CASCADIA International Women's Film Festival opened short film submissions on August 15 on Film Freeway. Submissions are open for short films 25 minutes and under that are directed by a woman. Films must have been completed and released AFTER October, 2021.
Additional information about CASCADIA's rules for short films can be found on CASCADIA's Film Freeway page. These submissions are for short films only. Feature films are curated, said CASCADIA Executive Director Cheryl Crooks.
“The 2023 festival will be our seventh,” Crooks added. “We have now proudly shown the work of more than 150 women directors since the first festival.”
The in person festival will be May 4-7, with an online version May 11-21. Once again, our audiences were impressed by the high the quality of our films. Our short film jurors, of course, are a big factor in setting and maintaining that standard. Each film submitted is assigned to three jurors who review and rate it based on pre-determined criteria by the festival. Our jurors are largely film industry professionals and film professors. About one third of them are located in the Pacific Northwest, another third are based elsewhere in the U.S., primarily Los Angeles and New York, and another third live outside the United States. We are grateful to all of them for lending their time, support and expertise to CASCADIA to make it the highly selective festival it's become.
“This is one of the best fests out there. Bellingham is beautiful and the community loves this fest so the screenings are packed,” said Ashley Brim, a past CASCADIA director.
If you or anyone you know has a short film directed by a woman that you'd like us to consider, please check out our submission page on Film Freeway.
ABOUT CASCADIA International Women's Film Festival:
CASCADIA International Women’s Film Festival, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and showcasing the work of women filmmakers, was formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 2015. The organization also works year-round to provide film production, exhibition, and distribution education.
Now entering its sixth year, CASCADIA showcases and celebrates exceptional films directed by women. It is one of only a handful of festivals in the U.S. currently dedicated to this purpose. The festival, which usually takes place in downtown Bellingham each spring, was “re-envisioned” following 2020’s COVID shutdowns, and was shown online in both 2020 and 2021. Organizers say they expect to host a live event in 2022 with an online festival occurring afterwards.
Since its first festival five years ago, CASCADIA has presented films by more than 125 women directors from around the world and more than half of the films shown at their 2021 were made by women of color. Last year's festival included eight full-length features and 19 short films including animated films, documentary and narrative films from 14 different countries. Films by students, emerging directors and Indigenous women are also usually in the mix.
More information about CASCADIA may be found on their website at www.cascadiafilmfest.org.
