You’re probably aware that every fall, for the better part of a decade, we’ve published a list of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals”—the sister list to our “50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.” After a lot of debate and consideration, we decided to kick the “Coolest” list up a notch this year and let our readers nominate and vote on their favorite film festivals.

Welcome to the second round of general voting!

Coolest Film Festivals

Here’s how it works: The 80 festivals in the general category that receive the most nominations will compete for the top 25 slots. The 20 festivals with the most nominations in each of the sub categories, similarly, will go on to compete for the top five slots. Each week we’ll be running one or two vote-offs to find the festivals that our readers think are the coolest. All the festivals that make our final list will appear in print in the Fall issue of MovieMaker.

The other really great thing is that we’ve divided this year’s list into categories, to recognize the ever-expanding variety of festivals in today’s circuit. So while we’ll still be ranking the “25 Coolest Festivals” in the general category, we’ll also be ranking the top five festivals in 10 other categories, ranging from horror to comedy, from ethnic to LGBT, in upcoming weeks. Now tiny genre fests and larger, more well-funded organizations alike can compete on their own terms – so if you don’t see your favorite festival here this week, look for it in the next 10 weeks.

About general voting: The first 40 festivals in the general category have already competed. The second 40 festivals are available to vote for below from now until next Tuesday! These two weeks of voting will create our top 20 festivals, leaving five remaining slots on our list to be hashed out amongst 20 runner-up festivals (the top ranking festivals that came close to, but did not win, their category) next week. Vote for the runners-up here.

How do you ensure that your favorite festival makes the top 25? Tell your family, friends, co-workers, anyone and everyone to vote, vote, vote!

To browse all 40 of this week’s competing festivals and vote, click on the arrows to the right or left of the voting bar (you’ll need to hover your cursor over the edge of the bar until the translucent arrows appear).

For more information on each fest (including MovieMaker fun facts), click on its picture, or the magnifying glass icon. To visit the festival websites, click the shopping cart icon.

Happy voting!

The second round of voting has concluded. Thank you for participating!

MovieMaker will be releasing the official list of Coolest Festivals as the fall issue hits stands October 21. We know it’s a long time to wait, but as the old says goes, patience is a virtue. Meanwhile, make sure to vote in categories ranging from environmental to experimental over the next two months. Below is a list of the festivals that competed in this round of voting. To see which fests competed in the first round, click here. Vote for the runners-up (the top ranking festivals that came close to, but did not win in the first two rounds of voting) here.

Pool 1:
Phoenix Film Festival
Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival
San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival

Pool 2:
Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
Woodstock Film Festival
Philadelphia Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival

Pool 3:
Lewiston Auburn Film Festival
Trail Dance Film Festival
Pennine Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival

Pool 4:
Macon Film Festival
Big Apple Film Festival
Midwest Independent Film Festival
AFI Fest

Pool 5:
Offshoot Film Festival
Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival
Las Vegas Film Festival
FirstGlance Film Festival

Pool 6:
Omaha Film Festival
Traverse City Film Festival
Miami International Film Festival
Action On Film International Film Festival

Pool 7:
Tallgrass Film Festival
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
Lagniappe Film and Music Festival
Albuquerque Film & Media Experience

Pool 8:
Sidewalk Film Festival
Indie Grits
Key West Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival

Pool 9:
Florida Film Festival
Charleston International Film Festival
Hill Country Film Fest
South by Southwest

Pool 10:
Eastern Oregon Film Festival
Dances with Films
Film North
Vail Film Festival

Make sure to visit us later this week to vote for the runners-up!

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