The Death's Parade Film Festival is born from our fear-- and love -- of the unknown. The lurking shadows, the bumps in the night, the feeling of eyes watching you sleep. We can't wait to share our adoration and obsession of horror with the San Francisco Bay Area.

Since this is our inaugural run, the theme of this event will be INSPIRATION. What excites you? What gets you going? Show us what drives you to create that wonderful, terrifying, insidious art. Show us the passion, the energy!

It is our goal to provide you, the filmmaker, a dark and brooding platform to display your talents within the horror genre. The Death's Parade Film Festival will carefully select the best of the best in regards to horror shorts, features, and animations to present to our San Jose audience.

Death's Parade Film Fest is teaming up with Sansar for TERROR VAULT! A festival happening in the virtual world of Sansar on October 3rd, starting at 7:30 PM.

**Prospective winners and selectees will have submissions reviewed by our production partner Reel Nightmare Films for potential distribution deals.**

4/1/19 update - A special indie filmmaker panel will highlight the evening, participants from selected films THE WATER HORSE, QUIET ROOM BEARS and BAD DREAMS will be on stage with festival host Rose Eden to engage in lively banter about their films and other horror topics. Additional Q&A with the director and lead actor from the horror feature ARTIK.

The Death's Parade Film Festival is happening October 5th 2019, at the Towne 3 Cinemas in San Jose California ; a 240-seat venue with a built-in stage, equipped with cutting-edge HD digital projection, and a booming surround sound system.

The festival will feature short films and feature films from around the world, with an emphasis on paranormal, psychological and body horror, found footage, experimental, killers, monsters, zombies, gore, and dark comedy. Visit https://www.deathparadefilmfest.com/ for more.

​This event also serves as the California Bay Area's first horror-centric film festival in three years. You will not find any sci-fi or fantasy here. Just horror. You may find some laughs, however; be prepared for thrills and chills!

Festival will begin at 2PM and run until 11PM.

Awards & Prizes

We call our awards The Grimmies!! That's a take on the Grim Reaper, not that other cheesy award show.

Best Short Film
Best Writing
Best Makeup Effects

** Prospective winners and selectees will have submissions reviewed by our production partner Reel Nightmare Films for potential distribution deals. Award winners will be announced on Sunday, October 6th via email.

** Selected films may also be reviewed by special guest Kevin Nickelson of Horrornews.Net **

** Films that are considered for the Best Writing award will be contacted late August to have their respective scripts submitted for review. The scripts do not have to follow any particular format, but we want to see the written dialogue that went into the film. **

Rules & Terms

[Please read the all of the Rules & Terms before submitting]

TERMS:
Final screening format must be MP4, H.264, WMV, M4V, MPEG, please! By submitting to the Death’s Parade Film Fest (DPFF) through FilmFreeway, you are stating that you are the owner of your entry, and it'syour original work.

While we understand that you retain all rights to ownership of the work, you hereby give the Death’s Parade Film Fest permission to feature, advertise, display, in whole or in part, the work titled and described herein, for festival purposes including promotion.

You also understand that your entry is valid only upon completion of the following conditions: (1) receipt of a copy of the work, (2) the processing of the entry fee by the festival organization (DPFF), and (3) when the work is found to be original and owned by you or those you represent.

Each work is judged solely on its own merits.
RULES:
1. Please select only one submission category per project. Films submitted in multiple categories could be subject to disqualification.
2. All films MUST be submitted via online screener (Vimeo preferred, but not required). No physical DVDs or Blu-Rays accepted for submission.
3. There is no completion date. DPFF will accept films from any year.
4. No Premiere Status required.
5. Films can have a distribution deal, but should not be available online (VimeoOnDemand, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.) prior to the festival dates.
6. Foreign films (in their original language) must be presented with English language subtitles.
7. Student film submissions require proof of enrollment. Entries by filmmakers UNDER 18 years of age MUST be submitted by a parent or legal guardian. Student films are ONLY ELIGIBLE for the Best Student Film Award and do not qualify in any other award category.
8. All submitted films must be complete. The DPFF will not accept Work-In-Progress submissions.
9. The DPFF does not pay screening fees.

3 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Tony Reames

    I cannot say enough about this festival, Anthony puts on a wonderful fest!!!!! From the films to the coverage this is top notch!!!!

    October 2019
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  • Marcia Denice

    Great festival with a great audience. I'm very proud my film was a part of the line up.

    October 2019
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  • Roshni "Rush" Bhatia

    For a first year festival, I've had value through and through. Anthony is so communicative and quick at responding. Although I didn't get to attend, I did get to do an interview and be nominated for Best Writing. I'm extremely proud of being a part of Death's Parade Film Fest. MUCH RECOMMENDED.

    October 2019
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