Concordia-SODEC Emerging Filmmaker Competition
Deadline: October 1, 2026
The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema is pleased to announce a call for submission to the 2026 Concordia-SODEC Emerging Filmmaker Competition (EFC). Film Production and Film Animation are eligible in alternating years. The 2026 iteration of the competition is for animated short film projects.
The winning applicant—individual screenwriter, director or producer—or creative team thereof, will have the opportunity to join the 2027-2028 or 2028-2029 cohort of SODEC’s Aid to Emergent Creation Program (Programme d’aide à la creation émergente), moving directly to the development stage (worth up to $15,000) as long as their project is matched to a company and producer(s) also eligible according to the rules of SODEC’s Aid to Emergent Creation Program. Subsequently, eligible projects will have the opportunity to move to the production stage (worth up to $115,000) if their project meets the program’s criteria.
An evaluation committee will be appointed at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema to choose the winning project.
Eligibility:
The principle applicant or applicants comprising the creative team (screenwriter, director, producer) must be graduates of Concordia University’s BFA in Film Animation or MFA in Cinematic Arts (in animation) who have completed their degrees no earlier than 2020. Creative team members may not be full-time students in a secondary school, college, undergraduate university or vocational training program. Concordia students graduating in May are eligible for the current calendar year competition (e.g. if you graduated in May 2026, you are eligible to apply for the October 2026 deadline).
Not all the members of the creative team need be graduates of Concordia’s School of Cinema; however, each member must meet all the criteria of SODEC’s Aid to Emergent Creation Program.
All members of the creative team will have had Quebec as their tax residence for a minimum of two years.
Only projects of 30 minutes duration or less will be considered (15 minutes or less is preferred).
The winning applicant will be contacted at the latest by December 31, 2026.
Application requirements:
The following must be submitted through the School of Cinema’s Slideroom application portal
- A maximum 250-word synopsis or treatment for an animated work of fiction or proposal for an animated documentary. Please include sketches and/or brief thumbnail images in the media section to accompany the written proposal, labelled appropriately;
- Either a maximum 250-word project description (notes outlining creative intentions) OR the same as a maximum 5-minute video from the creative team;
- Links to previous animated films;
- CVs of the producer, screenwriter(s), and, if applicable, the director as a single PDF;
- The budget and financing structure of the project in development;
- A short description of the discoverability strategy tailored to the specific nature of the project;
- The affiliated production company’s track record (if one is already attached to the project).
Submissions can be written in English or French.
All applicants are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the SODEC’s Aid to Emergent Creation Program:
Deadline: October 1, 2026.
Please direct all inquiries to cinema@concordia.ca