The College Dance Film Fest grew out of a desire to connect students involved & interested in the industries of Dance & Cinema to each other and the greater community. Dance & Cinema have incredible potential to communicate through movement, move viewers emotionally, and amplify and clarify each other when intelligently combined. CDFF is the only dance film festival created solely for college students and is focused on celebrating & sharing undergraduate and graduate students' diverse range of work. The festival aims to connect students to various audiences, cultures, and creative communities through the universal language of film and movement.

CDFF is partnering with Denton Movie Tavern to bring Dance on Film to the local community for free this year. CDFF23 will be screening live at The Patterson-Appleton Arts Center Festival Hall in Denton, Texas.

Thank you for applying to College Dance Film Fest!

Films selected for screening will be considered for Jury Selected Awards. Filmmakers selected for awards will receive festival laurels in specific categories.

Best Concept

Most Original

Best Choreography

Best Undergraduate Film

Best Graduate Film

Best Editing

Special Award from the Festival Directors
This award is presented based on the Festival Director's chosen theme.

Must be college students, undergraduates, or graduates. This includes community college, junior college, and four-year institutions, and Master's and Ph.D. students, as well.

Verification of Student status: Must submit with school email, student Id, or Transcript.
The film must have been made while the applicant was a student
If graduating in December, you are still eligible to submit
Filmmakers without verifications will not be considered for CDFF

There is no application fee!

The film must have been made within five years of submission and must be completed work.

Length: 2-8 minutes max, not including credits

Must incorporate Dance
*Note that we are defining Dance broadly.
All dance styles are accepted (hip-hop, jazz, modern, etc.)
Pedestrian Movement
Movement through editing
Animation
Objects dancing

* CDFF is not currently accepting documentaries *

Limit of 2 submissions per artist.
Must submit to ONE category or the other ONLY, not both.

All films must be the original work of dance filmmakers, and all filmmakers must have the necessary rights. The CDFF is not liable for any rights issues.

Films should be submitted on digital file (Mov, Mp4) through FilmFreeway. Films entered for consideration should be downloadable from the site or downloaded via Vimeo link. If accepted, the filmmaker permits CDFF to download the film through FilmFreeway and screen it at our live event.

No feedback on submissions can be given.

Entrant(s) will allow usage of clips from the entry and all related publicity material submitted for promotional use on television, radio, print, web, and at live Festival events.
Please provide a still shot from the film.

Films that are selected will be notified by January 30, 2023.

We're filmmakers, too. It feels great to get an acceptance letter, and it hurts when we don't make the cut. We look forward to sending out this year's good news to select entrants, but we won't be mailing rejection letters: if you don't hear from us this time around, no worries -- keep at it, and start preparing your entry for next year's festival.

All participating filmmakers release the festival (CDFF) from any and all liability for damages or destruction of submitted materials (DVDs/BluRays/Flash Drives/etc.). Entrants understand the submitted materials will be securely held by the festival; every effort will be made to protect and control access for viewing. CDFF assumes no liability for theft, copyright violations, or piracy of submitted content.

Please email us at cdffest@gmail.com if you have any questions.