Damnationland. For 16 goddamn years, we've been showcasing the best up and coming filmmakers from the state of Maine. Our alums have screened films at SXSW, Slamdance, Nashville, and other fancy names of film things.

And now, we want to open up our mangled arms to the world. We're hungry - hungry for new blood! Send us your shorts, send us your scripts!

SCRIPTS
That's right - we want words, short piles of them. We will choose the best to present to our filmmakers for the 2025 program, and maybe your short get's made by on of our amazing, award winning filmmakers.

We often have great filmmakers that don't want to write the script, or are having trouble coming up with the idea. They're like "What should I make?" and we're like "Make something dark and weird!" and they're like "But, what?"

Soooooo - let's give them your scripts!

SHORTS
Every year, we invite the best filmmakers from Maine to make a piece and premiere in our program. The premiere draws over a thousand excited film fans to the beautiful State Theater in Portland every year in late October.

Lately, we’ve been thinking - people love Maine. They love our spooky otherworldly vibe, our rugged coast, our Yankee hospitality. And we wanna invite some new friends to come on up here and see what we’ve got going on, film-wise.

So this year, for the first time ever, we will be selecting ONE short film to play in our program. All the other films will be made by our local talent, so we can guarantee a killer audience.

So send us your stuff. We’d love to have you join us at the State Theatre on October 30th, and share the visceral thrill of watching films that challenge, scare, and entertain us. Like, say, your film! Help us continue to develop the best Maine film talent, and get your work the audience it deserves - a rabid fanbase, coming from the dark side.

So send us your dark genre shorts and scripts! We are looking for things that are dark, scary, disturbing, seedy, or just downright weird. Take a look at the archive on our website to see what sort of films we feature.

Visit Damnationland: The Way Film Should Be!

Awards & Prizes

SCRIPTS
Awards will go to the top ten scripts, as judged by alumni of the Damnationland program.

The Top ten screenwriters will win:

• 2 copies of the Damnationland 2025 Blu Ray
• A Damnationland 2025 T-shirt
• 2 Tickets to the premiere of the 2025 program at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine, this October.

In addition, the top scripts will be offered to our carefully vetted filmmakers, and, should they decide to shoot your script, we will give you 200 buckaroos. AND your script gets made. Double whammy!

SHORTS
One VERY SPECIAL short film will be selected to screen alongside our Maine-made short film program. We’re looking for something weird, something dark, something that will make people go “Whoa” or “Hey!”

Rules & Terms

Criteria:

1) Your short or script is created with skill, voice, and vision.
2) Your short or script is dark, darkly funny, sad, scary, moody, eerie, tragic, disturbing, fantastic, or weird.
3) Your script is 20 pages or less. OR, your short film is 20 minutes or less. Ideally 15 pages/15 minutes or less, really. Hey, we love a good solid 12 minutes film. 8 minutes, now you’re talking!

That is it! if you meet these requirements, send us your short film or script!

RULES

Term and Conditions: Important, please read closely.

1. By entering a submission to Damnationland, you agree to all of the terms and conditions stated below and herein.

2. You are establishing an enforceable agreement with Stobo Films, LLC, and therefore are responsible for understanding all these terms and abiding by them. If you do not understand a term, please contact us.

3. You warrant that the submitted script is either owned by you, or that you have express written permission to submit and/or exploit any copyrighted material found in your submission. No exceptions.

4. You agree, that in the event that the previous bullet point turns out to be not true (you have infringed someone else’s copyrights), to indemnify and hold harmless Stobo Films for any claims or threat of claim against the same, and that you will pay for (first), or reimburse (last resort), all costs associated with defending any such claims against Stobo Films for violation of another’s copyright as a result of your submission.

5. You agree to hereby release, indemnify, and hold harmless Damnationland from any and all claims, including, without limitation, claims for damages for libel, infringement of rights of publicity, invasion of privacy, portrayal in a false light, or any other claim from any person based on use of your submission.

6. Any and all disputes arising from your submission shall be first attempted to be resolved by a mediator in Maine, in person or through electronic and phone communication.

7. The parties agree Maine law applies to this agreement, and that all federal and state courts of Maine shall have subject matter jurisdiction of this agreement.

8. This is the entire agreement with respect to the parties, and all other communications about this matter are not a part of this agreement.

1 Review
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  • Devi Snively

    Super fun fest that will only get better in time. Fun and friendly staff and participants who generously offer a travel stipend and accommodations for out-of-towners. Their opening night, featuring regionally-made films, packed a 1000+ person gorgeous old theater. The second day with their new international shorts programming was a more modest affair with less robust attendance, especially during the day (it picked up considerably by evening selling out the final show), but for a first year it was all admirable, and I've no doubt it's going to become more and more successful as they expand. Really great people and very engaging programming with an eclectic mix of very international, dark-themed films. I'd return in a heartbeat. To boot, the restaurants and just walking around Portland are a blast. Get the lobster rueben at Demilla's, stand in line to sample Central Provisions (tapas and cocktails to die for) and grab shellfish and other seafood as Scales (reservations are advised). Oh, and for breakfast, grab Holy Donuts. Some great record shops too if you're into vinyl.

    October 2017
    Helpful