Short Films Deadline
The regular deadline to submit short films is this month. But that's not the only way to be a part of our film festival experience.
The regular deadline to submit a short film to the 2024, 13th Edition of the International Mobile Film Festival is November 19.
Our rules are precise and we apply them equally.
If you have questions or need clarification, use the link to contact us on our website to reach out. We will do our best to respond in a timely manner.
Our festival does not have a “catch all criteria” for the competitions. We have put a lot of thought and consideration in providing fair and precise criteria around our mission to be all inclusive by being exclusive to only films shot with mobile phones.
First and foremost, everyone in the world has an opportunity to participate due to one simple mobile device that is the most popular in the entire world, the mobile phone. We decided when we launched many moons ago (2009) that we only wanted to focus on the most popular mobile device with a camera, the phone.
This means that everyone can participate in a fair arena. A competition in which only films shot with mobile phone cameras qualify.
Our festival screens every film we select in our live in-person event. All films and filmmakers receive equal treatment in our film festival.
The experience of participating and attending is a real value to filmmakers.
We aim to provide you with an opportunity to screen your films in a live event in San Diego and we encourage every attending filmmaker to watch each others’ films. It’s how filmmakers connect to each other, you begin by watching each other’s films.
Your film will reach your peers in a mobile filmmaking community with a global reach because we are pioneers.
Some of the earliest filmmakers from our film festival come back to experience it again. Networking and making new friendships in our festival, embracing your films and finding out you are also making movies with your phone is real and pretty awesome.
Our director and founder watches every single film submission, beginning to end, before anyone else on our team.
The criteria we add to our competitions is precise. It makes what we look for transparent. We hope to select as many films as possible.
Add the dates of our film festival to your calendar now.
Whether or not your film is selected, attending is a very rewarding experience for filmmakers. You’ll still experience a very intimate film festival where participating and attending filmmakers meet, enjoy new friendships, attend workshops and Q & A’s, lectures, and much more.
Many film festivals are for only filmmakers. IMFF is open to the public. IMFF is for all storytellers. It’s for everyone with access to a smartphone. It only takes a few minutes to be inspired in our film festival.
Join us as a participant or join us as an attendee. We embrace you and will celebrate mobile filmmaking together as a community. You are welcome to be a part of it. Don’t miss what may be your most memorable film festival experience.
Join the community today, you don’t have to wait.
We are revamping the community on Patreon because you can now become a member of our community as a free member. We are working to bring the community from the SBP Podcast together with the film festival because together, the community members can support each other.
Join us on Patreon to let us know you want to connect to the community and each other. We’ll provide opportunities for you!
The information below is an expert or the criteria on our website, and you can read all the criteria, rules and categories in detail on our website.
Take note of all the deadlines, including extended deadlines.
Criteria for short films.
SHORT FILM COMPETITION: Films must be between 3 & 10 minutes and Not One second shorter or longer, including intro, end credits and/or video black at beginning or end.
The Short Film Competition seeks short high quality films of all genres, for example: horror can submit to narrative, etc.
The Short Film Contestants who win awards in each category (excluding The Rookie Award category) will be in the running for First, Second and Third Place and will receive a trophy and certificate. Must be present during the awards ceremony to receive trophies free. We will not cover shipping and handling.
SHORT FILM CATEGORIES AVAILABLE TO SUBMIT: Get details on categories on the website.
Narrative – Documentary – Ultimate Mobile – Cosplay – Screendance – Geography, Wildlife and Travel – Experimental – Music Video
Submitting to the correct category can help your film being selected and maybe even win that category. You can submit one film to multiple categories, or more than one film to multiple categories but only one film will be selected per filmmaker. There is no guarantee a film will be selected regardless of the categories it is selected to.
THE ROOKIE AWARD CONTEST: If you are not experienced, you can enter films that fall within the categories listed above into “The Rookie Award” category for new, or non-experienced, filmmakers. This is the best option for novice youth films. We still require a level of quality with video and audio to be selected. Please find details about this special category on our website and within the category on FilmFreeway before you submit. We are available if you have questions and will do our best to respond promptly.
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