUMENTARIES ACCEPTED AT ReelHeART: Absolute film, Abstract animation, Actuality film, Adventure film, Amateur film, Animated documentary, Animated Film, Anthology film, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, Art film, Arthouse action film, Austrian Film, Australian Film, B movie, Backstage musical, Bad girl movies, Beach party film, Biographical film, Blaxploitation, Body horror, Bromantic comedy, Buddy cop film, Buddy film, Camcorder or SmartPhone film, Cannibal film, Cartoon, Chicano film, Chick flick, Children's film, Chopsocky, Cinéma vérité, Colonial cinema, Comedy film, Comedy of remarriage, Comedy thriller, Comedy-drama, Comic fantasy, Comic science fiction, Coming-of-age story, Commedia sexy all'italiana, Compilation film, Composite film, Conspiracy fiction, Crime film, Dance film, Direct Cinema, Disaster film, Docudrama, Docufiction, Documentary film, Drama film, Educational film, Epic film, Erotic thriller, Ethnofiction, Ethnographic film, Euro War, European art cinema, Eurospy film, Experimental film, Exploitation film, Fantasy film, Female buddy film, Fictional film, Film à clef, Film gris, Film noir, Florida Western, Found footage, French Film, Genre movie, Gentleman thief, German Film, German underground horror, Giallo, Girls with guns, Gods and demons fiction, Gross out, Guerrilla filmmaking, Guy-cry film, Heist film, Heritage film, Highlight film, Hip hop film, Home movies, Hood film, Horror comedy, Horror film, Independent film, Industrial video, Interstitial art, Japanese film, Japanese horror, Jukebox musical, Korean horror, Korean melodrama, Legal drama, Legal thriller, LGBTQ Film, Werewolf fiction, Mafia comedy, Magic realism, Making-of, Film manifesto, Martial arts film, Melodrama, Message picture, Metacinema, Mexican sex comedy, Mexploitation, Microcinema, Midnight movie, Mob film, Mockbuster, Mockumentary, Monster movie, Mumblecore, Musical film, Musical short, Musicarello, Mystery film, Naturalism, New Queer Cinema, Opera film, Operetta film, Outlaw biker film, Ozploitation, Paracinema, Parallel Cinema, Parody film, Historical period drama, Poetry film, Political thriller, Postmodernist film, Prison film, Propaganda film, Psychological horror, Psychological thriller, Pulp noir, Race film, Revenge film, Real time, Reality film Remodernist film, Retrospective, Road movie, Romance film, Romantic comedy film, Romantic thriller, Samurai cinema, Satanic film, Satire, Science fiction film, Screwball comedy film, Semidocumentary, Silent film, Slapstick Slapstick film, Slasher film, Slow cinema + More!!

Last updated Sep 4, 2026

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• Filmmaker

  Amazing festival. From start to finish ReelHeART was exceptionally run with excellent communication. We were always kept informed of what was required and when. The Q and A's sessions were very enjoyable with really insightful questions. The award ceremony was similarly strong. Well done to the festival team - this is how all festivals should be run!

• Filmmaker

  The team at ReelHeART was absolutely fantastic. The communication was clear and timely. I was fortunate to be able to do a Q&amp;A and the moderators were remarkable. The questions were very thoughtful &amp; they kept the conversation flowing beautifully. I am grateful to the team at ReelHeART - wonderful festival!

• Filmmaker

  The ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival is fantastic. All of the films that I viewed were top notch. All of the festival participants are talented and deserve nothing but success. It was very enjoyable being apart of a Q&amp;A. The notes I received on my scripts were professional and helped me rework them. I would recommend this festival to everyone.

• Filmmaker

  ReelHeART was a great festival. I was extremely grateful they chose my film "I Remember." My only complaint was that my movie has a major surprise ending nobody sees coming and ReelHeART decided to write their own synopsis on their website. Within their synopsis they gave away the ending to my movie. They also used hashtags that gave away the end of the movie as well. I was extremely upset and sent them a strongly worded email. I was very surprised that a film festival that has been in business for 20 years was giving away the end of a film before people watched it. In any event, they changed the synopsis and hashtags immediately and everything was ok. All in all they did a good job with execution, their website was easy to navigate for viewers and they had great communication.

• Filmmaker

  This is a fun online fest! I’d say it was the best Q&amp;A I’ve been a part of at a film festival. ReelHeART was on top of things with communication. It was an honor to receive honorable mention for our short film “Ground Rules for Living with Your Ex” Thanks again for having us!

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