**SUBMISSIONS ARE ONLY OPEN TO STUDENT FILMMAKERS FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA IN THE UNITED STATES.**
The Backlight Student Film Festival is a two-day student short film festival that takes place every April in Athens, GA. Backlight is a competitive festival that accepts submissions from undergraduate and graduate students at colleges and universities across the state of Georgia, with an average acceptance rate of 11%. Backlight accepts films in two categories: short-form (1-10 minutes) and mid-length (11-30minutes).
Backlight is a nonprofit organization devoted to fostering innovation and creativity within the Georgia film community by promoting and highlighting the work of aspiring student filmmakers. Backlight unites students and industry professionals across the state, offering opportunities for growth and professional advancement. As the film industry expands into Georgia, we provide outlets for student filmmakers to showcase their talents and build connections within their local film community.
Founded in 2022 by University of Georgia Students, Backlight is an emerging festival offering a variety of opportunities for students to develop their talent in the media entertainment industry through a networking mixer, red carpet, film screenings, industry panels, and an awards ceremony featuring industry professionals, film academics, and notable alumni of Georgia colleges and universities. Backlight has exploded from an entirely student-run production at the University of Georgia to an award-winning accredited non-profit organization with connections state and nationwide.
While Backlight accepts films from all genres, as a film festival held on a university premises, it has strict submissions guidelines that must be followed for consideration in the festival. The festival does not accept films containing excessive violence, nudity, or otherwise obscene and offensive material (as termed by Backlight) as well as copyrighted, trademarked, or reserved material.
Furthermore, all submissions must be made by current students at an accredited college or university in the state of Georgia. A a college-aged resident of Georgia (18-23 years old) that is not enrolled in high school or a college or university and has never graduated from a college or university may also be eligible. (Recent alumni may be considered at the festival’s discretion). Any submission that does not adhere to BLSFF’s terms and conditions or that are not submitted by the deadline of February 14th will not be considered for the festival. The full terms and conditions for submissions may be found below.
Backlight does not require Premiere status for submission or acceptance to the festival.
Once notified of acceptance in the festival, all accepted films must have high resolution final cuts with any edits requested by the BLSFF board delivered to the festival by the posted final cut deadline for inclusion in the festival and awards consideration. The full list of deadlines for submission to the festival can be found under rules and terms. All accepted films will be screened at the festival and considered for all nine general awards along with Best Film in their category. The cast and crew of accepted films will be invited to attend the festival in the Spring.
BLSFF reserves the right to disqualify any submission, even after a film has been invited or final programming has been announced, at the sole discretion of the BLSFF board staff. Furthermore, due to the volume of submissions, BLSFF is unable to provide feedback on submitted films, whether rejected or accepted into the festival.
BLSFF reserves the right to decline any submission for any reason.
If you have any questions that are not answered here refer to our website at backlightfilmfestival.com. If you still have questions please feel free to email us at backlightfilmfestival@gmail.com.
Backlight’s primary purpose is to serve and acknowledge the growing creative talent in the state of Georgia by showcasing and awarding student films. The festival awards films in the categories of:
Best Short Form
Best Mid-Length
Best Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Sound Design
Best Score
Backlight represents a unique crossroads between the Georgia student film community and the professional entertainment industry. Backlight works with student organizations across the state of Georgia to review and select finalists from the pool of submitted films.
The final selection for screening in the festival and award consideration is made by Backlight’s professional programming team. The judging panel for awards is composed of film academics, industry professionals, filmmakers, and critics. Past judges have included winners of awards at Sundance and the Independent Spirit Awards, filmmakers with films at Cannes, Sundance, TIFF, and SXSW, an executive producer for the Peabody awards, producers of content airing on NBC, CBS, BET, Showtime, Amazon, and The Discovery Channel, award winning composers, alumni working in the entertainment industry, and more.
- April 2024