Bifocal Film Festival

Submit to Bifocal Film Festival, the University of Pennsylvania's inaugural entirely student-run event! We seek to amplify student voices from near and far across the globe through curated official selection screenings, filmmaker discussion panels, industry networking events, and professional keynote presentations on media and entertainment.

Bifocal Film Festival pays homage to Ben Franklin's iconic invention. We draw on the metaphor of seeing near and far, and use this framework to set into motion our mission to curate a diverse array of global perspectives. Vantages through unique lenses helps to enrich audiences through contributions of social, political, and cultural commentary. We wish for students' work to tell us what we should be focusing on!

BFF's integral pillars include: diversity, creativity, impact, and innovation.

Official Selections will be decided by an internal selection committee. Select finalists will be invited to attend the 2024 festival in-person at the University of Pennsylvania, which will take place in the Spring.

Finalists may receive a monetary prize or resources to help them continue their filmmaking careers.

**YOU MUST BE A STUDENT TO SUBMIT, AND YOU MUST HAVE PROOF OF STUDENT STATUS WHEN ASKED**

Bifocal Film Festival does not accept submissions longer than 30 minutes. Traditional films (Narrative and Documentary) are welcome, as well as other forms of audiovisual media that could quality as "Film", such as music videos, VR experiences, and others.

All films submitted to Bifocal Film Festival must have been completed while the filmmaker was enrolled in a film program (whether that be a part of an institution of higher learning or an alternate media curriculum). If applying as a student of an alternate film curriculum you must submit a letter of confirmation from the program on an official organization letterhead if selected.

Please include the following information with your submission:
(1) Program/School/University you attended while the film was made
(2) City, state, and country where you are a student
(3) Film Poster (strongly encouraged)

If accepted to Bifocal Film Festival 2024, I agree to have my film screened to all attendees on the date of the festival and for some clips/materials to be used (and credited) for publicity materials to promote the festival.

We strongly encourage films to include closed captioning (regardless of the language spoken in the film) to make our screenings as accessible as possible.

Overall Rating

Quality

Value

Communication

Hospitality

Networking

Cui Cui

Great festival, great group of filmmakers.

April 2024

Helpful
PJ Martínez

Great student festival where it has been an honor to have been selected

April 2024

Helpful
Lauren Keller

Thank you for selecting our film, "A Little Glass of Rum!"

April 2024

Helpful
Serkan Aktaş

I was honored to participate in this year's Bifocal Film Festival with "The Librarian" short film! - 😃😃😃🙏🙏🙏

April 2023

Helpful

Bifocal Film Festival