Now Open For Entries – Sony Future Filmmaker Awards 2024

Industry News

by Julian MitchellJune 27^th, 2023

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The second Sony Future Filmmaker Awards for short films have been launched and are open for entries. Last year’s inaugural competition, launched in July, culminated this year in an awards ceremony at the Cary Grant Theatre on the Sony Pictures Studio lot in Culver City, California. Here’s how you could be there next year.

This year’s winners were announced at an event in LA in February, we reported about it here. The Awards are free to enter; the cut-off date is 07:00 AM (CT) on February 15, 2024. You choose from six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Environment, Animation (new for this year), Student, and Future Format (the Future Format category must be shot on a smartphone). Each category awards a winner and a shortlist of up to five nominees are recognized.

You can enter multiple categories but check the rules and each category’s criteria first before entering. 

Sony Future Filmmaker Awards – how to enter

Here are the basic requirements for entry (there are more details on Sony’s specific entry site here).

• Videos can be shot on any device or camera (apart from the Future Format category).
• The length of your video must be the same as stated in the category description.
• One submission per person per category.
• Please ensure your submission is in English (or includes English subtitles).
• Audio is delivered as mono/stereo and not 5.1 surround sound.
• You must own the full copyright of your entry.
• Entries must have been created in 2022 or 2023.

What you can win

All category winners and those shortlisted will be flown to Los Angeles for a four-day workshop program and awards ceremony with all flight and hotel costs covered. All category winners will receive a Sony camera and lens, a certificate, and a trophy. The winner of the Student category will also receive a camera and lens for their affiliated institution or school.

This year, Sony has expanded the workshops, doubling the number of subjects covered including casting, physical production, animation, legal, CGI, innovation at Sony, pitching process, sound and music mixing, and post-production. There will also be TV and studio tours. 

Who will be judging your work

The Sony’s Future Filmmaker Awards 2024 jury will be revealed in October, but last year’s judges included cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins, Justin Chadwick, an award-winning British theatre, television, and film director, Nicole Brown, President of TriStar Pictures, and Jeremy Barber, a Partner in the Motion Picture Literary and Talent Departments at UTA.

In the comments section below, let us know your opinion about filmmaker award shows and their importance.