The Dallas Independent Film Festival brings together the freshest talents of the independent film industry in a one-day event.

Founded in 2019 with the vision to celebrate the diversity of international cinema, Dallas Independent Film Festival remains loyal to its vision of highlighting upcoming artists from around the globe.

The film categories span a wide range featuring both feature and short films of various genres, including documentaries, fiction and music videos.

HFP

The Dallas Independent Film Festival is organised by HFP, a pioneer organisation that runs Film Festivals and other events showcasing and championing ideas of diversity. Through our global series of film Festivals that spread over 13 countries, we open the path to voices with a compelling story to share. Our main mission is to honour independent cinema and establish a network of artists eager to join forces and spread their work across all nations. HFP runs 25 film Festivals worldwide.

Films selected for the Official Selection will be nominated for an award in at least one of the following categories:

Best Feature Film
Best Short Film
Best Feature Documentary
Best Short Documentary
Best Drama
Best Comedy
Best Music Video
Best Directing
Best Cinematography

★ A selected list of films from the nominated ones will be screened at the cinema in front of a live audience. All films of the Official Selection will receive our laurels. Winners of the festival will be announced during the award ceremony and online on our website and social media following the festival.

★ Winners of all categories will receive Award Certificates and goody bags as prizes!

✓ All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles (if in a different language).

✓ All films must have been made in or after 2023.

✓ Short films must not exceed 45 minutes.

✓ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

✓ By submitting to us, you give us consent and right to screen your film in front of a live audience, and, under special circumstances, online screening.

✓ Nominations: These are all the films that have been nominated for an award in a category. Not all nominated films will be screened.

Official Selection: These are all the nominated films selected for screening, which will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.

Award Winners: Chosen from the Nominations (which includes the Official Selection).

✓ Film Critique: With this service, an experienced film professional will review your project and write a 1 to 2 pages critique (depending on the length of the film) of the submitted film. Both films and screenplays can be submitted into this category. Film critiques are sent to filmmakers within 1 to 3 months after the Film Festival event. This service cannot be combined with discount codes and is offered as an add-on option. In order to combine the Add-on Film Critique with a category, write down the Category of your choice on your Cover Letter or Director's Statement.

✓ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

✓ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through email and our online platforms.

✓ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

✓ We do not accept partial screeners, trailers, or screener links that require access other than password protected links.

✓ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

✓ We cannot provide refunds.

✓ If you have submitted your project in the previous year, please do not resubmit the same project to the current edition.

✓ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

✓ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • a fab festival, not just because my film Secret Superstars-the hidden
    history of The Kennedy Cup was a finalist in competition.... I thought that communication with them was top-notch!

    June 2023
  • Zoran Dževerdanović

    Thrilled about the news that our short film QUIET was winner in the special edition od Dallas Independent Film Festival in the Best Short Fillm 2021 category. I appreciate very much the effort and communication of this great festival. Wishing you much success and will surely come back with new projects.

    May 2022
  • Pham Siu

    "We Come into Life" is very proud being selected in the category of Best Picture. Thank you so much Dallas Independent
    Film Festival for your wonderful festival... Take care and so long!

    January 2021
  • Great experience with the Dallas Independent Film Fest. Thrilled to be nominated for Best Thriller!

    June 2020
  • Great to be part of ur festival. Tnx

    June 2020