* ALUMNI OF THE BSFF CAN SUBMIT THEIR FILMS FOR FREE *

The Borrego Springs Film Festival invites you to send in your film to our 6th annual event January 17th - 21st 2018.

The BSFF is a vibrant FILMMAKER-CENTRIC festival that takes place in one of the most beautiful locations in the United States Borrego Springs, CA. Our vibe is desert eclectic: from vintage trailers to refined mid-century modern to primitive pup-tents to world class resort living. All are welcome. We throw a warm friendly party for everyone five days straight.

We support filmmakers. If you're making your first film or your fiftieth, we want you here.

Our community embraces the BSFF with enthusiasm and always sells-out our festival passes. Packed houses and a lively Q&A are all part of the event. We’re an old-school film festival. You’ll meet and greet your audience, have a blast, lounge with other filmmakers, and interact with everyone. We even have homemade cookies.

“The BSFF packs the theater with a very engaging audience a very special place that is worth the visit to witness firsthand the fun loving hospitality of the locals.” -- Gabe Crate, Director, "Move Me”

"Beautiful location, focus on film makers and audience experience. One venue, great communication, well-organized. Soon to be one of the top 50 film festivals to attend. Bravo!" -- James Theres, Director, "30th of May"

"The festival also has a great filmmakers lounge with awesome homemade cookies, and they give you two all-access passes for everything. I plan to return to this festival every year even if I don't have a film showing!" -- Steve Oldfield, Director, "Lines of Sight"

See, told you about them cookies.

After a half-decade of running the BSFF we're getting better while having more fun all the time. It's the sort of festival any filmmaker truly appreciates: crowds, a great location, and a warm quirky vibe. We welcome your creative energy to our film festival and invite you to join us in building a tradition celebrating innovative filmmaking.

Awards & Prizes

Award trophies will be presented for Best Narrative Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Latino Film, and Grand People’s Choice.

In 2019, we're continuing the fan favorite competition across all genres. Top votes for each category will win the BSFF "PEOPLE'S CHOICE" award.

Rules & Terms

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• Films completed on or after Jan 1, 2016 are eligible.

• Entrant confirms and warrants required legal authority to submit the entry into the festival and to use all music, images, and content in the entry.

• All films must be in English or subtitled in English.

CATEGORIES
All films may be submitted into only one category:

• Narrative Feature – any narrative film 40 minutes or longer

• Narrative Short – any narrative short film under 40 minutes

• Documentary – a documentary of any length

• Latino – a film of any length made by, featuring, about and/or for the Latino community

• Animation – any form of animation, any length

PAYMENT
Pay entry fees online during the online application process.

DIGITAL PR:
If your film is accepted, you must be able to provide: a hi-res film still, a digital hi-res poster of your movie, a digital high-res image of the director and/or producer, and a synopsis of your film in 140 characters or less.

FILM TRAILERS:
The BSFF features trailers of selected films during our screenings, as well as showcasing the trailers on our website and social media. Accepted films will provide a trailer no less than :30 and no longer than 2:15.

MULTIPLE ENTRIES
More than one entry may be submitted. However, each entry must be submitted as a new film with a separate online entry form, a unique registration number, an additional entry fee.

NOTIFICATION
If your film is selected to be part of the BSFF, you will be notified via email on or about November 15. You will also be notified by email if your film is not selected. Please make sure that you notify us if email changes, and add borregospringsfilmfestival@gmail.com to your safe sender email list.

FEEDBACK
We are unable to respond with feedback or explanations if your film is not accepted. The popularity of the expanding BSFF means we receive many more worthy films than we have programming space to screen. Don’t be discouraged if your film is not accepted.

EXHIBITION FILM REQUIREMENTS

• All accepted film will submit screeners uploaded via the internet. mp4, prores, or DNxHD.

• The exhibition copy of your film must be received no later than December 5th. Accepted films that miss the deadline will be removed from the program and replaced.

RELEASE & LICENSING AGREEMENT
By submitting your film: you acknowledge and agree that to the best of my knowledge, I am duly authorized to submit this film to Borrego Springs Film Festival (BSFF) and to grant permissions related to its use and distribution. Submitting a film to BSFF constitutes an agreement by and between the filmmaker/representative and BSFF.

You grant permission to BSFF to use film clips/stills for promotional use. You allow BSFF and any third parties at the festival the right to film, videotape and photograph your appearance and voice for any and all marketing and promotion of Borrego Springs Film Festival and Borrego Festivals Foundation.

You indemnify and hold harmless BSFF, its judges, affiliates, staff, sponsors and partners, individually and collectively, from and against all claims, demands, losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including legal fees) arising out of or in connection with any and all claims, or third party claims based on stories or films submitted to BSFF.

If your film is accepted into the BSFF, you grant BSFF the non-exclusive right to right to show and market my film in its entirety as BSFF sees fit at the festival. BSFF does not take any copyright or ownership of your film.

By submitting, you agree to all of these rules, terms and conditions. You acknowledge that no submission fee refunds are given once this application has been submitted. You also acknowledge that you will not receive any compensation for the use of your film by BSFF in accordance with the rules, terms and conditions.

You understand and acknowledge that, if you are under 18 years of age, your parent or guardian must agree to the terms of this Filmmaker Release on your behalf. As a Parent or Guardian of a minor filmmaker, if applicable, you understand and acknowledge that you are agreeing to the terms of this Filmmaker/Guardian/Representative Release on behalf of your child or a child for whom you are a legally designated Guardian.

16 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Joshua Lee

    Now in its 5th year, BSFF is a smartly programmed and very well organized small town film festival. Any given screening bloc included a mixture of shorts, animation, narrative and doc often programmed in interesting thematic ways. This made for very fruitful Q&A's with engaged and thoughtful audiences. Our Monday morning screening took place before a completely sold-out audience of 180 people! A testament to the promotional efforts of Pam, Matt and their team. The local paper as well as every business in town that we passed was advertising the festival schedule. Additionally, Matt's very thorough documentation of the events and his filmmaker interviews gave us a great resource to use in our continuing efforts to promote our film.

    Pam also provided numerous resources to filmmakers, from hotel discounts to vouchers for use in some wonderful local restaurants. And then there were the fresh baked pastries & coffee available each morning for filmmakers - not to mention the coupons for free locally made fudge!

    We are so grateful to have been a part of this wonderful festival and to have met so many fantastic and friendly people in this very special creative community. We very much hope to keep in touch and attend again in coming years!

    Joshua

    January 2018
    Helpful
  • David Zelina

    We had an excellent time screening our feature COLD WATER in Borrego Springs! Communication was great the whole way through and when we got there we felt like royalty. You can tell that Fred, Matt, Pam and all the others working the festival LOVE films and filmmakers. The audience was intelligent and engaged the whole weekend. All access passes were everywhere! The hospitality was amazing. I can't wait to go back! Thanks, guys!

    January 2018
    Helpful
  • John Gomez

    I really couldn't have asked for a better experience than at the BSFF. The organizers made us filmmakers feel very special. The line-up of films was diverse and impressive! The audiences are big and VERY engaged. The town of Borrego Springs is a wonderful backdrop for a film festival! If you are selected then it is well worth the trip!

    January 2018
    Helpful
  • Via Bia

    If you want a festival in a GORGEOUS setting that loves filmmakers and believes that movies are art, then the Borrego Springs Film Festival is for you.

    From the moment you arrive at the festival, you are greeted by volunteers/staff who know your movie and are excited to see you. They may even hug you and hand you a fresh-baked scone, they are that lovely.

    Plus, the programming is legit. Not only were there several Sundance films at BSFF, but I saw a number of other great indies too.

    So submit - BSFF will treat you right. :)

    January 2018
    Helpful
  • Nicholas Thurkettle

    I've attended Borrego twice and I will gladly go every year that they'll have me. Great programming taste, a packed room of engaged viewers at every screening, and an incredible sense of community. This small town makes you feel like family from the moment you arrive, and their humor and warmth and love for film is irresistible.

    January 2018
    Helpful