Welcome to the Culture & Diversity Film Festival! We celebrate the films that celebrate you!

The Culture & Diversity Film Festival rejoices in the many colors of our lives and our world by showcasing a diverse selection of films from around the globe.

From the Filmmaker Meet & Greet to our Interviews, Q&A Sessions and Awards Ceremony, we honor the filmmakers and foster a sense of community and camaraderie among the those who create and those who appreciate the artistic expression of our diverse human lives on film.

We are a traveling festival. Our founding venue in 2018 was the world famous Redwood Cafe in beautiful Cotati, California, a tour stop for Grammy Award winning music artists and home of the acoustic music series hosted by Santa Rosa's KRSH Radio. Our 2019 venue was the historic Raleigh Studios Mary Pickford Theatre in Hollywood, CA. In 2020, for health and safety reasons in view of COVID-19, our festival was held online with filmmakers from all over the world participating in virtual events and Q&A sessions. In 2021 we were a hybrid festival screening both online and in person at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. We will continue to keep abreast of health concerns and in 2022 we will host online and/or theatrical screenings as we deem safe for all filmmakers and festival attendees. Check our website for updates.

We are honored to present three prize packages from InkTip, a service for writers and filmmakers to promote their work to a large network of producers and reps. Winners will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you'll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film. Companies who are InkTip members include: ABC, Anonymous Content, APA, CBS Films, HBO Films, ICM, Paradigm, Paramount Pictures, Hallmark Channel, FX, Universal, WME, Echo Lake, Zero Gravity, Bad Robot, and 20th Century Fox. InkTip: Where everyone goes for scripts and writers.

We cordially invite you to be a part of our festival, and experience a celebration of our lives and our world!

We look forward to your submission!

Awards & Prizes

Best Drama
Best Comedy
Best Experimental
Best Documentary
Best Music Video
Best Animation
Best International Film
Best Short Film
Best Short Short
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Original Score
Best Sound Design
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Ensemble
Best Young Filmmaker
Best California Filmmaker
Best Socially Conscious Film
Best Inspirational Film
Audience Choice Award

Rules & Terms

Submitting your film does not guarantee festival acceptance or screening. Acceptance by the festival does not guarantee award or prize. Submission fees are nonrefundable. We reserve the right to program films at our sole discretion.

Films must be produced after January 1, 2020.

Films that have dialogue must include English dialogue or English subtitles.

We do not screen films that are publicly available online. If your film is online it must be behind a password and available for private viewing only.

We reserve the right to determine the eligibility of any project. We screen and evaluate all submissions, and our decisions are final and confidential.

Young Filmmakers must be over 15 years of age and under 21 years of age at the time film is submitted. This category is for short films of a duration less than 20 minutes only.

California Filmmakers are for films produced in the state of California, USA, and for which the submitter is a resident of California per their bio on FilmFreeway.

We reserve the right to reject or disqualify any ineligible entries without issuing a refund. Please read our submission policy carefully!

If you withdraw your film from the festival, we will not be liable to refund any submission fee.

We do not return any materials submitted.

If your film has been officially selected, you agree to provide us with a poster or promotional images and/or stills, as well as a logline and/or synopsis, for promotional purposes.

Film programming and screening times are at the sole discretion of the festival. In this our fifth year we are programming primarily films under 30 minutes in length.

You are solely responsible for obtaining all of the necessary rights and permissions for third-party materials included in your film, including but not limited to music, trademarks, logos, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights. The Culture & Diversity Film Festival expressly disclaims all liability or responsibility for any violations of the foregoing.

We do not grant fee waivers, as our submission fees are already very low. Thank you!
33 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Jose Restrepo

    An excellent, well run, festival. Thank you for being so professional and kind. An amazing opportunity to feel seen and heard.

    August 2021
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  • Jeff Suttles

    We feel really blessed to have been apart of the festival!

    August 2021
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  • marianne george

    CDFF was an amazing and excellent experience from pre-submission inquiries to post-festival networking. This festival is true to purpose and full of heart and understanding of both culture and diversity. The We, the Voyagers: Our Moana crew feels deeply grateful and connected with CDFF and all the filmmakers whose outstanding works were presented. THANK YOU!

    August 2021
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  • Megan Ebor

    From start to finish the CDFF was exceptional!!! The festival director was very friendly and responsive. I look forward to submitting my future projects to CDFF. What an awesome platform to share film projects that are diverse and mission driven.

    August 2021
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  • Catherine Veilleux

    My experience with this festival was really good at all levels. It was a great opportunity to connect with other film makers, and they were well organised, even with a part of the festival online. So gratefull to be included in this film festival.

    August 2021
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