The 29th Arizona International Film Festival, the longest running film festival in Arizona, will run from April 15 to April 26, 2020 at The Screening Room and other exhibition venues throughout Downtown Tucson.

The Festival theme of Bridging Cultures provides a way for independent cinema to share images and voices from diverse cultures with Arizona communities. Since 1990, the Arizona International Film Festival has screened over 2900 films from 100 countries to over 160,000 Arizonans of all ages.

Remaining true to the independent spirit, the Arizona International Film Festival is a venue for independent filmmakers in search of an independent audience.

Awards & Prizes

Awards will be made to the BEST in each category. The BEST OF ARIZONA also will be awarded to an Arizona entry.

Rules & Terms

ELIGIBILITY
Open to independent works of all lengths in narrative, documentary, animation, and experimental categories.

- Films and videos entered in the festival must have been completed between
January 2019 and January 2020.
- Works entered should be an Arizona premiere.
- Arizona entries may have had one public Arizona screening.
- Entries must be in English or have English subtitles
- Entries may originate from any film or video format.
- For pre-screening, on-line screeners (Vimeo) are required.
- For festival screenings, finalists must supply a DCP drive (with Blu-Ray back-up),
flash drives, Blu-Ray and/or DVD in NTSC and PAL formats

CATEGORIES & AWARDS
Entries must be submitted in one of the following categories:
Feature (Narrative, Animated, Experimental) (over 60 minutes)
Short Feature (Narrative, Animated, Experimental) (30 – 60 minutes)
Documentary Feature (over 30 minutes)
Documentary Short (up to 30 minutes)
Dramatic Short (up to 30 minutes)
Comedy Short (up to 30 minutes)
Animated Short (up to 30 minutes)
Experimental Short (up to 30 minutes)
Short Shorts (Dramatic, Comedy,Animated, Experimental) (under 5 minutes)
Film Poems (under 10 minutes)
IndieYouth (filmmaker must be 18 or younger) (up to 15 minutes)

If the pre-screening committee judges that it is in the best interest of the filmmaker to change the category of an entry, the committee reserves the right to do so. Awards will be made to the BEST in each category. The BEST OF ARIZONA also will be awarded to an Arizona entry.

JUDGING
All submitted entries are reviewed by media panels and evaluated according to content, form and technical aspects. Panel members and the festival director will determine the finalists for screening at the festival. Entrants will be notified by email as to the status of the entry.

Filmmakers, curators, educators and critics will select festival award recipients from the finalists to be screened at the festival. Judges reserve the right not to select a winner in any given category. All decisions by the judges are final.

ENTRY PROCEDURES
Forward your Vimeo on-line screeners to reelfrontier@gmail.com and/or DVD screener Publicity materials to: Arizona International Film Festival, PO Box 431, Tucson, AZ 85702, USA. Press kits and posters submitted with your entry will not be returned.

ENTRY FEES
$60/$50* for works submitted in feature categories
$40/$30* for works submitted in short categories
$25/$20* for works under 5 minutes
$10 for IndieYouth works

* Earlybird submitted by January 10, 2020

An entry fee must be paid for each submission. Fee covers administrative and handling costs and is non-refundable. All entry materials, fees and publicity materials must be received by the final deadline of January 31, 2020.

PUBLICITY MATERIALS
Entrants are advised to submit publicity materials (press kits, posters and publicity photos) with your entry as this facilitates the publicizing of your film if accepted. Press materials can be submitted in an electronic format (photos should be 300dpi).

SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS
Clearly identify the title of the work on the shipping container. Finalists are responsible for arrangements and cost of shipping the exhibition print or tape to the festival by March 30, 2020.

RETURN SHIPPING OF ENTRY
The festival will cover the cost of return shipping within the United States.The festival will NOT pay for the cost of express shipping to other sites or international shipping. Please include payment to cover express or international shipping costs if required. Work screened at the festival will be shipped within 20 days of the close of the film festival unless other arrangements have been made.

LOSS & DAMAGE
Every care will be taken to safeguard entries while they are in the possession of the festival. However, if loss or damage occurs, the festival cannot accept or assume responsibility.

AGREEMENT
Entry into festival constitutes agreement with all festival rules and guidelines and implies permission to exhibit work during the festival.

For further Information:
E-Mail: reelfrontier@gmail.com
Web Site: www.filmfestivalarizona.com

40 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • hongwei wang

    This is a great film festival,It is a honor to participate in the competition here,Hope it can be held better and better.

    May 2020
    Helpful
  • KAST HASA

    Arizona International Film Festival is such a wonderful festival which in addition to being run professionally possesses an extremely friendly staff, whose warm welcome makes the film makers feel at home and uniquely appreciated.
    I had the world premier of my feature "Internment" here in 2019, and its screening was done in a very high resolution (DCP-4K_422) through a professional projector, in their wonderful theater by well-trained technicians - and that is all a filmmaker would want.
    Thank you AIFF for valuing my creative work, thank you to such a dedicated, passionate and friendly staff - I hope would be back with my next film.

    April 2020
    Helpful
  • Christopher Romano

    In 2014 my film "A Way of Life" screened at this festival. This was my first ever festival acceptance and the event was incredible to attend. Since then, I've screened at around 40 other festivals with 2 other films and this one is still my favorite one. Mia Schnaible creates a fun atmosphere at the afterparties that encourages everyone to network and get to know people. I still keep in touch with filmmakers that I met there and even got another festival acceptance from a contact that I acquired during my screening. Definitely submit to this festival if you plan to attend it. You won't regret it.

    December 2019
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  • Almost Ghosts

    AzFF is such a great festival!! We had the chance of being there last edition with 'Almost Ghosts' and the hospitality was great, many filmmakers and producers attended, there were networking options, the crew was awesome, Giulio, his wife and the whole team are real film lovers, the screening room was so romantic and unique, and of course visiting Tucson as a city was such a great surprise. It's a great event. Don't hesitate, submit!! :) :)

    October 2019
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your kind words. We loved you guys, your film and your presence in Tucson. We are looking forward to your return.

  • Petra Lent McCarron

    As a filmmaker, this was a first rate experience . The festival organizers and volunteers were very thoughtful and welcoming. The audiences were enthusiastic and turned out to see a broad range of films of all genres. The projection and sound were among the best I've ever witnessed at a festival. I also had an opportunity, through the festival, to speak at a local public magnet school and since my film concerns child labor that was a significant opportunity. In all, I highly recommend this festival.

    September 2019
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