All submissions must be:
* Documentary films. We cannot accept fiction work, celluloid films, or scripts.
* We only show documentaries about people, places, history, or current events in Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia.
* For 2026, we are accepting short documentaries (up to 40 minutes) and feature documentaries (up to 100 minutes). We particularly welcome films that are 40 minutes or less.
* Films must include Closed Caption or English subtitles.
* We prefer films created within the past two years, but will also consider older works.
* Entries must be submitted online through FilmFreeway and must include a link to the film, either on Vimeo, YouTube, or directly within your FilmFreeway account. We do not accept DVD submissions. If the link is password protected, please ensure that the password stays the same through April 1, 2026. If our review committee is unable to access a film because the password has been changed, the documentary will not be considered.
* If selected for the festival, we will require you to upload the film in a .MP4 or .mov file (H.264 codec) onto our secure shared drive.
* Filmmakers must have rights to use all music and images presented in the film or be using under fair use (see http://www.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/best-practices/documentary-filmmakers-statement-best-practices-fair-use#statement).
* Required: We ask that at least one of the filmmakers is available for a Q&A to encourage interaction between the audience and the filmmaker.
* Films with non-English dialogue must be submitted with English subtitles.
* Submissions which do not meet these guidelines will be automatically disqualified. Submission fees will not be returned if you do not follow the guidelines.
