DMV INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: Submit Your Best Projects!

Follow The DMV International Film Festival:

December 2022 marks the 12 year anniversary since the birth of the DMV INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. According to their website, it’s mission is to discover, unite, develop and enrich the cinema talents in & of the DC, MD, VA, as well as internationally.

Of the estimated 3500 project submissions, only 50 will be selected to be showcased in front of an exclusive group of 200 attendees that will help in determining the 7 winners of the elusive awards presented.

Your submission can land you an award from one of the 7 categories with combined cash prizes totaling to nearly $10,000. The categories and their prizes are as followed:

Best Narrative Feature ($1,000 prize)
Best Documentary Feature ($1,000 prize)
Best Narrative Short ($250 prize)
Best Documentary Short ($250 prize)
Best Animated Short ($250 prize)
Best Cinematography ($7,000 value in camera & post rental/services)
[Sponsored by Tea Britt Project, LLC]
DMV Film Award ($1,000 prize)

**The winners of the Narrative Short, Documentary Short, and Animated Short prizes all qualify for the FWAE Award.

Filmmaker With An Eye (FWAE Award/$500 prize)

I reached out to the founder of the DMVIFF to find out more about this infuential event and its roots. Here’s what she had to say:

Bad Habit: Tell me about the DMV International Film Festival.

DMVIFF: So the film festival is my baby. It originally started as a place to screen fellow filmmakers’ work from the UK in Washington DC. My ties to England are strong, so I wanted to bring that “foreign cinema” feel here, while being able to network among like minded people. DMVIFF also is the mother to ‘DMV Nude’. [art experience & event]

Bad Habit: That’s really dope. Now, as far as submissions go, who can do it? Also, who qualifies for the actual competition?

DMVIFF: It’s a niche festival, I don’t even think there are many of its kind. It’s the only festival that I know of that caters only to local filmmakers and foreign filmmakers. We do screen films from all over the US, but the competition portion is only open to local filmmakers [DMV area] and foreign filmmakers. It’s a way for me to really unify and bridge the gap between local filmmakers in Washington DC & foreign filmmakers. It was an initiative to get more local filmmakers overseas to do more filmmaking projects and vice versa.