About WENCH Film Festival
Intro and Origin Story
WENCH was created in 2020 by Sapna Moti Bhavnani to bridge the gender gap in India by driving opportunities and conversations through the gaze of a Woman inclusive of BIWOC, LGBTQ+ women, and non-binary in Art, Fashion, and Film powered by Tech.
WENCH Film Festival was founded in 2021 in response to a manel of male filmmakers who publicly claimed that “there were no women filmmakers worth curating.”
Originally launched to spotlight women across all mediums and genres, WENCH evolved after Sapna became the first Indian woman filmmaker selected at BIFAN’s NAFF It Project in 2022.That moment — realising Indian women were largely invisible in global genre spaces — shaped the festival’s evolution into India’s first and only platform dedicated to horror, sci-fi, and fantasy through a feminist lens.​
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Who Are We?
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WENCH has built:
• A curated international film festival (180+ films / Highlighted 450+ Women to date)
• Pitch It Till You Make It – India’s first and only horror-focused project market (now in its 4th edition)
• Terror Talkies – India’s first horror/sci-fi/fantasy publication (launched 2025)
• Collaborations with two of the world’s leading genre festivals Fantasia International Film Festival (Canada) and Imagine Film Festival (Netherlands)
• Only Indian Festival part of the Méliès International Festivals Federation
• Year-round monthly screenings with Alliance Française Bombay
• A digital footprint of 85,000+ organic reach across platforms
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Even though WENCH gives preference to films Directed by Women and Non-Binary Filmmakers, we do however have a special category for Male Filmmakers who have directed films with a central female plot or key female HOD's.
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Our programming includes feature and short films, experimental works, live performances, and community gatherings. This platform connects creators with producers, programmers, and mentors, encouraging co-productions and original IP development.
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WENCH is more than just a festival—
Relevance
In India, genre cinema — horror, sci-fi, and fantasy — has historically marginalized women, queer voices, and those from oppressed castes and regions. These creators have rarely found space in mainstream platforms, especially within genres that are often dismissed or misunderstood.
WENCH Film Festival reclaims this space — not just on screen, but in language and culture. When we launched in 2021, a search for the word “wench” online only brought up derogatory meanings: barmaids, loose women, objects of mockery. But we began educating through social media, reminding audiences that the word originally meant “girl child.” Through consistent use, storytelling, and intentional redefinition, Google now lists “girl child” as the first meaning — a small but meaningful act of feminist reclamation and digital resistance.
The festival builds on this spirit, platforming voices often excluded from traditional Indian cinema. Through horror and fantasy, WENCH tackles themes of gender violence, caste trauma, mental health, freedom of expression, and body autonomy — all in metaphorical, radical, and wildly creative ways.
By decentralizing film culture and fostering inclusive narratives, WENCH functions as both an artistic platform and a soft-power tool for promoting gender equality, cultural equity, and human rights awareness in contemporary India - starting with a word, and expanding into a movement.
More proof that WENCH is not just a film festival — it is a cultural intervention. One that uses genre storytelling to rewrite narratives, reframe power, and reimagine justice — starting with a word, and expanding into a movement.
SUBMISSION INFO
Why Genre? Why Now?
Horror, sci-fi, and fantasy are powerful mediums for exploring human rights. Beneath their genre trappings lie urgent stories about oppression, inequality, and identity. These genres allow artists to explore caste trauma, gender violence, ecological collapse, surveillance, mental health, and more—without the constraints often placed on realism or documentary storytelling.
Globally, filmmakers have used horror to expose systemic injustice. Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us reimagine racism and class warfare through the lens of psychological and body horror, look at the current success of Sinners alone which has broken all records of any genre film. The 2024 French body-horror drama Substance explores ageism and the commodification of female identity. In India, Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul reclaims the chudail myth to confront domestic abuse and child marriage, while Vishal Furia’s Chhorii spotlights female infanticide.
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Film Festival Scene in India
India’s film festival landscape continues to grow, but remains centered on independent arthouse cinema, regional film industries, or state-funded programming. Within this environment, genre cinema — particularly horror, sci-fi, and fantasy — is widely consumed, yet critically sidelined.
WENCH is the first and only film festival in India dedicated to these genres, and we are actively creating the blueprint for what genre curation can look like in the country — particularly when driven by feminist, queer, and intersectional perspectives.
The festival was founded without any government or institutional support and has been primarily funded through the personal savings of founder Sapna Moti Bhavnani, who has independently sustained and scaled it year after year. While we receive limited in-kind support — such as venue partnerships with Alliance Française for monthly screenings — the core programming, logistics, and audience-building efforts have been led entirely by the WENCH team.
We believe there is no better cinematic language for human rights storytelling than genre. Horror, sci-fi, and fantasy allow filmmakers to explore trauma, identity, resistance, and injustice in symbolic, culturally embedded, and emotionally resonant ways — often where realism cannot.
There are currently no other Indian film festivals that approach genre as a tool for social engagement and transformation. WENCH fills that void — not by imitating an existing model, but by building a new one. A festival that isn’t just about fear, but about freedom.
Wench Film Festival will continue to be a crucial pillar of the Wench blue-print that is committed to empowering the women and the non-binary voice with support across the entire value chain in the creator economy – Education, Funding, Community and Distribution.
ARE YOU READY TO SMASH THAT BLOODY CEILING WITH US?
WFF IS A FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL- ONLY FANTASY, SCI-FI AND HORROR FILMS WILL BE ACCEPTED (Documentaries, Narratives and Hybrids)
Should the submitted film not adhere to this eligibility requirement or to the following rules and terms, WFF retains the right to disqualify said film and is under no obligation to contact the submitting party and/or refund the submission fee.
Please carefully read the following terms and rules, including Selection and Notification, Submission Rules, and Terms and Conditions.
- Any work produced and completed in the past 18 months prior to our upcoming edition is eligible for consideration.
- Any work made available worldwide for an online public viewing before or during our dates will be ineligible.
- If you are unsure if your film qualifies for our Festival, please contact the WFF Submissions Team at submissions@wenchfilmfestival.com before submitting.
- Submission fees will not be refunded under any circumstances.
- If selected, all commercial/private property including all trademark/copyrighted materials shown or recorded on the project is the responsibility of the filmmaker.
- By submitting an entry, the filmmaker states that they are responsible as an agent to promote the film and that the film is an original work.
- Participants agree that clips and images from their film may be used and/or published in the WFF program guide, on the WFF website and for any promotional purposes which WIFF deems appropriate.
- By submitting to the festival you confirm that you own the rights of the film, including the rights to the music in the film. WFF is not responsible and will not be held responsible in case of any dispute. Your film may be disqualified without a notice or refund.
- We Welcome Narrative, Animated, Experimental, and Documentary.
- All entries should be sent via Film Freeway with a secure Online Screener.
- There is no minimum / maximum running time.
- Filmmakers may submit multiple entries as long as each film is submitted with its own Entry Form, Online Screener and paid Entry Fee.
- Submitted films that are not eligible will be withdrawn. Please check eligibility before submitting. Questions may be sent to submissions@wenchfilmfestival.com
- You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Wench Film Festival from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.
- The entrant expressly agrees that the film may be shown at the festival and used for promotional purposes in connection with the festival. This includes, among other things, the distribution of the film to all jury members, the use of excerpts for advertising clips and other uses within the framework of the festival. In addition, the submitter agrees that the film may be shown at events after the festival.
- Submitted films must not have undergone commercial exploitation – for example, an official theatrical release and a DVD and Blu-ray release – by the time of the festival. „Private“ screenings such as premieres, festival participations, and self-distributed DVDs and Blu-rays are exempt from this restriction.
The Basics
If you have a question about your submission, please contact the WFF Submissions team through email at submissions@wenchfilmfestival.com
Our submissions are on FilmFreeway
https://filmfreeway.com/WenchFilmFestival
WFF has four submission deadlines: (check for current year on film freeway)
Eager Beaver:
Not Sure Yet:
Better Late Than Never:
Trying My Luck:
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We will notify you of our final decision regarding your film via FilmFreeway (whether accepted or not-selected.) If your film is an early selection, there will be a possibility of finding out that your film has been accepted before our notification date. If we have not yet been in contact with you about your submission, we will not be able to give you an answer before the notification date.
The submission cost varies based on which deadline you are submitting to and which category your film falls under. Please refer to the cost and category breakdowns on our festival’s FilmFreeway page here.
Our submission fees are non-refundable. Please make sure to carefully read our terms and conditions prior to submitting your film. Although, if you make a mistake when submitting, fear not, as our submissions team can help you out and ensure you do not lose your submission fee.
Eligibility
Only films completed in the past 18 months prior to our upcoming edition of the festival are eligible for consideration for general programming.
As a general rule, with very rare exceptions, a film that’s been showing publicly on the circuit for longer than a year and a half isn’t eligible for programming consideration.
One important distinction - if the film was completed longer than 18 months ago but was only first shown publicly more recently, it could still be eligible for consideration.
Any work made available worldwide for an online public viewing before or during our dates will be ineligible. A cast/crew-only premiere does not count as a public viewing.
If your film has been made available for the public to purchase, that to us means it’s been commercially released and would no longer be eligible for consideration.
Stills, trailers, clips, or other similar content can be posted online by your cast and crew, however, without rendering your film ineligible.
Premiere Status Requirements
At the very least, the film must be a Mumbai premiere. We will however give preference to Indian Premieres.
Premiere Status Definitions:
- World Premiere: The film will not have a public presentation before its scheduled presentation at the Festival.
- International Premiere: The film will not have a public presentation anywhere outside its country of origin before its scheduled presentation at the Festival.
- Indian Premiere: The film will not have a public presentation anywhere in India before its scheduled presentation at the Festival.
Submitting Your Film
In order to submit your film, you must register and submit your film via FilmFreeway. Visit our FilmFreeway listing here.
All submissions must be submitted online via FilmFreeway. Online screeners or downloadable files received via email will not be accepted. FilmFreeway allows for direct digital uploads, Vimeo links, or YouTube links. For more information on FilmFreeway project and video uploads, please visit the FilmFreeway help page here.
You can submit more than one film project to our festival. You must complete separate applications for each project you plan to submit and pay a separate submission fee, but can do so under the same FilmFreeway account. For more information on how to add multiple projects to your FilmFreeway account, please visit this link.
Screening Formats
Depending on where we screen, we tend to need DCPs or MOVs for screening features.
It is also important to mention that DVD’s and Blue Ray’s haven’t been acceptable for many years as a submission format.
Random F.A.Q.s
1. Who watches my film?
Each film that comes in through submissions goes through a viewing process and consideration by our programmers.
2. If I’ve edited my film since submitting, do I need to resubmit it to have the new version considered?
As a general rule, we don’t watch submissions across multiple cuts/versions as we enter your submission into our pre-screening process as soon as it is submitted.
You can always change the link on your FilmFreeway page so that when the film is revisited those changes are noted.
3. May we submit more than one film to your festival?
Filmmakers are welcome to submit multiple productions to WFF.
4. What are your sound requirements?
We can screen stereo, 5.1, but are currently unable to play Atmos mixes.
5. Do credits count in my film’s official runtime?
Yes.
6. Are subtitles required?
Any films submitted in a language besides English, require English subtitles to be considered for programming.
7. Are trailers required?
Trailers aren’t required for a submission (but are great to have if a film is accepted, closer to the festival period).
ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS?
Please reach out to submissions@wenchfilmfestival.com
WHY WENCH
Prior to the 13th century, the term 'wench' referred to a young woman. Over time, the connotation changed from girl child to prostitute to racial slur. The goal of Wench Film Festival is to take back the ownership of the word Wench and return it back to it's original girl child status.
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Our first logo ∴ was created before the festival launched. It was distinctive and significant but it was also extremely easy to get wrong as it is a universal sign for therefore. The black and white colours were also very limiting and as we break out into our new avatar in 2022 it became important to showcase it in our logo.
The 3 Diamonds in our new Logo are very symbolic to us. They stand for Clarity, Resilience and Brilliance. The Shards of Light are like our Eyes - Speaking all the Words our Mouths Couldn't.
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ABOUT THE FOUNDER
As a pioneer entrepreneur, Sapna Moti Bhavnani founded the hair salon Mad O Wot 18 years ago in Bombay. Through her versatile avatars such as writing a bitingly intimate weekly column for Mumbai Mirror and Mid-Day, authoring a self-help book for teenage girls Style O Wot, launching the avant-garde clothing line SoFake, to producing One Billion Rising at Carter Road (2013), acting in award-winning plays like NIRBHAYA – a searing testimonial play which won the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award, The Fringe First Award and The Angel Herald Award in 2013 for cracking open the cone of silence around sexual and gender-based violence in India to JATINGA in 2017 –inspired by Kamathipura and highlights human trafficking worldwide; she traverses mainstream success with just as much ease as she skirts the underground youth art and culture movement.
Sapna Moti Bhavnani is best known for her award winning documentary Sindhustan (2019) which is about the largest migration of a culture (Sindhi) in history told through tattoos on her body. Sindhustan has won 11 Awards, travelled to 23 international festivals and is now streaming on MovieSaints. In July 2020 Sapna launched her production company called Wench Films to empower the female gaze. Keeping the same Wench philosophy, she founded Wench Film Festival - India’s first Horror Film Festival. Since its first edition in 2021, WIFF has screened 146 films and Spotlighted 352 Women. In Oct 2024, she launched India’s first Zombiecon.
The story for Sapna’s next horror feature Bearlike Man was officially selected at NAFF presented by Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2021 making her the first Indian Woman Director to ever get selected and in 2022 at the BIFFF genre market. She was also selected at BIFAN in 2022 as an official mentee at the Fantastic Film School.
She is currently writing the screenplay for Bearlike Man and developing a hybrid feature titled Wolf Song based on a young woman with hypertrichosis, also known as the "werewolf syndrome’ and her inspiring journey to become a singer, unravelling the transformative power of music amidst familial and societal challenges. Wolf Song has been officially selected as a WomanInFan Finalist at Sitges 2024.
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The rest like they say, is herstory.
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