2013 Open Call
2013 Season Open Call for Entries
14 EXCITING CATEGORIES OF COMPETITION TO CHOOSE FROM
12 Film Competitions ** 2 Screenplay Competitions
**Please Note: All Films MUST be a Premiere**
We do not recycle films screened at other fests in Toronto
Deadlines U Missed –
Early Bird Deadline August 31, 2012Regular October 15, 2012
Deadline Remaining -
Late Deadline – -December 15, 2012
DEADLINE EXTENSION ’til December 30, 2012
- Submit your Short or Feature Screenplay
- Submit your Film or Documentary
(Any Genre: Drama, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy, Film Noir, etc) Open to all Narrative Films 70 minutes and over in length. This category is open to directors of all levels. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- 1st Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 2nd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 3rd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Feature Documentary – Competition
(Any Genre) Open to all documentary films 70 minutes and over in length. This category is open to directors of all levels. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- 1st Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 2nd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 3rd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Short or Long Form Film – Narrative – Competition
(Any Genre: Drama, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy, Film Noir, etc)
Open to all Short or Long Form Films 69 minutes and under in length. This category is open to directors of all levels, including students. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- 1st Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 2nd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 3rd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Short or Long Form Documentary – Competition
(Any Genre) Open to all Short or Long Form Documentary Films 69 minutes and under in length. This category is open to directors of all levels, including students. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- 1st Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 2nd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 3rd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Dance, or Music Related Film – Competition
(Dance = Any Dance Form i.e. Ballet, Contemporary, Swing, Hip-Hop, Ballroom)
(Music Related Film = Bio Pics, Profiles, Docs on Music Scene/Artists, Bands, Concerts, etc)
Open to all Dance or Music Related Films that are of ANY length. This category is open to directors of all levels, including students. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- 1st Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 2nd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
- 3rd Prize Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Animation or New Media Film – Competition
(Any Genre) Open to all animated, new media and highly visual films of ANY length. This category is open to directors of all levels, including students. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- Best Animated Film
Winner will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Experimental Film – Competition
(Any Genre) Open to all Experimental Films that are of ANY length. This category is open to directors of all levels, including students. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- Best Experimental Film
Winners will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
Music Video – Competition
(Any Music Genre) This category is open to directors of all levels, including students. Open to all Music Videos of any length. Music Videos in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- Best Music Video
Winner will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
ReelHeART Short Screenplay – Competition
Do NOT miss out on submitting your script for 2013 – Here’s what great about this competition for 2013. The Top 3 winning scripts will receive a rehearsed cast-to-type live just like we do for our top 3 feature Screenplay Competition Winners. The only difference, all 3 scripts will be read on the same night in front of a festival audience at our exciting Venue program. Agents will be in attendance.
- Top 3 Winning Scripts
All Top 3 Winners will receive a rehearsed cast-to-type Live read in front of a festival audience and each evening before a feature film premiere screening - All Top 3 Winners will receive a personalized Award (and possibly a screenwriting related gift)
- ALL scripts will receive written coverage via email
This competition is open to screenplay writers of all levels. This competition is open to scripts of ALL genres. Your script must be a “Short Film” script.
- Please keep your script length to 15 pages or less
- Scripts longer than 15 pages will be automatically disqualified
The script must
- If sending your script by mail, Scripts must be attached with brass brads/fasteners
- If sending your script by mail you MUST send 2 hard copies of your script
- Save the Environment and help ReelHeART be a ‘green fest’ by sending your scripts via email
Please use ‘WARNER BROTHERS’ style set up in your Final Draft or script writing software. If not using software, please format your script using the guideline for script formatting at Film School Online
ReelHeART Feature Screenplay – Competition
You heard the buzz from the last seasons. The excitement still hasn’t stopped. Do NOT miss out on submitting your script for 2010 – Our 2009 2nd place screenwriter got top literary agent representation at the end of an exciting week at ReelHeART 2009. and in 2011 TWO of the Top 3 Winners were by the same writing team and one of their scripts is on its way to a director right now!
This competition is open to screenplay writers of all levels. This competition is open to scripts of ALL genres. Your script must be a “Feature Film” script.
Please try to keep your script length to 120 pages or less. We’ll work with you to pare it down. We do have a margin that it can be over. But the shorter the better for all. A shorter script is more commercially viable.
- If sending your script by mail, scripts must be attached with brass brads/fasteners
- If sending your script by mail you MUST send 2 hard copies of your script
- Save the Environment and help ReelHeART be a ‘green fest’ by sending your scripts via email
Please use ‘WARNER BROTHERS’ style set up in your Final Draft or script writing software. If not using software, please format your script using the guideline for script formatting at Film School Online
-
- Top 3 Winning Scripts
All Top 3 Winners will receive a full rehearsed cast-to-type Live read in front of a festival audience with post Q&A
- Top 3 Winning Scripts
- Depending on Agent availability, the 1st Place Screenwriter will win a one-on-one lunch or coffee chat with a top agent
- All Top 3 Winners will receive a personalized Award (and possibly a screenwriting related gift)
- ALL scripts will receive written coverage via email
ReelHeART “Off The Shelf” - Competition
(Any Genre) The ReelHeART “Off The Shelf” Category was introduced in 2008 for films of all genres that never saw the light of day, or never reached an audience shortly after the film was completed. Your film has to be more than 5 years old to be eligible-
Over the past 6 seasons, ReelHeART has been impressed with the number of films we come across during our research that are quality films but we’ve never heard of before. Art House films, documentaries, experimental films and animation- We’ve seen a quite a few and liked them.
Whether your film was created on a student/no/lo/moderate/or big budget we’d like to see it. If your film passes our criterion for all of our other categories, we’ll put it thought the same screening and scoring process as our other submissions.
We know there are quite a few experimental films out there that their loving filmmakers ‘tweaked for years’ only to be beat out by time, technology or money to market and screen their film.
We also know there are genre specific “blaxplotation”, “avant-garde”, “queer” “b-movie” and “underground” films that never got through the doors of very many theaters if at all. We know there’s tons of documentaries, quirky profiles, garage music videos, x-rated animation and experimental mixed media out there. If your film is one of these, we want to see it.
If your film is over 5 years old and you’d like to see how it matches up to its contemporaries, we urge you to submit your film today. We’re excited about this addition to ReelHeART. We hope you will be too!
- Best “Off The Shelf” Prize
Winner will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
This prize is NOT shared with other categories
ReelHeART ReelTube Film and Video – Competition
(Any Genre) In this time of Webisodes, Point n Post and where anyone anywhere can upload, view and share user generated videos, ReelHeART would we’d like to take it old school.
ReelHeART has decided to introduce web videos to its film festival audience to see if filmgoers are willing to see something on the big screen they can see anytime they want on the Internet.
The criterion for getting in this category is fairly simple. We ask that you DO NOT SUBMIT ANY unauthorized clips from television shows, films and music videos.
We also ask that you DO NOT SUBMIT videos containing pornography, nudity, defamation, harassment, commercial advertisements and material encouraging criminal conduct. Your video has to be all original with only “fair use” of material (i.e. music, an image, a quote).
Your video has to have production values, i.e. Clear Video, Clean Audio and a STORY. This category also includes cinéma vérité. Other than that, absolutely anything goes!
The Top Winner will be awarded a “Best of Prize” honor and that my friend, you can submit to other film festivals and eventually shop around to Hollywood…
- Best “ReelTube” Prize
Winner will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
This prize is NOT shared with other categories
ReelHeART Thesis Film – Competition
(Any Genre including Docs) Calling all Thesis Filmmakers! Ok, so what have you done lately with that thesis film of yours?We don’t care what year you graduated. We just care that your film has excellent production values and a great story– for whatever year.
Spike Lee’s thesis film was called “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads“. Since then he’s made over 35 films. So, have you got a thesis film we should see before you make it big?
Where has it screened? If it hasn’t screened in Toronto, Canada, we may be interested in seeing it.
Your thesis film has to have production values, i.e. Clear Video, Clean Audio and a STORY. This category also includes cinéma vérité.
The criterion for getting in the category is fairly simple. We ask that you DO NOT SUBMIT ANY unauthorized clips from television shows, films, books, magazines and music videos.
We also ask that you DO NOT SUBMIT videos containing defamation, harassment, commercial advertisements and material encouraging criminal conduct.
Your thesis film has to be all original with only “fair use” of material (i.e. music, an image, a quote).
Narrative, Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Underground – This category is wide open. Whatever you made as your thesis film, it’s eligible in this category. Prizes in this category are 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place as well as in competition for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Venue.
You’ll need to write a brief cover letter that gives us details about you, your school program, the year you graduated (we don’t care even if it was in the 40s), the mark you got (high or low doesn’t matter it’s the content we’re interested in), and what you’ve done since making your thesis film.
If you haven’t made it to a film festival yet, why not make it one with ReelHeART…
- Best “Thesis Film” Prize
Winner will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy
This prize is NOT shared with other categories
New for 2103! ReelHeART 5 Minute Film Challenge – Competition
(Any Genre: Drama, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy, Film Noir, etc)
Are you the kind of filmmaker that likes a Challenge? Well, now’s your chance to show us what you got!
1. Make a 5 minute film using any media (film, digital, stills, smartphone, etc)
2. Make sure that 5 minutes includes all credits and is the total running time
3. ADD our ’2013 Signature Item’ a “Newspaper”
4. ADD our ’2013 Signature Phrase’ “That’s a ReelHeART”
5. Submit your finished Film!
6. All selected films will be screened
7. All selected and screened films will be Voted on by the Audience
This category is open to directors of all levels. Films in a language other than English must be subtitled.
- “Best of” Prize Winner will receive a personalized Medallion or Trophy and $100 Bucks Cash!
Need a break on fees for your film entry? Ask about our Director’s Discount right Here!




[...] ReelHeART International Film Festival Toronto, Ontario, Canada Late Deadline: 12/31/2011 [...]
[...] Submissions for 9th Annual ReelHeART Now Open [...]
is this competition open internationally?
Cause i’m from the Philippines and I really wanna join.
Thank you!
Hello there,
I was wondering if I can participate in your competition, if my screenplay is written in two languages; Arabic and English [60% Arabic; 40% English]… However, I have the entire screenplay translated to English… Also, I’m a Palestinian man living in Beirut-Lebanon… Am I eligible to enter your competition or not?? If your answer is YES; then is it okay to enter other competitions at the same time or is it not allowed??? Please Reply.