We are seeking the crown-jewel--the poetic--in a film, which filmmakers call the moment. The moment in a film may be a look, a kiss, a quirky smile, an emerging plant in the aftermath of a fire, or something in the frame seemingly small but is gigantic in meaning to the story. In short, it is poetic. We, the organizing committee and our award judges will make the determination of whether a film short includes a poetic moment or moments.

Our festival is a celebration of the poetic moment and, as such, is not a competition that pits films against each other. Rather our festival is about discovering the poetic moment or moments in a given film short, which we recognize as the inherent pearl or pearls. These films may be awarded the Poetic Pearl Award, our highest honor, Award of Excellence and Award of Merit.

There are 2 categories for 3 age groups: Independent Film Narrative Short and Documentary short for Independent filmmakers, High School Students, and University Students.

The Rules are:

Narratives of any genre and Documentaries about any subject are eligible
• Entrants may submit up to two film shorts
• High school students must be Texas residents to submit to the 'Texas High School' categories.
• Running Time: 3 – 20 minutes per film short for Independent Filmmakers
• Running Time: 3 – 10 minutes per film short for High School and University Filmmakers
• Entries may only be submitted via FilmFreeway.com
• Films selected for screening must be submitted in high quality H.264 via downloadable link
• Film Copyright Must Be in Entrant’s Name
• Films Must Be Completed 2018 - 2020
• Non-English-speaking films must have English subtitles
• World Premiere Status Preferred but not Required

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Javid Farahani

    Dear

    I’m honored to be announced that my short film “Under the Blade” got accepted in such a good festival.

    Thank you very much

    June 2020
  • 0 stars in all categories.
    Was my film selected? Don't know. When is/was the festival? Don't know.
    I submitted a film and then a few weeks later I get an email from Filmfreeway, asking me to add a review!
    Zero communication. Zero stars.

    "We did send you an email via FilmFreeway on Feb. 3, 2020 letting you know that your film received an Award of Merit. Perhaps, you need to check your spam folder. Moreover, you could have sent us an email inquiring about the status of your film, instead of writing a negative review."

    No, you sent me an email via Filmfreeway on March 5, 2020. I see all of the Filmfreeway emails; they do not go to my spam folder. I was confused by your email, because:
    1) It did it not say whether or not my film was accepted. According to Filmfreeway, my film was NOT selected by your festival. (Even now, my status for your festival is still 'pending' and not selected).
    2) It did not say when and where the festival is.
    3) It had a link to festival laurels, but the link was password-protected so I could not see it.
    Confused by this, I replied to your email on March 5 2020, asking Arnando about these details. That was more than a week ago and you still have not replied to me. Perhaps you need to check YOUR spam folder.

    Because you never answered my questions, never accepted my film on Filmfreeway, and never allowed me to see the laurels, I assumed that my film was not selected. That's why I was surprised when I got the email from Filmfreeway asking me to rate your festival.

    I DID send you an email. There was zero communication from you, which is exactly the reason for the negative review.

    March 2020
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    We did send you an email via FilmFreeway on Feb. 3, 2020 letting you know that your film received an Award of Merit. Perhaps, you need to check your spam folder. Moreover, you could have sent us an email inquiring about the status of your film, instead of writing a negative review.

  • Kayleb Lee

    An honor to be selected and receive the Award for Excellence. Great communication. Look forward to more events and attending!

    March 2020
  • Jack Beck

    An honor to be awarded in this fest. Armando has been great with encouragement and communication. The attentin to the poetic moment seems to be unique.

    March 2020
  • Michael Reed

    Well we are giving this wonderful festival a 5 out of 5 in every aspect as they suprised us with an Award of Merit for our short film Edgar and it is our first ever award for this film.

    Communication with the festival director Mr. Armando Ibanez has been excellent and even though we could not attend we would love to express our gratitude for this honour to the president of the festival Laurie Guajardo and the judges Joe Barrera, Michelle Macau, Vira Montes, Jacqueline McCall-Flynn and Andrew Rosen for the recognition.

    We shall be applying to your festival again in the future in hope that we will be able to attend as well.

    We wish you all the best in the years to come and may this festival go on for a tremendous number of years!

    Kind regards!

    Sincerely,

    Michael Reed and Matko Abramic

    March 2020