**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.

2024-2025 BLSFF Submissions Deadlines:
10/07/2024 - Submissions Open
12/31/2024 - Early Bird Submission Deadline
02/14/2024 - Final Submission Deadline
03/03/2024 - Accepted Films Notification Date
03/10/2024 - Accepted Films Final Cut Deadline

Submission for The Backlight Student Film Festival will constitute acceptance of the following terms and conditions.

1. Films must not contain any nudity, excessive violence, or otherwise obscene and offensive material (as termed by BLSFF). All views and opinions expressed in submitted or selected films are not representative of BLSFF.

2. All films must be made by current students at an accredited college or university in the state of Georgia, or a college aged filmmaker (18-23 years old) that resides in the state of Georgia and is not currently enrolled in high school and not enrolled in and has not graduated from a university or college. Recent alumni may be considered at the discretion of BLSFF. Members of the cast and crew may include non-students, but the entrant must be a student holding a primary creative production role (e.g. Director or Producer).

3. No copyrighted, trademarked, or reserved material may be used in the production of the film including — but not limited to — music, visuals, and properties without the proper licensing and/or attribution. Proof of licensure or permission must be provided upon request if deemed necessary for the film to be considered.

4. All films must be submitted by February 14th, 2025 by 11:59 p.m. to be considered for the Backlight Student Film Festival.

5. Films for the “Short Form” category should not exceed 10 minutes (not including credits), and “Mid-length” submissions should fall between 10 to 30 minutes (not including credits).

6. By submitting, entrants agree to grant express permission to The Backlight Student Film Festival to display and otherwise use the film and likenesses of those depicted as required to fulfill the competition agreement.

7. Entrants who serve on the Selection Committee should recuse themselves from judging any film submissions they have worked on. BLSFF reserves the right to dismiss or deny acceptance of any Selection Committee members based on conflicts of interest and involvement with film submissions.

8. Students who serve in any of the following titles will be excluded from awards considerations: President of Campus Organization, Vice President of Campus Organization and Student Programming Assistant. Additionally, the listed titles may not submit a film which they have directed. BLSFF reserves the right to dismiss or deny acceptance of any submissions based on conflicts of interest and involvement with film submissions.

9. All entrants acknowledge that The Backlight Student Film Festival holds no responsibility to promote or display any submitted films or filmmakers. Any film may be declined at the discretion of BLSFF without any provided reasoning.

10. 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.

11. No plagiarized, pirated, or otherwise fraudulent films will be accepted. Should such a film be detected, all entrants involved will be barred from future submissions.

12. Entrants may choose, if selected, to submit contact and social media information as well as any promotional material to be displayed during the film festival and alongside Backlight Student Film Festival social media posts. Any such links, materials, and information may be declined or unused without providing a reason at the discretion of BLSFF.

13. Submissions which are unplayable, inaudible, or otherwise illegible will not be considered. Entrants are solely responsible for the legibility of their respective submission.

14. The Backlight Student Film Festival is not in any way liable for any incurred costs, injuries, or damages due to the production of a film intended for this competition nor are they responsible to aid production of such a film in any way. All filmmakers retain sole liability for all such resulting costs or damages of their respective productions.

15. BLSFF reserves the right to alter these terms and conditions of The Backlight Student Film Festival competition at any time.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Wasan Hayajneh

    We had a wonderful time at Backlight! Thank you for having us!

    April 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much! It was a delight to host you and screen your incredible film. We hope to see you back in the future!