BoxFest Detroit is an annual theatre festival that showcases and creates opportunities for local women-identifying directors. Traditionally, BoxFest Detroit has presented exclusively live theatre productions, and is hosted at Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck, MI. This year, the festival has expanded to include a film festival as well.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, BoxFest Detroit 2020 will run entirely online, powered by Seed & Spark. This year’s festival will present films of various genres, filmed theatrical performances, and additional events featuring participating artists and staff.

BoxFest Detroit has served and continues to function as a springboard for many women and their directing careers. Directors who have participated in past festivals have gone on to pursue graduate studies at highly competitive universities, become directors at professional theaters, and form their own successful theater and production companies.

Awards & Prizes

Jury awards are given for the following categories:

Best Narrative Feature
Best Documentary Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Short
Best Micro Shorts
Best Sketch Comedy
Best Theatre Performance

All officially-selected features and short films will be eligible for our Audience Awards.

Mentoring sessions with industry professionals

Reaction / Commentary Video

Additional prizes to be announced.

Rules & Terms

Please read the following carefully to understand the application process and complete your submission:

BoxFest Detroit 2020 is seeking films directed by women, theatrical scripts and screenplays, and directors who will choose from the submitted scripts to produce a finished film. Some eligibility restrictions apply.

BoxFest Detroit 2020 welcomes film submissions from women with a variety of experience in the medium, from early career to established filmmakers, to theatre directors capturing their work in a new way.

All directors submitting a finished film for BoxFest Detroit 2020 must currently reside in Michigan or, if current residence is outside Michigan, you must have participated in a previous BoxFest Detroit festival as an actor, director, or playwright.

To submit your finished film, please complete the submission application here, on FilmFreeway.

BoxFest Detroit 2020 seeks screenplays and theatrical script submissions from playwrights and screenwriters of any gender identity. If a writer’s script is selected by a BoxFest Detroit director for production, it will be filmed and included in the festival.

All playwrights and screenwriters submitting their scripts for possible inclusion in BoxFest Detroit 2020 must currently reside in Michigan or, if your current residence is outside Michigan, you must have participated in a previous BoxFest Detroit festival as an actor, director, or playwright.

To submit a script, writers should visit www.boxfestdetroit.com to upload scripts for consideration by directors.

BoxFest Detroit 2020 also welcomes women directors who will choose a script from the pool of submissions, or write their own script, which they will produce and film for inclusion in the festival.

All directors submitting to produce and film a yet-to-be-completed project for BoxFest Detroit 2020 must currently reside in Michigan or, if current residence is outside Michigan, you must have participated in a previous BoxFest Detroit festival as an actor, director, or playwright.

To submit to direct a yet-to-be-completed project from an original or submitted script, directors should visit www.boxfestdetroit.com and complete the director submission form.

All filmmakers will need to sign a Screening Agreement with BoxFest Detroit 2020 to grant permission to stream the film online.

All writers who submit their scripts for possible production for BoxFest Detroit 2020 agree to grant directors the rights to film their scripts and agree to grant permission to stream completed films online.

UPCOMING DEADLINES:

Deadline for scripts and directors: July 15
Deadline for all films: August 24
4 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Maria Familara

    It's was an incredible honor to be apart of BoxFest Detroit 2020 for our film Taco Soup. I love everything that this festival is doing and the entire event was a great time. Thank you again for the selection!

    May 2021
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  • Katelin Maylum

    Thank you for including "A Basement Film" in this years BoxFest! It was very professionally done with a top notch website, Seed and Spark, hosting the event virtually. I was very pleased that I wasn't pressured to be out and about during Covid 19 and that everything was done online. The streaming quality was excellent and I think I watched every film more than twice! It was also awesome because you had access to the content for an entire week, so you could watch at your leisure. Well done ladies!

    October 2020
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  • Laura Henderson

    My team and I were so excited to have our short film, of Masquerade and Rhymes, included in the BoxFest Detroit 2020 festival. The content displayed was of high quality and the hospitality and communication from the festival team was topnotch. I highly recommend this festival as either a filmmaker or audience member!

    October 2020
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  • Allie Costa

    BoxFest Detroit 2020 was a delight! From narrative films to documentaries to theatrical performances, BoxFest had a little bit of everything. The platform was easy to access and easy to stream. I was honored that my film Future Shock was part of this festival. Many thanks to the BoxFest Detroit team as well as Seed&Spark and FilmFreeway for making this event possible!

    October 2020
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