US International Film & Video Festival, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, has opened the 2017 competition. Entries are invited in Corporate, Education, Entertainment, Documentary and Student categories. Entries must have been produced or released between Sept. 1, 2015, and March 1, 2017.  The entry deadline is March 15.

The festival began as U.S. Industrial Film and Video Festival in 1967 in Chicago when that city was bigger in the film business than Hollywood. USIFVF gave its initial awards in 1968, and the competition has been held continuously since, changing to accommodate new technologies. From those early days when entry instructions were “16mm industrial motion pictures and 35 mm filmstrips,” 2017 entry opportunities include 360°-Video, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).  Entries are submitted online, and judges, with only a few exceptions, do their assessments online.

US International Film & Video Festival (nicknamed FilmFest) moved to Los Angeles in 2001, but remains independently owned in a field dominated by industry-sponsored competitions. Annual awards include a First-Place Gold Camera Statuette, Second-Place Silver Screen Statuette, Third-Place Certificate for Creative Excellence, Student Award Certificate, Best of Festival (Grand Prix) and One World, which honors a production that demonstrates international cooperation and global understanding. This award is selected and presented by the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers (iqfilm.org). 

In the judging process, entries are evaluated against peers, meaning Corporate competes with Corporate, Education against Education, and so on. Also, judges are not required to offer awards in all categories. As a result, the top award in a category is not necessarily a Gold Camera, but may be a Silver Screen or Certificate.  Conversely, more than one Gold, Silver or Certificate may be awarded in a category.

 Full information on the competition can be found at www.filmfestawards.com.