Come celebrate 31 Years of Independents.

The 31st Arizona International Film Festival, the longest running film festival in Arizona, will run from April 19 to April 30, 2023 at The Screening Room, the Mercado Annex, the historic Hotel Congress and other exhibition venues throughout Downtown Tucson.

The ongoing 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 3200 films from 100 countries to over 172,000 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. Special Jury Awards are also made for Outstanding Cinematography in a feature, Best Performance in a feature, and a film that exemplifies "Bridging Cultures."

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 2021 and January 2023.
- 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 or 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)

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

* Earlybird submitted by January 10, 2023

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 30, 2023.

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).

DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS
If selected, filmmakers will be informed of the procedures for downloading and/or shipping their entries. Finalists are responsible for the arrangements and cost of sending their exhibition copy to the festival by March 25, 2022. Once accepted, the filmmaker will be able to download their entry on the Festival server. If you are shipping your exhibition copy, clearly identify the title of the work on the shipping container.

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

56 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Edgardo Gonzalez

    I absolutely loved this festival, I'm very proud that my first screening was here! The communication was great, the venues were beautiful, and really I feel that the staff makes it special for filmmakers. I hope to return with upcoming projects!

    September 2022
    Helpful
  • Opera Parallèle

    This was our First Film Festival selection. Opera and Film have a storied past, but since the late 20th the opera industry has overall shunned the idea of pairing the two artforms.

    Our particular opera is different, even from the traditional opera film, in that it is an animated graphic novel. We combined illustration, (e)motion-capture and digital animation, combined it with a new recording, handmade by the composer and painstaking covid protocol compliant vocal recording with some of the top voices in the world.
    AIFF was the first of the legacy festivals we were selected by, to our surprise.

    We love our film, but there are also other amazing films out there that merit a feature's worth of time to watch.

    Mia and the rest of the VOLUNTEERS, bent over backward for us, giving us a bit of grace period to get our ducks in a row after our film was selected. ANd more, once we arrived at the festival, ushering us into the truly amazing Community of Tucson, and the truly lovely Film Community.

    No matter how many hours they had put in, there was ALWAYS a willingness to help, guide, host and even just hang out. From the Patrons, to the filmmakers, we were ALL treated like stars.

    We are jaded professionals, but receiving a Jury Prize from AIFF meant more than just some words and a laurel. It means the world to us.

    Thank you so very much for everything!

    August 2022
    Helpful
  • Jim Hall

    Muffy Drake Media, once again was honored to have one of our short experimental FilmPoems selected to this most wonderful "Cannes of the Cantos." Cannot possibly recommend this festival more! Support it with all your Heart & Art and Soul...

    July 2022
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  • Sébastien Pins

    Thank you to the whole festival crew for giving the Best Documentary Award to "When the swallows fly away"! 😃✨
    I can't wait to show you my next film!

    May 2022
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  • Christy Lee Hughes

    This was a wonderful experience! Our film Guardian screened at the 30th anniversary of the Arizona International Film Festival this year and it was great! The founders are lovely, the films are exceptional and the hospitality was delightful. We really enjoyed seeing the other films both at the outdoor venues and in the theater. The events, food, music and people were awesome. We met some talented filmmakers and made new friends. We will definitely go back and highly recommend this festival!

    May 2022
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