UPDATE: The HPLFF BIPOC Waiver program is live! Please CLICK HERE for more information and to apply.

Over the 25 Years of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival®, it has showcased movies from filmmakers from all walks-of-life, including professionals, amateurs, and students, and from all the dark corners of Earth, including the US, UK, France, Spain, India, Panama, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Belgium, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Finland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Peru, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Argentina, Norway, Russia, and Taiwan. However, works from people of color have been traditionally under-represented.

To help increase this aspect of diversity at the HPLFF, starting with the 2021 season, for which submissions open in December 2020, the organizers will launch a new fee waiver program specifically for film directors who are black, indigenous, and people of color. This will allow BIPOC creators to apply for a waiver to submit their works to the festival at no charge. While this is only half of the issue of representation, where the other half is selecting more films by people of color, a similar program to reach out to women directors for Portland Horror Film Festival™, the HPLFF's sister event, resulted in dramatic increases in the representation of women in the horror field at the festival, and praise from the audience for increasing the diversity of horror showcased on the screen.

Details of the program and how to apply will be published following the 2020 festival this October, and will be availabel to filmmakers when submissions re-open in December. It is the sincere hope of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival that this will be a successful first step in increasing the diversity of the festival's offerings, and will show that despite H. P. Lovecraft's racist personal beliefs, the genre of Cosmic Horror is not and will not be limited by skin color.