A yearly tribute to cinema, the Alexandria Film Festival presents independent feature-length films and shorts of all genres by both emerging and established filmmakers. Our mission is to promote cinema as an important cultural, educational and entertainment asset to our highly engaged audience. We proudly showcase the historic city of Alexandria, Virginia as a dynamic and exciting venue for creating, exhibiting, and experiencing film.

Celebrating 18 years of independent film from around the world, the Alexandria Film Festival offers an enriching cinematic opportunity for filmmakers and film lovers alike by bringing high quality, diverse and thought-provoking films to Alexandria and the greater Washington, D.C. metro area. The 18th anniversary Alexandria Film Festival will take place November 7-10, 2024.

Year after year, the festival attracts exceptional independent short and feature-length films, while also holding filmmaker Q&As and staging other arts-related presentations. Alexandria and the surrounding region are home to an educated audience of film enthusiasts. Along with residents from the D.C. metro area, the city also attracts many domestic and international visitors, who value the city’s focus on the arts and treasure our charming historic community. Most of all, our audiences look forward to interacting directly with the filmmakers. The festival offers filmmakers the parallel opportunity to communicate with the audience as well as to network with other emerging and established filmmakers.

This year we are seeking local, national and international films that tell stories covering the following subject areas or genres:

*Local, national and international films
*Thrillers

*The environment, climate change with its social and economic impacts, sustainable agriculture and related subjects/issues.

*Animation

*Comedy, farce, and satire

*Children, young adults, and family-friendly

*Health, science, and technology

*National and international politics and public affairs, including immigration.

*Science fiction and fantasy

*Emerging issues in social justice and equality, including racial and ethnic justice, gender and gender identity, economic equity and religion.

*Indigenous cultures in the US and the Americas (with a focus on films from indigenous filmmakers)

*The Arts--all media and disciplines

*American history and Biographies

*Veterans and service members

*Women's issues, including the celebration of women filmmakers and/or the following: champion of women's rights, films providing a woman's perspective, and those that revolve around the unique and varying issues/dilemmas faced by women.

Filmmakers are encouraged to interpret these categories broadly. The Alexandria Film Festival welcomes all submissions. Films may be submitted via video link, note we do accept Vimeo. We also encourage you to allow for a downloadable link to your film.

For more information, visit AlexFilmFest.com and look for #AlexFilmFest on Facebook (facebook.com/alexandriafilmfestival), Twitter (twitter.com/alexfilmfest) and Instagram (instagram.com/alexfilmfest).

Films will be selected by a jury. Selected films will be eligible for the Best of Show ($300), Special Jury Prize ($200) , Best Foreign Language Film ($100), Regional Award ($100) and the Audience Award ($100). We will also award The Joe Cantwell Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking ($250). The Alexandria Film Festival reserves the right to add additional awards at its discretion. The prizes will be presented after the Film Festival’s Award Ceremony on November 10, 2024.

2024 Alexandria Film Festival Agreement to Participate and Release

Please read the following terms and conditions for your entry to the 2024 Alexandria Film Festival. By submitting your film, you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of this agreement.

I, as an entrant to the Alexandria Film Festival hereby agree to permit any film submitted by me to be screened at the 2024 Alexandria Film Festival and any subsequent Alexandria Film Festival or related event. If my film is being offered by any streaming service at the time it is accepted, or at any subsequent point prior to the festival, I will remove my film from exhibition from October 21 until November 25, 2024

I certify that am the sole owner of all legal rights and title and that I have the authority to submit the enclosed materials to the Alexandria Film Festival. I guarantee that all rights necessary for screening by the Alexandria Film Festival have been obtained and I hereby assign those rights, to the full extent necessary for inclusion in the Alexandria Film Festival, to the Alexandria Film Festival. I warrant that I have the right to make such assignment hereunder, and further warrant that such assignment shall not infringe or misappropriate any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary right of any third party. If notified promptly in writing of a claim of any infringement or other violation of patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any third party, I will immediately notify the Alexandria Film Festival of same.

Indemnification.

I indemnify and hold harmless the Alexandria Film Festival, its judges, sponsors, volunteers, and the City of Alexandria, individually and collectively, from and against any and all claims, demands, losses, damages, judgments, liabilities, 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, publicity, screening, credits, and loss of or damage to the screening materials entered.

No Compensation.
I understand that, unless otherwise specified in writing, the Alexandria Film Festival provides no financial compensation for any exhibition of my work.

Publicity and Use.
The Alexandria Film Festival reserves the right to use any submitted publicity information, photos, and excerpts in its marketing and publicity, including online formats, for the festival and for any other uses related to the promotion of the festival. By accepting inclusion in the Alexandria Film Festival, I grant non-exclusive rights to showcase my film during the festival in as many screenings as required, and for screenings thereafter at the discretion of the Alexandria Film Festival. Such screenings include, but are not limited to, competition screenings and a highlights showcase which may play after competition ends. In addition, the Alexandria Film Festival has non-exclusive rights to repeat the showcase during the year for fundraising purposes. All ticket sale receipts are the sole property of the Alexandria Film Festival.

I hereby grant the Alexandria Film Festival unlimited rights to use the film, information and images provided by me within my entry, and any additional material, in accordance with the goals and needs of the Alexandria Film Festival. I understand and consent to the use and release of my entry and all related materials by the Alexandria Film Festival. I understand and agree that my entry and any related materials may be copied and used by the Alexandria Film Festival without further permission from me. The Alexandria Film Festival may use my name or logo in any marketing materials, or describe publicly the nature of the film submitted, without my further consent.

Limitation of Liability.
In no event shall the Alexandria’s Film Festival have any liability to me, whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise and whether at common law or statute. Further, in no event shall the Alexandria Film Festival be liable to me for: (i) punitive, special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages; or (ii) loss of profits or business, loss of revenues, loss of opportunities, loss of savings, loss of or damage to data, loss of use damages or failure to realize expected savings arising out of this agreement even if been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Films may be submitted via video link, including Vimeo.

I understand, am authorized to accept, and agree to abide by all terms listed in this release and in the submission guidelines.

Please note: If selected, filmmakers will provide their own transportation to the festival. Out of town, feature-length film representatives may be offered housing or a hotel night for their festival screening dates. Additional nights can be purchased at a discount. If we have more comped hotel rooms than visiting filmmakers, additional room nights may be provided to filmmakers at no cost.

Filmmakers will be provided with 2 all-festival passes for themselves and one guest which will admit 2 people to all screenings, parties and events. We will not issue complimentary tickets to additional people.

ProRes or H264 HD files are encouraged. If accepted, filmmakers shall provide the festival with exhibition files on a flash/hard drive or with a downloadable link (with an expiration date no earlier than November 7th). At minimum, filmmakers must submit two working Blu-Ray discs of their film. However, if selected to screen at AMC Hoffman or on our online platform, filmmakers will be required to submit a DCP copy of their film. Please note that AMC Hoffman will not accept a jump drive/USB DCP copy. We will not accept encrypted files of any kind. All film assets MUST be received by the Alexandria Film Festival by October 1, 2024 (no exceptions). For selected features, a press kit containing 100-word synopsis in English, five high-res film stills, and downloadable trailer is strongly encouraged. For selected shorts, please provide a press kit containing 50-word synopsis in English, three hi-res stills, and a downloadable trailer.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • So happy to have attended the three day Alexandria Film Festival. It was smoothly run with great communication, interesting Q&A, awesome line up of films, super reception for the filmmakers and a great team led by Dara and Patti. Loved meeting so many filmmakers, seeing their films and feeling so well taken care of. We were thrilled that our film, BY MY SIDE, received the award for the BEST SERVICE to HUMANITY ACHIEVEMENT in FILMMAKING. Thank you all.

    December 2023
  • Our team had a terrific experience at the Alexandria Film Festival. Dara and Patti are extremely organized, communicative, supportive, and welcoming - true champions of the films they select. Lovely conversations with other filmmakers and super Q&As after screenings. Wonderful theater and outstanding support from the community.

    December 2023
  • Great and kind staff, thoughtful Q&A, and engaged audience. We met some awesome filmmakers. The screening was a bit sparse but overall a great experience.

    November 2023
  • Jonathan Leveck

    Met some amazing filmmakers and the staff at the Alexandria Film Festival were amazing, Dara and Patti were lovely to work with, enthusiastic, available, and kind. We were there with the feature documentary "We Rise" and the screening went on without a hitch and the QA after was awesome. The town of Alexandria is wonderful, lots of history, tons of places to check out, network, shop, eat, drink. Lovely. - Director, Michael Afendakis

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks Jonathan. Glad you enjoyed it!

  • This festival was extremely well organized! The hospitality shown to us was magnificent! Loved so many of the films there. It was a pleasure to see the films in a AMC theater. Definitely I would recommend to all filmmakers that they should participate in this wonderful festival

    December 2022