The San Francisco Film Society announced today that the longest-running film festival in the Americas, the San Francisco International Film Festival, recognized throughout the world for its eclectic, intelligent and adventurous programs and events, is accepting submissions to SFIFF53 (April 22 - May 6, 2010). Works in all genres, forms and lengths are considered. The primary deadline is Friday, November 6; the final deadline is Friday, December 4; and the final deadline for documentary features only is December 21.

The Festival has built an international reputation for bringing the world's finest films and filmmakers together with passionate and enthusiastic Bay Area audiences. Visionary from the start, the International has shown over 6,000 films from over 120 countries to two million people and earned worldwide recognition as an extraordinary showcase of cinematic excellence.

The 15-day International presents 200 films from 50 countries to an audience of 82,000 film lovers, filmmakers, industry representatives and journalists and awards $95,000 in cash prizes to filmmakers with $75,000 given to makers of feature length documentary and narrative works.

GOLDEN GATE AWARDS COMPETITION
SFIFF is deeply rooted in the finest traditions of appreciation of film both as an art form and as a meaningful agent for social change. The Festival has become an important showcase for the most searching and probing films from across the globe.

Documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental, youth-produced and television works are eligible for 16 Golden Gate Awards and cash prizes totaling $95,000. The Golden Gate Award for Best Investigative Documentary Feature bestows a juried cash prize of $25,000. This award and the $20,000 purse for Best Documentary Feature and $15,000 purse for Best Bay Area Documentary Feature enable the Festival to showcase the world's finest nonfiction works. Additional prizes of goods and services will be given at the Golden Gate Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the San Francisco International Film Festival as a qualifying festival for the live action and animated short categories of the 82nd Academy Awards.

First features by emerging filmmakers will be considered for the $15,000 New Directors Prize, established in 1997 by the Festival to recognize a film with a unique artistic sensibility or vision. Narrative features are eligible to be considered for the FIPRESCI Prize, awarded by members of the International Federation of Film Critics. The San Francisco International Film Festival is one of only three North American film festivals selected to award a FIPRESCI Prize.