Children’s Film Festival Seattle, put on by the Northwest Film Forum, is a cine-magical extravaganza of the world’s best and brightest films for tots, teens, and everyone in between! Since 2005, CFFS has grown to become the largest film festival on the West Coast dedicated to children and their families, with an annual lineup piled high with shorts, features, and hands-on activities for all ages.

Each year we program over 150 films from international artists, seeking out joyful, thoughtful, diverse stories that give audiences new ways to understand our world. The festival is a delightful setting for wide-eyed first-time filmgoers and families as well as a creative destination for participating filmmakers.

“Children's Film Festival Seattle took me to a special place to enjoy visual stories and reminded me of the magic of movies! As a filmmaker, I feel so honored to be able to be a part of the gem!” -Toko Shiiki, Director of “Rachel.”

“I do think CFFS it's the most caring festival we've had the honor to be part of. We couldn't be happier to be part of a festival that makes sure to include every kind of public, and is so kind to the participating filmmakers”. - Vania García, Escena Animation Studio

“We were really happy and impressed with our experience at CFFS! The organization and communication couldn't have been better, and not only that, we discovered and were invited to other festivals on the circuit through CFFS!” - Nirupa & Nandini Rao, Directors of “Spirit of the Forest.”

The 2024 festival will be a hybrid festival occurring online on Eventive and in-person at Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Avenue between Pike and Pine on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

All short films submitted to Children’s Film Festival Seattle will also be considered for Brooklyn’s favorite children’s film festival: BAMkids put on by the Brooklyn Academy of Music! BAMkids Film Festival 2024 will also happen in February 2024.

Professional Jury Prizes:
• Best Live Action Short Film
• Best Animated Short Film

Audience Prizes (based on votes):
• Favorite Feature
• Favorite Short Film

Catbus Kids Children's Jury Prizes (awarded by jurors ages 8 to 10):
• Best Live Action Short Film
• Best Animated Short Film
• Best Youth-Made Short Film

Fantastic Foxes Children's Jury Prizes (awarded by jurors ages 11-14):
• Best Live Action Short Film
• Best Animated Short Film
• Best Youth-Made Short Film

Iron Giants Children's Jury Prizes (awarded by jurors ages 15+):
• Best Feature

Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2024
Information, Rules and Regulations

1. The Festival

Children's Film Festival Seattle is an annual, competitive, international film festival presented by Northwest Film Forum, a non-profit organization. Our festivals typically include 150+ films from dozens of nations, in many different languages. Screenings are also offered to both the public and school groups.

2. Organization, Mission, Vision and Values

Children's Film Festival Seattle is framed by Northwest Film Forum's mission to incite public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences.

A nonprofit film and arts center located in Seattle, Northwest Film Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events, multidisciplinary performances, and public discussions each year. A comprehensive visual media organization, the Forum offers educational workshops and artist services for film and media makers at all stages of their development. Artist services include access to space, gear, fiscal sponsorship, and an edit lab. Northwest Film Forum is a member-based organization.

Vision
NWFF visions a world where all people have the power to express themselves and connect with each other through visual storytelling and culture.

Values
Based in the city currently known as Seattle, NWFF acknowledges that we are located on the ancestral lands and territories of the Coast Salish people, including the Duwamish Tribe (Dkhw Duw’Absh), who are still present among us and leading much of the important cultural and societal work in the region.

In recognition of the role of the arts as a vehicle for social change, we are committed to undoing systems of oppression in our work and lives. We are working every day to learn and dismantle racist, sexist, and inequitable systems in our lives and organization.

3. Entry

Submit a film via our FilmFreeway platform by September 10, 2023. Filmmakers are HIGHLY encouraged to submit films earlier than that, however, as we begin to make decisions about films and programs early. Entry fees for our festival are kept very low compared to most other festivals and we hope you will pay them, as all the funds collected will go toward supporting the important mission of the festival. However, if you require a waiver, please write to kendra@nwfilmforum.org explaining the reason.

4. Eligible Films and Videos

• All entries submitted must be suitable for children ages 18 and under.
• The Festival accepts both live-action and animated submissions, completed 2021-2023.
• All entries whose original language is not English must be subtitled or dubbed in English.
• If your film is selected for the festival, we will ask that you provide captions for your film as a .srt or .vtt file (if they’re burned in, that is fine!). If your film does not have captions, we can offer you resources. (We often recommend using an easy and affordable site such as Rev.com to create them.) This is a new requirement of our selected films and is an important step towards making our festival more accessible.

5. Selection/Festival Director

Selection will be made by the festival director and the CFFS programming team. Input might also be sought from children and educators.

6. Criteria for Selection

• Film content should be creative and demonstrate artistic and technical mastery.
• Content should speak positively to children of diverse backgrounds and cultures. We look for films that provide strong role models for all children and must not contain gender, racial or cultural stereotypes and biases. The content of the films should cause no harm and fit our ideals of racial and gender equity, inclusivity, social justice and global awareness.
• Stories should be culturally authentic, timely, uplifting and of universal appeal to young audiences. Plotlines, ideally, should be child-driven, FOR children, rather than ABOUT them. Films with extremely bleak messages or unhappy endings are not a fit for CFFS.
• Films should not contain gratuitous violence or explicit nudity. Sexual content of any kind is not appropriate for our audience. Strong and/or repeated profanity will disqualify your film.

Entries may be disqualified for technical or procedural reasons, including:
• Any entry not subtitled or dubbed into the English language.
• Films and videos that are purely educational or instructional in nature.
• Films and videos that are aimed primarily at an adult audience.

7. Notification of Festival Status

The Festival will inform all entrants no later than November 15, 2023 if films have been selected for the Children's Film Festival Seattle 2024. Notification about BAMKids Film Festival (see below) may come at a separate time.

8. Additional screenings. This section pertains to short films only.

Selected short films and festival short programs may be included in additional screenings taking place in the weeks and months before and following the Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2024. These additional screenings fall into three categories: 1) BAMkids Film Festival 2) CFFS Best of the Fest screenings 3) School screenings

BAMkids Film Festival: In association with Northwest Film Forum and other partners, the Brooklyn Academy of Music presents Brooklyn’s favorite children’s film festival: BAMkids! All short films submitted to Children’s Film Festival Seattle will also be considered for BAMkids Film Festival 2024, happening in February 2024. Additionally, BAM selects its own "BEST OF" program each year, to be screened in late spring or early summer. This festival also offers audience prizes.

There is not a separate entry form for the BAMkids Film Festival; the CFFS entry form covers participation in BAMKids as well.

CFFS Best of the Fest: Each year, venues throughout the Northwest, the United States, and Canada request screenings of the prize-winning and audience favorites of our festival. After the festival, Children’s Film Festival Seattle selects two programs — one animation and one live-action — comprised of approximately 10 short films each. The programs are then professionally compiled and sent to participating venues. Filmmakers and distributors should indicate on the Festival Film Submission Form if they give permission for their films to be included in this program. An honorarium is paid to each participating filmmaker in this program, and filmmakers are notified of the venues offering this program.

School Screenings: Each year, school groups in the Northwest region request field trip screenings of certain shorts program from that year's CFFS. These school screenings occur during the festival and a month following to help bring the magic of the movies to students ages 6-18!

9. Festival format of films and videos selected

All short films must be sent to us as .mov, .mp4 or .m4v files. Precise specifications will be provided upon acceptance of the films. In the event of in-person screenings, DCP will be accepted for feature films only and must be accompanied by a DVD or BluRay backup. Ideally, DCPs should be unlocked.

10. Correspondence and contact

The general office email is kendra@nwfilmforum.org.

11. Rulings

Northwest Film Forum reserves the right to rule on cases not covered by these regulations.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • We were thrilled to have the World Premiere of MOUNTAIN BOY at this festival! Kendra and the whole team were brilliant in accommodating the visiting filmmakers from the UAE and giving them a wonderful experience. A great festival that caters for youth and family films.

    March 2024
  • ruhi radke

    Even though I couldn't attend in person, the festival did such an amazing job with their communication and hybrid portion! The shorts were really well curated! Thank you so much for including Brown Sugar!

    March 2024
  • Amir Zargara

    Thanks for having us :)

    March 2024
  • Gabriela Badillo

    Everything is great and have an awesome selection

    February 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Gabriela!

  • Irene Tedeschi

    It was a pleasure to be selected. The festival kept me constantly and kindly informed. Great experience, thank you

    February 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Irene! We are honored to have included your films!