For our 2015 season, we are accepting submissions internationally of feature length and short length films in the genres of Documentary, Experimental, Religious/Spiritual, Animation, Comedy, Horror, with Horror sub-genres that include Supernatural, Thrillers, Wicken, Magical, Slashers, Science Fiction, Suspense, Horror Documentary, Horror Animation and all genres of Music Videos and GLBT films for the 2015 festival.

The 2015 Great Lakes International Film Festival shall accept Music Videos from around the world of cross-continent and cross-genre productions. We shall accept Music Videos of all genres from Pop, Punk, Rock, Alt-Country, Country-Western, Folk, Reggae, Hip-Hop to Electronica, Jazz, Blues, Zydeco, Industrial, Metal, Hardcore, Gothic, Karaoke, Avant-Garde, World Music, and Experimental.

We will also be accepting all forms of Religious, Christian, and Spiritual films including African, African-American, GLBT, Black, Hispanic, Islamic, Latino, Native/Aboriginal and student films from the United States and around the world.

Bold visions, adventurous ideas, skillfully crafted and artistically inspired projects are the kinds of films we are looking for. We are looking for films that challenge the mind and enrich the senses, films that test the boundaries of creativity and entertain the masses with cinematic treasure of the most extraordinary kind.

Showcasing the best films of the 2015 season, the Great Lakes International Film Festival will be held LIVE in the great city of Erie Pennsylvania in September 2015, with our online festival taking place September 24th thru October 3rd, 2015.

Since our inception, the Great Lakes International Film Festival has always been on the cutting-edge of independent film presentation.

As the first to introduce film screenings that completely utilized the DLP® technology developed by Texas Instruments, our festival has always brought tomorrow’s technology to the independent film world today.

In keeping with that same dedication to technology, our festival now introduces the new face of online film screenings.

Similar to how digital technology swept the independent film community since the early 2000s, for many reasons the virtual theater is quickly becoming the first, best choice for festivals, and the new home of Independent film screening worldwide.

The virtual theatre is the future of film festivals, as more and more festivals are now screening films online, and even the big festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival are moving to online screenings.

Festivals around the world are now making the leap to cyber screenings because of many reasons, including that it allows for so much more exposure for the films.  It is expected that, just like the extinction of the 35mm projectors that were replaced with digital, one day in the not too distant future all film festivals will screen almost exclusively online, with only few live presentations, if any.

Unique to our screening platform, and much like a brick and mortar screening, our virtual theater allows the filmmaker’s work to be showcased to the world with the highest levels of security and presentation quality.

Unlike any online screening system in the world, ours never allows films to be copied, downloaded, or reproduced in any way, nor can the html code of any film be copied and pasted into any other site successfully. No film launched in our virtual theater can play or even appear on any other website.

The Great Lakes International Film Festival’s virtual theater platform offers filmmakers not only the exposure to the world that they deserve, but does so keeping the integrity of the film and the filmmaker’s trust always fully intact.

Over the years, we have had many films that have screened on the Sundance Channel, IFC, PBS and HBO along with countless filmmakers who have received distribution deals after screening in our festival.

For the filmmaker that is looking for a bit more, the Great Lakes International Film Festival is also a great place to get your film noticed. In October of 2004 we were proud to present the North East United States Premiere of “SAW”, Lions Gate Films’ gripping psychological thriller starring Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter and Leigh Whannel, and with “The Collector of Bedford Street” having been nominated for an Academy Award after being screened at our 2002 fest, we certainly bring the best and the brightest to the shores of Erie, Pa.

We have also been host to such filmmakers and special guests as actor/director/producer Dirk Benedict (Battlestar Galactica and A-Team); writer Erick Rodgers (Writer of NYPD Blue); director/producer Harri James (script supervisor “Alias”, Tremors II: Aftershocks, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins); producer Otto Felix (“B.J. and the Bear” & Up in Smoke); award-winning, best-selling mystery author Jamian Snow (Shrouded Insanity); actor/writer/producer Bill Hinzman (Flesheater & Night of the Living Dead); director Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger films, Pot Zombies, & President of Troma Films); actor Gunnar Hansen (Texas Chainsaw Massacre); actor/ director Mark Borchardt (American Movie & Coven); director John Hancock (“Hill Street Blues”, “The Twilight Zone”, & California Dreaming); actress Debbie Rochon “Scream Queen” (Blood Relic, Vampyre Tales, & Lord of the Undead); producer/director Bobby Logan (Meatballs 4 & Repossessed); Joel Miller; WWE and ECW wrestling superstar The Blue Meanie, and in 2002 we had the unique opportunity to present Keith Carradine with a special award for artistic excellence, award-winning director Joone, award-winning actress Jesse Jane, and local actress Marie Madison.

The legendary Terry Moore who was our special guest of honor in 2006 was presented with a lifetime Achievement Award for her amazing accomplishments in film over the past 60 years.

From the feature narrative genre to documentary to animation; experimental, horror and Spiritual films, the Great Lakes International Film Festival celebrates the film arts in dynamic transition. As emerging technologies continue to redefine the form, filmmakers from the Great Lakes region, across the country and around the world express the common and the diverse through the age-old tradition. — The art of the story.