Great Lakes International Film Festival (25)

If selected, entrants agree and understand, that their film shall screen in either or both, our live festival event and/or our online festival event that utilizes our virtual theater platform. Entrants also understand that through the virtual theater platform films cannot be copied, downloaded, or reproduced by any virtual theater attendee, nor can the html code of any film be used in or on any other site, and that each and every film is completely secure and safe from theft due to the technology of the virtual theater that is unique to our system and is unlike any other utilized by any online festival throughout the world.

All student entries MUST be accompanied by a copy of entrant's student identification.

ABSOLUTELY NO INTERNATIONAL CHECKS, WIRE TRANSFERS, OR MONEY GRAMS WILL BE ACCEPTED. For all entries submitted outside the United States, we will only accept payment for submission fees in the form of INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDERS.

Only one title per entry form. Productions from 2009, 2010, 2011, 20012, 2013 and 2014 may be submitted. Do not submit works in progress.

All films must be submitted on DVD (NTSC system only) for consideration. All films submitted must be available on DVD for presentation.
To ensure that your entry is properly processed, you must fill out the form completely and enclose proper payment. Please mark the DVD with the title of your project, running time, your name, contact information and category.

Along with the DVD, a black and white or color still from the production, a complete cast and crew list and a 50-100-word synopsis of the project must be included and can be included on a separate disc or sent as hard copies. We will notify you by email when your entry has been received.
Films submitted must be no more violent and have no more adult content as that which would be considered as an NC-17 rated motion picture. NC-17 does not mean “obscene” or “pornographic” in the common or legal meaning of those words, and should not be construed as a negative judgment in any sense. The rating simply signals that the content is appropriate only for an adult audience. An NC-17 rating can be based on violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or any other element that most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children. If your film meets with this requirement then we welcome it.

Exhibition entries should be submitted as DVD or .MOV, .MPG, .FLV, .WMV, .AVI. No DVDs will be returned. Participation in the Great Lakes International Film Festival implies understanding and acceptance of all terms included in this application.

All entries must be postmarked no later than the appropriate entry deadline they were submitted under. Additional entry fee will be required if not postmarked by the appropriate deadline. Entries received with incomplete information will not be considered.

All fees MUST be paid in U.S. Currency.

Festival start: 24 September 2026      Festival end: 10 October 2026

Considered among the top 100 most popular film festivals in the world, the Annual Great Lakes International Film Festival has officially opened its Call for Entries for the 2014 Festival, which will be showcasing the best works of emerging and veteran filmmakers.

For our 2014 season, we are accepting submissions internationally of feature length and short length films in the genres of Documentary, Experimental, Religious/Spiritual, Animation, Comedy, Horror, with Horror sub-genres that include Supernatural, Thrillers, Wicken, Magical, Slashers, Science Fiction, Suspense, Horror Documentary, Horror Animation and all genres of Music Videos and GLBT films for the 2014 festival.

If there is anything as universal as the ageless storytelling of motion pictures, it’s the music that makes up life’s soundtrack.

The 2014 Great Lakes International Film Festival shall accept Music Videos from around the world of cross-continent and cross-genre productions. We shall accept Music Videos of all genres from Pop, Punk, Rock, Alt-Country, Country-Western, Folk, Reggae, Hip-Hop to Electronica, Jazz, Blues, Zydeco, Industrial, Metal, Hardcore, Gothic, Karaoke, Avant-Garde, World Music, and Experimental.

The 2014 Great Lakes International Film Festival will accept all forms of Religious, Christian, and Spiritual films including African, African-American, GLBT, Black, Hispanic, Islamic, Latino, Native/Aboriginal and student films from the United States and around the world.

Showcasing the best films of the 2014 season, the Great Lakes International Film Festival will be held LIVE in the great city of Erie Pennsylvania in September 2014, with our online festival taking place September 18th thru September 30th, 2014.

Since our inception, the Great Lakes International Film Festival has always been on the cutting-edge of independent film presentation.

As the first to introduce film screenings that completely utilized the DLP® technology developed by Texas Instruments, our festival has always brought tomorrow’s technology to the independent film world today.

In keeping with that same dedication to technology, our festival now introduces the new face of online film screenings. It was with much time and expense that we developed our state-of-the-art and revolutionary online screening platform, keeping both the Filmmaker’s peace of mind and the complete security of the Filmmaker’s work always as our first and highest priority.

Much like a brick and mortar screening, our virtual theater allows the filmmaker’s work to be showcased to the world with the highest levels of security and presentation quality. Unlike any online screening system in the world, ours never allows films to be copied, downloaded, or reproduced in any way, nor can the html code of any film be copied and pasted into any other site successfully. No film launched in our virtual theater can play or even appear on any other website.

The Great Lakes International Film Festival’s virtual theater platform offers filmmakers not only the exposure to the world that they deserve, but does so keeping the integrity of the film and the filmmaker’s trust always fully intact.

Over the years, we have had many films that have screened on the Sundance Channel, IFC, PBS and HBO along with countless filmmakers who have received distribution deals after screening in our festival.

For the filmmaker that is looking for a bit more, the Great Lakes International Film Festival is also a great place to get your film noticed. In October of 2004 we were proud to present the North East United States Premiere of “SAW”, Lions Gate Films’ gripping psychological thriller starring Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter and Leigh Whannel, and with “The Collector of Bedford Street” having been nominated for an Academy Award after being screened at our 2002 fest, we certainly bring the best and the brightest to the shores of Erie, Pa.

We have also been host to such filmmakers and special guests as actor/director/producer Dirk Benedict (Battlestar Galacticaand A-Team); writer Erick Rodgers (Writer of NYPD Blue); director/producer Harri James (script supervisor “Alias”, Tremors II: Aftershocks, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins); producer Otto Felix (“B.J. and the Bear” & Up in Smoke); award-winning, best-selling mystery author Jamian Snow (Shrouded Insanity); actor/writer/producer Bill Hinzman (Flesheater & Night of the Living Dead); director Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger films, Pot Zombies, & President of Troma Films); actor Gunnar Hansen (Texas Chainsaw Massacre); actor/ director Mark Borchardt (American Movie & Coven); director John Hancock (“Hill Street Blues”, “The Twilight Zone”, & California Dreaming); actress Debbie Rochon “Scream Queen” (Blood Relic, Vampyre Tales, & Lord of the Undead); producer/director Bobby Logan (Meatballs 4 & Repossessed); Joel Miller; WWE and ECW wrestling superstar The Blue Meanie, and in 2002 we had the unique opportunity to present Keith Carradine with a special award for artistic excellence, award-winning director Joone, award-winning actress Jesse Jane, and local actress Marie Madison.

The legendary Terry Moore who was our special guest of honor in 2006 was presented with a lifetime Achievement Award for her amazing accomplishments in film over the past 60 years.

From the feature narrative genre to documentary to animation; experimental, horror and Spiritual films, the Great Lakes International Film Festival celebrates the film arts in dynamic transition. As emerging technologies continue to redefine the form, filmmakers from the Great Lakes region, across the country and around the world express the common and the diverse through the age-old tradition. — The art of the story.

Narrative Feature = 50+ minutes
Narrative Short = 49 or less minutes
Comedy Feature = 50+ Minutes
Comedy Short = 49 or less minutes
Animation = Any Length
Documentary Feature = 50+ minutes
Documentary Short = 49 or less minutes
Experimental = Any Length
Horror Feature = 50+ minutes
Horror Short = 49 or less minutes
Gay/Lesbian = Any Length
Religious/Spiritual = Any Length
Music Video =15 minutes or less

All entries must be postmarked no later than the appropriate entry deadline they were submitted under. Additional entry fee will be required if not postmarked by the appropriate deadline. Entries received with uncompleted information will not be considered.

PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL BELOW RULES AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:
ABSOLUTELY NO INTERNATIONAL CHECKS, WIRE TRANSFERS, OR MONEY GRAMS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

For all entries submitted outside the United States, we will only accept payment for submission fees in the form of INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDERS.
Checks returned to us will incur a standard $25 fee that must be paid, even if you choose to pull your film from the competition. Though all rules, guidelines and conditions are simple and standard, Not following the guidelines, rules, regulations, or eligibility may be cause for disqualification.