The Black Diaspora Short Film Festival’s mission is to showcase and discover talented emerging Black filmmakers who tell stories that reflect the diversity and complexity of the Black experience in the United States and around the world.

This inaugural virtual festival is sponsored by the Center for Black Diaspora at DePaul University and grown from its extensive film collection of Black Cinema. In this festival, we seek to reinforce the importance of archiving, watching and creating black stories. As such, we plan to uplift, promote and nurture the creativity of independent Black filmmakers by providing this forum to exhibit their work in short form cinema. Well crafted films with poignant stories and themes are welcome.

The festival will be held from February 24, 2021 to March 11, 2021.

ELIGIBILITY: It is open to Black independent, emerging and student filmmakers.

**Film screenings, discussions, workshops and any master classes will be free and open to the public.

QUESTIONS: email centerforblackdiaspora@depaul.edu

Awards & Prizes

Selected filmmaker who wins the "best" for each category will receive an honorarium/prize of $500 (U.S. dollars) for outstanding films in the below categories by our jury.

- Animation Short
-Narrative Short
-Documentary Short
-Experimental Short
- Best Cinematography

They will be required to be available virtually for a post-screening Q & A discussion.

Rules & Terms

Due to limitations created by COVID-19. This festival will be entirely virtual and all film screenings will be free and open to the public. All post-screening discussions and workshops will be conducted via zoom and require registration.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
- All filmmakers MUST use FilmFreeway for submissions.

- Genres accepted: narrative, documentary, experimental and animation. Trailers or Demo Reels will not be considered.

- No completion date or premiere requirement.

- Shorts should be no longer than 20 minutes. credits included.

- All non-English entries MUST be subtitled

- Formats accepted: downloadable digital file ( H.264) OR as an online screener ( Vimeo link preferred) If a link is password protected, then the password must be valid through January 31, 2021, otherwise your submission will be considered INVALID.

- Entries should include a film synopsis, a brief filmmaker biography, a high resolution photograph of the director and film stills, a trailer for the short and relevant social media links.

- If the film is accepted, the applicant agrees to the following requests and conditions:
Applicant grants the festival permission to use still images, clip excerpts and film information for promotional purposes on our website and social media platforms.

- It is the responsibility of the applicant to obtain all the necessary clearance from the copyright holders and any copy-righted materials in the Short. The applicant releases and discharges BDSFF from any and all claims caused by copyright violation relating to the short film. Your film submission hereby confirms that you are authorized to commit the film to screening.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q: How will films be selected?
A: Eligible submissions will be selected by a carefully chosen jury made up of filmmakers, film professionals, artists and academics.

Q: Are student shorts eligible for submission?
A: YES

Q: Do you accept works-in-progress?
A: YES, Works in progress needs to be "picture locked" and accompanied by list of things needed to be completed for instance sound design or color correction.

Q: Do you accept shorts that are already available online?
A: YES