Welcome to Dallas Independent Film Festival, an event dedicated to independent films of all genres and origins.

At Dallas Independent Film Festival, we are looking for films that are pushing the boundaries of filmmaking. Our aim is to be an advocate for filmmakers with a unique vision and to promote their work by showcasing it to a large audience. Getting recognition is increasingly difficult for independent filmmakers in the world of unlimited content, which is why our mission is to carefully consider and select a wide range of films to promote to the indie film loving crowd.

We are collaborating with the legendary Texas Theatre in Dallas, which can host more than 700 people in its famous cinema hall. The Texas Theatre is a movie theatre and Dallas Landmark located in the Oak Cliff neighbourhood of Dallas, Texas. When first opened in 1931, the Texas Theatre was the largest suburban movie theatre in Dallas and was part of a chain of theatres financed by Howard Hughes. It gained historical significance in 1963 as the location of Lee Harvey Oswald’s arrest.

This large, historical venue will allow filmmakers to show their work to an exceptionally big audience of indie film enthusiasts from around the world.

As part of the festival, we are organizing an award ceremony, with a short Q&A, where the awarded filmmakers will have a chance to answer the audience’s questions about their films, as well as a networking event, for those who would like to get to know their fellow filmmakers and audience members.

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Dallas Independent Film Festival is run in association with Close:Up, a collection of international film festivals supporting indie filmmaking. By establishing a working network among filmmakers, producers and marketing professionals, we share one common goal: to forge productive and lasting relationships between independent filmmakers and audiences.

Awards & Prizes

Films selected for the Official Selection will be nominated for an award in at least one of the following categories:

Best Feature Film
Best Documentary
Best Short Film
Best Short Documentary
Best Drama
Best Comedy
Best Music Video
Best Directing
Best Cinematography

★ A selected list of films from the nominated ones will be screened at the cinema in front of a live audience. All films of the Official Selection will receive our laurels. Winners of the festival will be announced during the award ceremony and online on our website and social media following the festival.

★ Winners of all categories will receive Award Certificates and VOD platform deals among other prizes!

Rules & Terms

✓ All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles (if in a different language).

✓ All films must have been made in or after 2019.

✓ Short films must not exceed 30 minutes.

✓ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

✓ By submitting to us, you give us the right to screen your film in front of a live audience at Texas Theater.

✓ Nominations: These are all the films that have been nominated for an award in a category. Not all nominated films will be screened.

Official Selection: These are all the nominated films selected for screening, which will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.

Award Winners: Chosen from the Nominations (which includes the Official Selection).

✓ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

✓ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through email and our online platforms.

✓ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

✓ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

✓ We cannot provide refunds.

✓ If you have submitted your project in the previous year, please do not resubmit the same project to current edition.

✓ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

✓ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.
5 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Pham Siu

    "We Come into Life" is very proud being selected in the category of Best Picture. Thank you so much Dallas Independent
    Film Festival for your wonderful festival... Take care and so long!

    January 2021
    Helpful
  • Harker Jones

    Great experience with the Dallas Independent Film Fest. Thrilled to be nominated for Best Thriller!

    June 2020
    Helpful
  • Iuliia Boriaeva

    Great to be part of ur festival. Tnx

    June 2020
    Helpful
  • Michael Moss

    Great venue, projection, and sound. The organizers were passionate about and committed to the films they curated. Unfortunately, as can happen with festivals, the attendance was rather low. A bit more PR next time might help.

    April 2019
    Helpful
  • Tomas Sem Løkke-Sørensen

    Great festival but I think more festival promotion on social media would be good!

    April 2019
    Helpful