Spotlight on Academics is a film festival with a difference.

Spotlight provides educators and discerning viewers with carefully selected specialty items under one small roof. Our judges are filmmakers and academics, and our audience is composed of people who want to learn through film. We market online to thousands of faculty at universities in several countries and we also open our doors to the public. This provides filmmakers with a targeted audience for potential sales and it provides viewers with access to a specialty boutique for an affordable price.

Spotlight on Academics is a partner with ResearchTV, where the online portion of the festival is hosted. As a result, every film selected for the Spotlight on Academics festival is automatically considered for inclusion on ResearchTV. Spotlight on Academics and ResearchTV hold filmmakers to high standards so that viewers can count on both the quality of the research and the quality of the production. Filmmakers are not obliged to work with ResearchTV, but they provide filmmakers with an opportunity to have films distributed to the largest market for individuals sales. After the festival selections are made, films are reviewed a second time by scholars and filmmakers who understand both the rigors of scholarship and the challenges of publishing research in a film format.

The 2nd Annual Spotlight on Academics Film Festival will be held February 9-12, 2023 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and online at ResearchTV.ca. To learn more about the festival, please click here.

Filmmakers are welcome to submit their films through FilmFreeway at the link below:

Spotlight on Academics Film Festival is proudly sponsored by the Friends of the Finnish Labour Temple.