AtomaCon is an annual 2-day media convention held in Charleston, South Carolina. Atomacon Film Festival is happy to return for 2026!

In addition to 2 days of films, enjoy our Media Arts programming track. Meet and greet with industry veterans and media experts with over 20 hours of panels, screenings, and Q+As.

As a multi-genre convention, we're looking for short films under 30 minutes that fall into any genres - science fiction, fantasy, horror, drama/suspense, comedy, action and fan films. . We love retro comedies, parodies, gaming films, and and anything that a genre convention would love. We also have a short screenplay competition. So, if you have a short script that fits into any of the above categories, please submit it. We will also be choosing a couple of accepted script finalist to be read, live at the film festival.

Female, POC, LGBT, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to submit. AtomaCon is female-run convention, and we are dedicated to showcasing voices that are not traditionally lifted on the film circuit. Additionally, we like to see good, thoughtful roles given to minority and female actors, and for their characters to be treated with dignity instead of tokenism and victim-hood. And that goes for ALL entries!

We also have a special regional category for filmmakers from Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Be sure to submit in our regional film category if you would like to be considered for our Best Regional award!

Awards & Prizes

All selected entrants will be given 2 complimentary 2-day membership to AtomaCon 2025. Selected entrants will also be offered a group rate of $25/membership for any cast and crew that wish to travel with them.

We will be announcing sponsored prizes as sponsors come aboard, but for now, we offer awards in the following categories.

- BEST SCREENPLAY
- RUNNER UP BEST SCREENPLAY 1st and 2nd runner up
- BEST SHORT
-BEST FEATURE
- BEST REGIONAL (SC/GA/NC)
-BEST PERFORMANCE SHORT
-BEST PERFORMANCE FEATURE
-BEST DIRECTION
- DIRECTOR'S CHOICE
- JUDGES FAVORITE

Additionally, genre prizes and additional technical awards may be offered for the following categories, when relevant:

BEST HORROR/SUSPENSE
BEST SCIENCE FICTION
BEST FANTASY
BEST COMEDY
BEST FAN FILM
BEST NONFICTION/DOCUMENTARY
BEST MICROSHORT (Under 3 Minutes)
BEST MUSIC
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

Rules & Terms

We do not offer waivers. Our entry fees are intentionally kept low so that our festival is accessible for most budgets.

You will be asked to provide a digital screener if selected. No hard copies will be accepted.

There is no minimum age for entry.

Submissions must be in English or have English subtitles.

Entries may have violence, sexual content, and language, but no real people or animals can be harmed in the making of your film., nor do we accept unsimulated depictions of sex acts.

AtomaCon memberships are not exchangeable for cash.

Physical prizes will be shipped to U.S. winners only. International winners will still receive any digital and monetary prizes earned.

Refunds may be issued in the event of festival cancellation. Otherwise, fees are nonrefundable. You are not eligible for a refund if your film is not selected.

We don't have any hard premiere requirements, but we do prefer films that have had their world premieres after January 2022.

24 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Lisa Ovies

    Thank you so much for including us this year! Fantastic festival and great communication

    May 2025
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  • Alexander Julian III

    Great venue and enthusiastic attendees. We will submit again!

    May 2025
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  • Jesse Womack

    I unfortunately couldn’t attend, but I appreciated this festival giving one of my shorts and one of my screenplays a Finalist spot. Communication was great, and from what I saw on social media it was a great time. Hoping to get selected again to get down there next time

    May 2025
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  • Sofia Garza-Barba

    Great communication! Would have loved to attend. Maybe next time!

    May 2024
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  • Jaysen Buterin

    I have been lucky enough to screen at the AtomaCon Film Festival a couple of times now and it just gets bigger and better each and every year! It's been a pleasure to watch the festival, and the con itself, go from a hotel conference room environment to a full-scale entertainment venue without sacrificing any of the quality of the content they provide. The film festival is run by filmmakers and film lovers alike, which offers up an appealing and entertaining line-up of shorts and features from around the world, in almost every genre, every year. They are grateful and proud of the films that they show and they treat the filmmakers more like friends, than guests, which just makes the networking and hanging out all the more meaningful. I can't wait to submit again and I encourage film friends and strangers to do so as well.

    May 2024
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