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About the 2023 Winter Film Awards
| Event Name | Winter Film Awards 11th Annual International Film Festival |
| Event Dates | February 16-25 2023 |
| Press Release | Click here to Download the PDF or visit on our Website |
| Event Focus | Diversity in Film, Emerging Filmmakers from around the World. |
| Short Description | The 11th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 16-25 2023, and includes awesome film screenings, cool discussion panels, career-building professional development workshops and super-fun parties at venues throughout NYC. The event concludes on February 24th with a glittering awards ceremony and hot red carpet gala at NYC’s premier nightclub. The Festival’s lineup includes 73 outstanding films, a diverse mixture of animated films, documentaries, feature narratives, horror films, music videos, narrative shorts and web series. These include 9 student films and 26 first-time filmmakers. Filmmakers come from 21 countries and 40% of our films were made in the New York City area. Winter Film Awards is dedicated to showcasing the amazing diversity of voices in indie film and our 2023 lineup is half made by women and half by or about people of color. Visit www.WinterFilmAwards.com for tickets, details and schedule! #WinterIsComing #CelebrateDiversity |
| Event Artwork | WFA2023 Official Artwork was designed by New York City native and recent High School of Art & Design graduate Azailia Pope. Official Image (square) Official Image (horiz) Official Image (poster) WFA Logo |
| Opening Party | February 16 2023, 7pm-2am — DOM New York (287 Park Avenue South) (FREE, 21+ w/ID) |
| Screenings | February 17-23 Cinema Village, 22 East 12th St. Screening blocks are 1 ½ – 2 ½ hours long and include a mix of shorts and feature-length films. All screening blocks include a 20-minute Q&A Session with the filmmakers. Documentary Day – February 18th, Bloody Sunday Horror Night – February 19th. Screening Tickets are $12.50/In Advance, $16.50/Door, $5/Door with Student ID. ALL SCREENINGS – Try Coca-Cola’s latest CREATION – FREE – Compliments of Liberty Coca-Cola! |
| Awards Show/Red Carpet Gala | February 24 2023, 7pm-2am — Club 230FIFTH (230 Fifth Avenue) (FREE, 21+ w/ID) 7pm – Red Carpet 9pm – Awards Ceremony featuring live entertainment 10pm – After Party |
| Discussion Panels/Workshops (FREE) | Evening sessions February 17 and February 20-23 from 7-8:15PM at Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street and all day February 24 at NYFA (17 Battery Place). The Festival’s eight sessions cover topics of interest to emerging filmmakers and are free and open to the public. |
| Tickets | Tickets are available for purchase at https://wfa2023.eventcombo.com/ Parties are FREE before 11pm. Discussion Panels are FREE. Matinee screenings are $10. Screenings each night and all weekend $12.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door ($5 at the door w/Student ID) |
| Festival Benchmarks | 677 … 2023 Total Submissions 73 … 2023 selected Films 21 …. Countries 10 …. Animated films 12 ….. Documentaries 8 …. Feature narratives 11 …. Horror films 6 …. Music Videos 22 …. Narrative shorts 4 …. Web series 53% …. Films directed or produced by women 58% …. Films by or about people of color 40% …. Films by New Yorkers or shot in New York City 8 …. Student films 28 …. First time directors 10 …. Returning WFA Alumni |
About Winter Film Awards
| Leaders | George Isaacs (Founder/CEO), Steffanie L Finn (Executive Director) |
| Social Media | Website: https://winterfilmawards.com Facebook: @WinterFilmAwardsGala Instagram: @winterfilmawards Twitter: @WinterFilmAward YouTube: WinterFilmAwards |
| About Us | WINTER FILM AWARDS is an all-volunteer, minority and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. Our mission is to promote diversity, bridge the opportunity divide and provide a platform for under-represented artists and a variety of genres, viewpoints and approaches. We believe that only by seeing others’ stories can we understand each other and only via an open door can the underrepresented artist enter the room. Winter Film Awards programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. |
| Demographics | Winter Film Awards showcases the eclectic diversity and excitement of independent arts in the Indie Film capital of the world. Our event sees 4500+ attendees, 12k+ social media fans and 60k+ website visitors. Our fans are 45% women, 8% LGBT, 15% Latino, 20% African-American, 20% Asian. 75% come from the tri-state area. 1/3 are students, 15% are ages 18-24, 35% are ages 18-34, 23% are ages 35-44. Via our partnerships with Yelp, local universities and film schools, and other partners, Festival notices reach over 1.5million people. |
Press Coverage
Film Daily, Indie Film Fest of the Day: Winter Film Awards International Film Festival
Film Festival Reviews, “Interview with Festival Executive Director Steffanie Finn”
UrbanGlobal Magazine, “A Look Into Winter Film Awards With Steffanie Finn | Interview”
Film Daily, Film Festival of the Day: Winter Film Awards
Kering Magazine, “The Winter of Content”
PopMatters, “The Winter Film Awards Indie Film Festival Depicts Characters in Unfamiliar Worlds”
Film Daily, Let it snow: The Winter Film Awards Indie Film Festival
DNAInfo, International Indie Film Festival Heads to Cinema Village
Black Star News: “The 2016 Fifth Annual Indie Film Festival and Winter Film Awards Extravaganza!”
Quotes
Festival Founder George Isaacs says “Emerging filmmakers with low budgets and no connections are so often ignored in favor of the standard big budget generic action films. Diverse, exciting low budget films are created all over the world; it is critical for film festivals to showcase them. Indie film festivals are often the sole means for the community to share personal stories from around the world, and WFA’s location in the center of the action provides our filmmakers with a dazzling chance to begin their careers in the film industry.”
“Winter Film Awards International Film Festival has been one of the best festivals experience I have ever had. Organisers were pure souls, friendly, supportive who supported and helped indie and diverse filmmakers until last minute. For me and my team, it is definitely the best Indie film festival in the world who is running this for the sake of love, grow diverse stories, support indie film community, great networking. I will def attend the festival next time.” — Veemsen Lama, director of “The Puppet”, WFA2021
“This festival was such a great experience for me and my team. Steffanie was easy to reach, helpful and encouraging. The energy of their volunteers is remarkable – they interview, they moderate, they host the festival with a lot of zest. The people who attended our screening were well informed and stayed around for the Q & A asking really solid questions about our film. It was really worth the trip to NYC!” — Richard Hall, Executive Producer “The 600: The Soldiers’ Story”, WFA2020
“On behalf the girls and I at Gladiolus Productions , I’d just like to say a big thank you for your wonderful organization and professionalism with the Winter Film Awards Film Fest. The venue, the warm greeting and the quality of the selected films have all been top notch. With our film “Moral Compass”, we have attended seven festivals and Winter Film Awards is leaps and bound ahead of the others (no offense to the other festivals!). I can honestly say that we, and all of the guests that came to see our film were delighted by the films the staff and the venue.” — Kylie Garcelon, director “Moral Compass”, WFA2017
“A great festival which truly gives the stage to some fantastic filmmakers and some of the best and most unique indie films I’ve seen!” – Karni Hanema, director “F*ck You Jessica Blair”, WFA2017
“The entry fee is 100% worth it for this festival. From the get-go Steffanie and her team are incredibly communicative and welcoming. The festival is also very well organized and the events are loads of fun! These guys just love watching films and they show it by putting together a great festival for the filmmakers.” – Cinder Chou, director “What Happened to Susan”, WFA2016
“How do you find the right film festival for your film with so many to choose from? When I attended Winter Film Awards with our music video “Too Blonde” in 2013 I experienced fast and friendly e-mail response, I met a lot of wonderful film makers and I made a lot of great new friends, we were interviewed several times (3 of them on camera), we were part of a very well organized and very very classy award ceremony with several of my heroes from the industry. And I got to show our music video to a wonderful audience. Winter Film Awards is by far the best film festival experience to date!” — Bjarke de Koning, director “Too Blonde” WFA2013 and “The Last Girl” WFA2016
