From the founder of Australia's two leading genre film festivals - A Night of Horror International Film Festival and Fantastic Planet, Sydney Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival - comes a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, underground, off-beat, alternative, and just plain weird... to the American Midwest!

The Midwest is filled with dark and mysterious byways, strange critters, and mythical beasties. And the great state of Wisconsin has more than its share: from the very real historical monsters Ed Gein and Jeffery Dahmer, to legendary cryptids like the Beast of Bray Road and the Hodag, to strange and wonderful places such as the Forevertron, a UFO landing port, and the mythical town of killer midgets known as Haunchyville.... It's the perfect territory for a festival that focuses on weird cinema from all around the world.

The festival team dreams of MidWest WeirdFest evoking the awe and chills of the sideshow alley of a dark carnival, a place filled with wonders, terrors, and forbidden surprises. The cinematic equivalent of a collection of pulp magazines and underground comix. A film festival that not only celebrates and showcases independent genre cinema - horror, sci-fi, fantasy, thriller - but one that welcomes all types of underground film. From experimental and avant-garde to offbeat documentaries. The festival's seasoned programmers can't wait to see what cinematic wonders await in MidWest WeirdFest's first season of festival submissions!

MidWest WeirdFest's main venue is the Micon Downtown Cinema, located in the welcoming college town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

An interactive online film festival and digital broadcast platform to showcase incredible, inspiring and revolutionary film content to a global audience. itzon will be a place to experience the best independent films, documentaries and animation. An innovative and fully interactive service for filmmaker and audience member alike; our vision is to play our part in helping more independent productions get distribution deals or be acquired for mainstream TV broadcast and to help filmmakers create co-pro opportunities, win commissions, achieve film sales, get recognition and build a global fan base for their work.
We’re here to showcase the best in films, documentaries and animations. Anything from 90 second microshorts right through to 2 hour epic features; one off’s, series’ or multipart’s, scientific documentaries, historical biographies, extreme sports, right through to drama, comedy and sci-fi. We celebrate the independent spirit of engaging and original storytelling through diverse voices and films that push the boundaries.
itzon is the world’s first online broadcast film festival, visually it runs just like a standard TV channel but in your internet browser, and features a linear stream of programmes running 24/7, all of it uploaded by independent filmmakers.
There is no fee to upload a film to itzon and when a film has aired on the linear stream it will automatically be entered into the itzon VoD service for 30 days. We have also created a system where filmmakers have the potential to earn money back from the VoD service based on the number of views their film receives. The best thing about this is that if you have more than one film running with us the viewing numbers for all your films are tallied together to maximise your earning potential.
On top of this are the festival winners prizes we offer each month, which include cash, software and hardware.
Plus we facilitate filmmakers to sell copies of their films, DVDs, digital downloads, soundtracks and merchandise through the itzon site and we take no commission, 100% comes back to the filmmaker and their team.
The technology and software we’ve created to stream itzon and ensure the security of films and the enjoyment of our audience is revolutionary. For this reason the visual interface for itzon will not be available until October 2010. So to give you an insight into how the channel will look and work, you can watch this quick video: We actively promote your films with the aid of our online weekly magazine, which contains featured articles, daily listings, and video trailers by delivering it by email into our audience’s inbox first thing on a Saturday morning. Your audience are able to vote on all films whilst they watch the live stream plus send you the filmmaker a direct message giving you instant feedback.
The film festival awards are given monthly, and 2 month in arrears. For example all films transmitted in our live stream during November will be part of the November festival. However they will continue to receive votes for a further 30 days in the VoD system (during December). We will therefore only be able to tally audience votes at the beginning of January. The 5 films with the most audience votes in all three categories will be assessed by a judging panel to find a winner in each. As well as cash and additional prizes the winners will be interviewed for a feature in our magazine as well as being relisted for a further 30 days publicity.
More importantly our mission is to provide regular feedback to Distributors, Broadcasters, Commissioning Editors and Creative Directors. If your film receives rave reviews from the itzon audience then we make sure that that feedback goes straight into the inboxes of the people who will be interested in your talents and could help you develop your career in the future.
We are really passionate about providing a service by filmmakers for filmmakers. TV is changing, film is changing, distribution and audiences are changing and we want you to be part of it with us.

The Williamsburg International Film Festival | WILLiFEST spotlights independent filmmakers from around the world. We encourage you to submit your work and join us in New York City for a professional, fun-filled festival of screenings, panels, networking opportunities and after-parties.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Williamsburg International Film Festival, voted top 20 coolest film festival by MovieMaker Magazine, is the film component of WILLiFEST. WILLiFEST was established to provide a platform for the creative visions of today's emerging artists of all disciplines. The film and music festivals are opportunities for artists to enhance their careers by exposing their films and music to a powerful audience, gaining crucial media exposure and strengthening industry relationships. In the LiVE it UP! Pavilion, Donna Drake, a nationally syndicated TV talk show host, interviews filmmakers and local celebrities. The Filmmakers' Lounge provides filmmakers a space to promote their films and network with each other in between their screenings.

In addition to red carpet premieres, the festival features several film competitions. A Screenplay competition rounds out the offerings. The closing night award ceremony will honor award winners in each category. At WILLiFEST, we pride ourselves on elevating the filmmaker's experience. This festival was created for the artist, by artists, and we look forward to taking you, your film or your screenplay to the next level.

The categories of entries we are accepting for the 2012 Williamsburg International Film Festival are as follows:

U.S. Narrative Feature Films
Any narrative work of fiction with a running time of at least 50 minutes. In order to qualify as a U.S. Narrative Feature Film, the submitted project must be either scripted or improvisational fiction. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

U.S. Documentary Feature Films
Any non-fiction film with a running time of at least 50 minutes, NOT including entirely scripted or improvised fictionalizations of actual events. If your documentary contains limited dramatization of actual events, you may submit in this category, but we will ultimately decide which program is best suited for your project, if accepted. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

International Narrative Feature Films
Any narrative work of fiction with a running time of at least 50 minutes. In order to qualify as an International Narrative Feature Film, the submitted project must be either scripted or improvisational fiction, and production must have occurred outside of the United States. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

International Documentary Feature Films
Any non-fiction film with a running time of at least 50 minutes, NOT including entirely scripted or improvised fictionalizations of actual events. If your documentary contains limited dramatization of actual events, you may submit in this category, but we will ultimately decide which program is best suited for your project, if accepted. In order to qualify as an International Documentary Feature Film, the film must be unscripted and production must have occurred outside of the United States. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

U.S. Short Films
Any narrative or documentary film of U.S. origin with a running time of 49 minutes or less. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

International Short Films
Any narrative or documentary film of international origin with a running time of 49 minutes or less. In order to qualify as an International Short Film, production must have occurred outside of the United States. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

Animated Films
Any animated film in any style of animation from any country of origin with a running time of any length. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

Family Fare
Any live action or animation of any length from any country that celebrates the whole family coming together to enjoy and share the movie-going experience. Any subject matter considered. All films should be appropriate for general audiences. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

Student Films
Any U.S. or International narrative or documentary film of any length. Proof of school enrollment is required. No premiere status is required. Films must have been completed after January 2010.

Music Videos
Any film or video in sync to music from any country of origin with a running time of less than 10 minutes. No premiere status is required. Music Videos do not have a completion requirement.

Midnight Treats
A treat for true cinephiles and casual filmgoers alike, this non-competition section presents an eclectic mix of horror, sci-fi, over-the-top comedies, explicit animation and bizarre stories that defy categorization. Midnight Treats have no premiere or completion requirements.

Screenplays
Any feature-length, English-language, narrative screenplay of any genre. Scripts must have a minimum page
count of 60 pages and a maximum page count of 240, all pages numbered
and in standard industry format. Title page or email should include author name(s), title, street address, phone number, email address and WAB ID#. We only accept electronic submissions. Digital formats accepted are Final Draft or Adobe PDF documents. After completing the on-line application process and paying appropriate fee, digital screenplay submissions should be emailed to screenplays@willifest.com or uploaded to Withoutabox.com. Title page must include author name(s), title, home address, phone number, email address and WAB #.