The 2025 Davis Feminist Film Festival (DFFF) is accepting submissions from September 25 through October 25, 2024. The festival will be held in person on May 9 and 10, 2025, at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in Davis, California, USA.

The Davis Feminist Film Festival is an annual grassroots event that links alternative media to feminist social issues. Each May DFFF showcases independent films from around the world (including documentary, narrative, and experimental genres) that explore perspectives often missing from mainstream United States film and media. We welcome submissions from local, national, and international creators, and from professionals, amateurs, current students, former students, and community members alike. We especially encourage submissions from filmmakers whose identities and perspectives are underrepresented in mainstream media and film.

When first established in 2005, DFFF was a fundraiser to support student interns with feminist non-profit organizations. It was originally managed by the Gender and Global Issues (GGI) program in the UC Davis Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. In 2007, when funding for GGI ended, the Consortium for Women and Research partnered with other campus units to sustain the festival until 2014. Since then, DFFF has been managed by the UC Davis Women’s Resources and Research Center.

Now, as it approaches its twentieth anniversary, the Davis Feminist Film Festival is increasingly international in scope. Most films submitted for exhibition are created by artists working outside the United States and in languages other than English. DFFF provides an inclusive public space for these and other artists at the margins—particularly those with marginalized racial and/or gender identities—to share their work and ideas. Likewise, our festival is a wonderful opportunity for students and community members to witness powerful artistic engagements with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality, ability, and the many other dimensions of social life and inequality.

For inquiries about the 2025 festival, please email FemFilmFestDavis@gmail.com.

Rules & Terms

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

To be eligible for consideration, a film must meet at least two of the following four criteria:

1) The film centers gender and social justice.
2) The film links local and global issues.
3) The film was created by people underrepresented in mainstream media, particularly but not limited to those who identify as women/womxn, femmes, people of color, Native, Black, queer, transgender, nonbinary/gender-expansive, and/or disabled.
4) The film was created by people from the greater Sacramento region.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1) Video file: minimum 1080p downloadable; total runtime must not exceed 25 minutes. Note that we are not able to screen DCPs; please submit in .mp4 or a comparable format.
2) Synopsis (300-word maximum)
3) Application statement: a brief note that addresses how the film fits at least two of the four eligibility criteria
4) Open captions/subtitles: to improve festival access, all films must include open (“burned in”) captions in English

A separate submission must be prepared for each film under consideration. Although reasonable care will be taken to protect submissions from loss or damage, the Regents of the University of California do not assume responsibility for films submitted to DFFF.

Films will not be considered for curation and exhibition unless all submission requirements are complete. Please ensure that your contact information on FilmFreeway is accurate in case DFFF staff must contact you for additional information; lack of response may be reason to remove your submission from consideration.

DAVIS FEMINIST FILM FESTIVAL SUBMISSION AGREEMENT

Exhibition: Submitted works will be reviewed by the festival curation team before some are selected for public exhibition. By submitting a film, I understand that it may be screened for public exhibition as part of the 2025 Davis Feminist Film Festival and I authorize the UC Davis festival organizers to exhibit my film, should they choose to do so. At their discretion, festival organizers may also reproduce and distribute marketing materials related to my film, such as film posters.

Permissions and Rights: I have obtained written permissions and rights to use all of the copyrighted material contained in my submitted work, including but not limited to consents from actors and music licenses for any commercial music. I will provide proof of such permissions upon request. I will be fully responsible for any problems, legal or otherwise, resulting from failure to obtain proper consents, releases, or licenses.

Post-Selection Procedures: At the discretion of festival organizers, exhibited works may be archived and later accessed in a UC Davis and/or WRRC library. The Regents of the University of California is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation.
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  • Toyoko Matsuo Saindon

    Super honored for my short documentary to be a part of this beautiful festival<3 Thank you Davis Feminist Film Festival staff!

    October 2024
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  • Tasneem Nanji

    Amazing Festival. Thank you to everyone at DAVIS Feminist FF for their vision !

    May 2023
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  • Gisela Chicolino

    A festival on this topic is really a necessary one. Please keep working on generating this exquisite programming for the audiences.

    July 2022
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  • Tatiany Furuse

    A HUGE honor to be part of this Festival. Gratitude for fighting for us women, minorities and vulnerable! Gratitude for all work, dedication and achievements. The world is much better with you!

    July 2022
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  • Sarah Carlot Jaber

    Thank you so much ! <3

    May 2022
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