The Auckland Underground Film Festival is an international short film and video art festival showcasing New Zealand’s creative talent alongside innovative video artists from around the globe. Our aim is to provide a supportive platform for the exciting and challenging work that is outside the scope of mainstream film festivals and art galleries.

For the 2016 festival we’re seeking short films, video art and experimental cinema pieces (abstract, narrative or documentary) between 0 and 15 minutes. Both filmmakers and time-based media artists are encouraged to enter.

Thanks to support from the Waitemata Local Board and The Wallace Foundation, we’re able to offer New Zealand artists free submissions for their films. A small fee will be charged for international submissions.

The festival will be held on September 30th at the Academy Cinemas and will be free to attend. Full details will be announced on our Facebook page and website closer to the date.

Please submit your film(s) via FilmFreeway and ensure that your project page includes a short description of your work, a short bio, two film stills (uploaded in the ‘production photos’ section), the year and country of origin, as well as the shooting format (eg super 8, HD etc).

As this is our first event we’re open to old or new work and we’re happy to accept work that has already screened at other festivals.

Non-commercial music videos that would fit into a programme of underground cinema are also welcomed!

We recommend that non-English language films be subtitled in English.

By submitting, the filmmaker warrants that they are the rightful owner of the submission and do not violate or infringe on any trademark, trade name, copyright, literary, dramatic, musical, artistic or other intellectual property or personal rights.

Programming decisions will be made by the screening committee shortly after the final deadline and all entrants will be notified via FilmFreeway.

No film may be withdrawn from the festival program after its selection.

Films selected for screening will need to be supplied to us as high res files for inclusion on the DCP.

The Auckland Underground Film Festival reserves the right to use small portions and stills of accepted films for publicity and promotion of the festival event.