Overview
Entering its 9th year, Festival of Cinema NYC will be taking place from August 1st - 10th, 2025. The festival welcomes filmmakers and attendees to the legendary Regal UA Midway theater in Forest Hills Queens, New York, with additional programming that includes workshops, seminars and panels at the Queens Library in Forest Hills, Queens Center in Rego Park, and Yant Tattoo Studios - our official filmmaker lounge.
Festival of Cinema NYC is a fully rounded film festival that looks to nurture and help develop the careers of emerging filmmakers and writers by helping to cultivate a working relationship between emerging artists and industry professionals who can help advance their career in the film industry. The festival particularly seeks feature films from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time feature filmmakers, as well as shorts and episodic filmmakers that are looking to develop their work into features or series.
General Infomation
Short films of all genres are programmed thematically (Drama, Comedy, Horror, etc.) or paired with feature films to attract the largest audiences possible. The festival takes pride in helping filmmakers find their audience by helping them land distribution deals through scouts and sponsors that are regularly invited to the festival. Other submission categories include animation, music videos, and an un-produced script.
Top prizes for filmmakers and writers include a pitch meeting as well as a consultation with a film distributor.