Opening Night / Oct. 7th 2022
Chicago Cultural Center
6:00p – 9:00p

Doors open at 6:00p!

Live Performances

• JAZZ OCCURRENCE with Lewis Achenbach and a 3 piece jazz band
• Chicago’s KUUMBA LYNX will perform the spoken word presentation “Juke for Liberation”

Speaker

Special Guest CARL JONES (“The Boondocks” / “Black Dynamite”) will discuss his career and join us in a special VAiFF announcement.

Premiere

• VAiFF 2021 Production Grant Winner Cesar Ramirez will premiere his short film “IndiviDUALITY”.

Awards Presentation

We will kick off the festival with the first award presentation of the season. We will screen and announce the winner in our MUSIC VIDEO CATEGORY.

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Closing Night / Oct. 8th 2022
Facets Chicago
6:00p – 10:0

Doors open at 6:00p!

Speaker

Carl Jones (“The Boondocks”, “Black Dynamite”, “The Last OG”) has a private symposium with 30 content creators to tell them the secrets of his success, what people want, what they don’t want and how they can enhance their brand and set themselves up for success. **THIS IS A SEPARATE TICKETED EVENT**

Screenings

The following VAiFF award screenings and presentations will happen live for our following categories: COMEDY, DOCUMENTARY, DRAMA and HORROR / THRILLER.

We will have a special closing night screening of the film “PRETTY BOY” by filmmaker Sejahari Saulter-Villegas.

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VIRTUAL SCREENINGS

All VAiFF screenings and Award announcements for ALL CATEGORIES will be available for 7 days at our virtual screening location.

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BUT THAT’S NOT ALL…

• The “Best of Animation” winner will also win a free copy of Toon Boom Harmony software.
• TThree Chicago-based filmmakers will receive free one-year admission to the IFA Chicago an independent film community that supplies production resources talent and crew to help reduce your next project.
• All “Best of…” winners will also receive a free copy of the latest Final Draft script writing software.
• One selected filmmaker will be chosen as a recipient of the short film production grant **All entries not just the winners from each quarter will be eligible for the short film production grant. **

We’re a yearlong celebration of independent filmmaking. We are all various artists, and we will stand together as one voice, sharing our passion and vision, one screening at a time.

Awards / Prizes Announcement…

The semiannual Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer genre category winners advance as ‘nominees’ to the yearly grand finale festival and competition held annually every October in Chicago Il.

• The individual winners of the grand finale in each category wins an engraved crystal award with the name of the film, it’s category as well as the year it was awarded.
• Grand prize winners will also receive a combination of prizes and gift certificates from festival sponsors. 

THE GRAND PRIZE!

• SELECT GRAND PRIZE WINNERS will ALSO be awarded a low budget film grant, to produce a short film that must premiere at the following years Various Artists independent Film Festival ceremony!

  But that’s not all. The selected winner will receive one on one educational and mentorship opportunities with step by step production instruction along the way. From development, through production and all the way to completion and delivery, there is no reason to fear the next step of your career, we are a community of artists and you will not be alone.

  You will receive instruction from working industry professionals that will meet you at your skill level and take you further than you thought you could ever go.

  The selected GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be announced LIVE at the conclusion of each yearly festival and competition screenings.

Rules & Terms

Entrants must agree to all Entry Terms and Conditions, which also include deadline, footage use and entry material requirements. Please read all Entry Terms and Conditions in their entirety as submission fees are non-refundable.

1. ALL entries, videos, narratives or documentaries, must be completed and considered ‘final’ before submission into the competition. 
2. ALL entries are allowed to have screened publicly and distributed to other film festivals worldwide. There is no ‘completed by’ date as ALL films are eligible for this festival, whether they’ve been selected for ‘Official Selection’ or denied inclusion in previous festivals. No premiere status required.
3. Please follow the details below in order to submit your project: All films submissions must be submitted via FilmFreeway, a safe and secure platform to upload and stream your film. If you submit via Vimeo, you must provide a link with a download option. Your media must be available for download at its highest resolution. It is the sole responsibility of the Film’s applicant to provide ALL information asked during the registration process via FilmFreeway. https://filmfreeway.com/VAiFF You are encouraged to complete all of the requested fields during your submission process. If there are any setbacks in your application, VAiFF will notify you by email. ALL projects must be submitted via FilmFreeway as a secure digital downloadable link. By submitting your project on FilmFreeway, you accept that this document has been read and understood. You can email programming@variousartists.tv with any festival or programming questions.
4. The festival categories are: Animation (Short) / Drama (Short) / Music Videos (Short) / Comedy (Short) TV / Web Series Pilots / Documentary (Short) / Foreign Film (Short) Horror / Thriller (Short) / Experimental (Short) / Children / Family (Short)
5. Each submission must be 45 minutes and under. Music Videos must be 8 minutes and under. Each submission is carefully considered solely on its own merit by the festival programming committee.
6. Applicants submitting Films that contain significant non-English spoken dialogue must provide on-screen English subtitles. 
7. Filmmakers must allow VAiFF the right to use footage / clips from the submitted project to create, edit and produce festival marketing materials, promos and the like.
Footage, clips and images will NOT BE USED for any other purpose than promotion of the project in its category, live show elements, festival promotions and marketing.
8. GRAND PRIZE WINNER(S) will be selected by the VAiFF Programming board.