The Denver Underground Film Festival premiered on November 21, 22 & 23, 1997 as a showcase for independent filmmakers from Colorado and beyond.

Inspired by the Sunday film parlors organized by Colorado's own Avant Garde filmmaker and film educator Stan Brakhage, DUFF aims to preserve Colorado's legacy of experimental filmmaking by engaging audiences with classic Avant Garde cinema and new independent short and features.

First, second and third places in each category, Best of Fest and Honorable Mentions.

DUFF is open to filmmakers from Colorado and all over the world with films in the following categories via web download, external drives or DVD:

Only Short films will me considered for entry. No feature length films.
- up to 10 minutes running time.
- No screener files over 2 gigabytes in size.

Narrative
- Comedy
- Drama
- Science Fiction
- Horror

Animation
Documentaries
Experimental Shorts

Festival Rules and Guidelines
Please ensure you read our Rules and Regulation prior to submitting.

Festival entry rules.

1) Submissions must include an entry fee and a completed online entry form. Entry fees are not refundable. All films must be in English or have English subtitles.

2) Please provide a download link for your film through enabling the download option on FilmFreeway or through a third party online storage option such a Vimeo or Dropbox. Please submit files under 2 gigabytes in size.

3) Films currently available online, that have previously participated in festivals,
or have US or world distribution are allowed to participate and are eligible for competition.

4) DUFF reserves the right to use any portion or still of the film for promotional or advertisement purposes on print, video, online, for the official program or other media.

5) You are responsible for securing all permissions and releases for music, visual media and actors' performances included in your film.

6) DUFF reserves the right to reject any submission without entry fee refund that we may deem inappropriate, contains hate speech, is libelous or detrimental to an individual or group, is deemed to have plagiarized a known body of work or at DUFF's
discretion. Films that do not provide a screening file will not be considered.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Eddie Portoghese

    This is a small but passionate festival inspired by Avant-Garde filmmaker and educator Stan Brakhage. It truly embraces the independent and experimental nature of films. A multi evening event.

    February 2025
  • Gordon Phillips

    Was very excited to be selected for inclusion in this year's festival and even more excited to be chosen Best Narrative Short! The communication with the festival organizers and directors was great and the festival itself looked really cool. Thanks to all!

    December 2024
  • Ross Chavez

    Very excited to have been selected for the festival. I wish we had received a bit of advanced notice so that our team could have attended.

    December 2024
  • soore vahe

    Good film festival, Thank you for the opportunity to participate

    December 2024
  • Thanks for selecting “Enter the Room” into your festival!

    June 2024