The 16th annual Hamilton Film Festival is Hamilton's largest and longest running film festivals with roots that go back 20 years! HFF is a Top 100 reviewed festival, out of 10,000 worldwide film festivals! We have reached over 50 countries and have made a large contribution to the growing film scene in Hamilton, making it known that this is a great city for filmmaking, and connecting the talent, tech, and producers! We operate at the ground level and have been recognized as a catalyst for the growing film scene.
We are a film festival in the truest sense, screening undiscovered local and international works.
We have screened over 1000 films, 863 of them Canadian Films! Filmmakers, travel to our event, from all over the world. We have had 50 countries participating in our film market component.
We connect filmmakers and give them another voice.
We celebrate the art of visual storytelling from concept to completion.
From the budding filmmaker to the pro, we are always working to move the industry in Hamilton a little further each year.
Festival Director/CEO - Nathan Fleet at age 16 | Photo by his Mom
16 years young!
Internationally recognized and locally focused, the Hamilton Film Festival got it's start, in the historic Staircase Cafe Theatre. We have added the Westdale Theatre and the Playhouse Theatre to our list of historic venues, and have added The Starlite Drive-In, broadcasts on Cable 14, and moved a portion of the festival online in 2020. The Hamilton Film Festival has been recognized as being a catalyst for the growing film scene in Hamilton, and we're happy to be a small part of that!
The theme this year is COMING OF AGE! We thought this would be the best theme for our 16th anniversary as we're now old enough to drive! We've screened on film, VHS, DVD, Bluray, digital format and DCP. In addition to the movies we've had live music, theatre elements, monks blessing a theatre, a martial arts display, a fashion show, stand-up comedy, a special FX training day and loads of special guests.
Some of the new initiatives this year include working with The Hamilton Ladies of Film and Television, to reach our goal of gender parity with the female-driven movies we program. We have also eliminated late fees this year so it is a single, regular submission period from Feb 16th - Aug 16th. Our goal to make this festival more accessible continues as we are offering discounts to films that will include descriptive captioning.
Our programming is diverse and on par with some of the world's best film festivals. Many filmmakers have cited the Hamilton Film Festival as part of their festival strategy in the Toronto area, Canada and North America and have since been the home to hundreds of premieres. Every year we hear "this program is on par with..."insert Top Tier festival name", and we agree!
Our alumni films have no shelf life as we often help promote them through social media and always keep an eye out for encore screening opportunities and distribution inquiries. With the addition of the Canadian Film Market, our filmmakers will have even more great reasons to submit, and attend, the festival/market.
When the festival began 20 years ago (even before it was renamed Hamilton Film Festival) , there were few annual film screenings in Hamilton that offered the independent filmmaker access to screens and audiences. Today, there are several festivals and opportunities in Hamilton and surrounding areas. Many of those event organizers have acknowledged the Hamilton Film Festival as part of their inspiration and we have always wiling to participate and promote them.
With all the film production activity coming into the city of Hamilton and the new Film District, the festival is contacted throughout the year as a resource for finding cast, crew and locations for independent productions. To better accommodate this we formed the Lights Camera Hamilton group page on facebook where people can post and respond to job opportunities, cast calls and resources. Lights Camera Hamilton started as a segment on Cable 14's Hamilton Life with festival director Nathan Fleet bringing filmmakers on the air and updating the city on what was happening that week in the local film world.
Once again, the Hamilton Film Festival will start on the first Saturday in November and run for 9 days. Nov 6th - 14th, 2021.
We are very honoured to be a small part of the large arts community in Hamilton Ontario.
Internationally recognized and locally focused, the Hamilton Film Festival got it's start, in the historic Staircase Cafe Theatre. We have added the Westdale Theatre and the Playhouse Theatre to our list of historic venues, and have added The Starlite Drive-In, broadcasts on Cable 14, and moved a portion of the festival online in 2020. The Hamilton Film Festival has been recognized as being a catalyst for the growing film scene in Hamilton, and we're happy to be a small part of that!
The theme this year is COMING OF AGE! We thought this would be the best theme for our 16th anniversary as we're now old enough to drive! We've screened on film, VHS, DVD, Bluray, digital format and DCP. In addition to the movies we've had live music, theatre elements, monks blessing a theatre, a martial arts display, a fashion show, stand-up comedy, a special FX training day and loads of special guests.
Some of the new initiatives this year include working with The Hamilton Ladies of Film and Television, to reach our goal of gender parity with the female-driven movies we program. We have also eliminated late fees this year so it is a single, regular submission period from Feb 16th - Aug 16th. Our goal to make this festival more accessible continues as we are offering discounts to films that will include descriptive captioning.
Our programming is diverse and on par with some of the world's best film festivals. Many filmmakers have cited the Hamilton Film Festival as part of their festival strategy in the Toronto area, Canada and North America and have since been the home to hundreds of premieres. Every year we hear "this program is on par with..."insert Top Tier festival name", and we agree!
Our alumni films have no shelf life as we often help promote them through social media and always keep an eye out for encore screening opportunities and distribution inquiries. With the addition of the Canadian Film Market, our filmmakers will have even more great reasons to submit, and attend, the festival/market.
When the festival began 20 years ago (even before it was renamed Hamilton Film Festival) , there were few annual film screenings in Hamilton that offered the independent filmmaker access to screens and audiences. Today, there are several festivals and opportunities in Hamilton and surrounding areas. Many of those event organizers have acknowledged the Hamilton Film Festival as part of their inspiration and we have always wiling to participate and promote them.
With all the film production activity coming into the city of Hamilton and the new Film District, the festival is contacted throughout the year as a resource for finding cast, crew and locations for independent productions. To better accommodate this we formed the Lights Camera Hamilton group page on facebook where people can post and respond to job opportunities, cast calls and resources. Lights Camera Hamilton started as a segment on Cable 14's Hamilton Life with festival director Nathan Fleet bringing filmmakers on the air and updating the city on what was happening that week in the local film world.
Once again, the Hamilton Film Festival will start on the first Saturday in November and run for 9 days. Nov 6th - 14th, 2021.
We are very honoured to be a small part of the large arts community in Hamilton Ontario.
Mandate
We aim to earn the "Hamilton" in our title. Not just support for local filmmakers, but to expose the filmmaking world to our city, which is becoming a major location destination. The Umbrella Academy, The Handmaid's Tale, The Shape of Water, The Hulk, Spotlight are just a small handful of films that have filmed in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
We are 100% independent in spirit, programming and operation, thriving on dedicated personnel, sponsors and ticket sales. We do not receive any government grants. We are close to Toronto and when films can't seem to get into the major events there, we are a great alternative just 50 minutes away.
Locally focused, we always make sure our Hamilton-based filmmakers have a place to screen, network and learn.
Internationally recognized, we make sure our visitors walk away with the experience of meeting new and active filmmakers and producers, as well as experiencing the charm of HFF, and hopefully walking away with a nomination or win!
We are 100% independent in spirit, programming and operation, thriving on dedicated personnel, sponsors and ticket sales. We do not receive any government grants. We are close to Toronto and when films can't seem to get into the major events there, we are a great alternative just 50 minutes away.
Locally focused, we always make sure our Hamilton-based filmmakers have a place to screen, network and learn.
Internationally recognized, we make sure our visitors walk away with the experience of meeting new and active filmmakers and producers, as well as experiencing the charm of HFF, and hopefully walking away with a nomination or win!
Policy
We watch everything that comes in. There isn't a move that doesn't get looked at, reviewed and rated. You are spending your hard earned money and made a decision to submit to us so we will commit the time needed to watch your works, which is why we have such a long submission period (Feb - Aug)
Diversity
Our festival is as diverse as our submissions and we welcome everyone to our screens and theatres. Bringing in films from over 50 countries, we select great movies regardless of race, sexual orientation, religion, gender or geographic location. We are wide open and would love to see any work you feel is meant for film festivals. Since our first festival, we have always included films from the LGBTQ community. As we grow, we are aiming for gender parity through female-driven films, and have recognized that the films we select need to include films from BIPOC filmmakers. In 2020, through a grant from the Hamilton Arts Council, we had a dedicated screening for Indigenous films, curated by Cher Obediah, something we plan to continue going forward.