Depth of Field International Film Festival

An IMDb Qualifying Festival

Screenplay and Novel awards will be announced a week or two after the official festival awards notification. Evaluating screenplays or novels is much more time-consuming for judges than judging films. This is due to the usual last-minute influx of submissions, reading lengthy scripts/novels, and having the judges discuss their findings in a forum.

VERY IMPORTANT: All written material, i.e., screenplays, stage plays, poems, and novels, must be submitted to their respective category. DO NOT submit written material to categories reserved for film/video, i.e., drama, Art-house, etc. Doing so will get your submission rejected.
DO NOT submit a film or video to screenplay or any written medium category, as it will also be rejected.
We hire professional readers and judges for all written materials, and they will not review videos.
We hire professional video reviewers who will not review written material.
Welcome to the Depth of Field International Film Festival, a FilmFreeway GOLD Verified festival. It also honors us to be a FilmFreeway Top 100 Reviewed festival Alumni. Find out why filmmakers call us “one of the most helpful festivals ever.”

Rejected films have access to feedback, the one element most festivals ignore.

Instead of paying submission fees and getting nothing in return, everyone who submits to DOFIFF will receive either of two benefits: Either 1): your film is already of competition caliber and becomes an official selection, or 2) you’ll receive a letter outlining exactly what is keeping it from being accepted upon request. If you can make corrections, you can resubmit for free.

First-time filmmakers: when have you ever received a letter and had the festival explain why you weren't selected? See why filmmakers thank us and rank us as a 'FilmFreeway Top 100 Review' festival to say: Best Festival Ever!

Top-winning films at DOFIFF have already received distribution through our exclusive distributor relationships.

Guaranteed distributor review by Worldwide Motion Pictures Corporation (WWMPC.COM) for features, Adler & Associates for features and shorts, our new distribution associate “Cardinal XD Distribution (CARDINALXD.COM), CCS Releasing and Polaris Pictures (for screenplays), among others, for our select few: Best of Festival and Best of Show winners in the 20 major categories, based on sufficient qualified entries.

Winning an award in a subcategory does NOT qualify for screening and sending to our distributors.

We don't have any control or influence over Polaris Pictures or any of our associate distributors deciding to offer you a production deal or even answering your email. We merely open the door for the top winners.

Other festivals claim to invite distributors to a venue; we deliver them to you directly, guaranteed.
- A festival that runs as a web-based competition, plus DOFIFF, with WRPN.TV Entertainment Network may also offer a unique opportunity to show your film to a worldwide community of video fans from over 80 countries to which filmmakers would not normally have access as an optional online video exposure opportunity. This feature is available for “Best Of Show,” “Outstanding Excellence,” “Excellence,” and even some “Exceptional Merit” winners.

- Any film rejected will receive a personal letter explaining what elements caused the rejection (unlike other festivals that do not explain at all). HINT: most rejections or low award levels are because of insufficient volume on dialogue soundtracks.
- We give any film NOT accepted a free synopsis of the judge’s notes, at the filmmaker's request, for free
- FREE Earlybird entry of any rejected film, into DOFIFF’s next competition, upon completion of the suggested corrections outlined in your rejection letter
- $40.00 flat fee for ALL STUDENT FILM ENTRIES regardless of deadline status (proof required of student status at the time of filming: no refunds if your ID is not legitimate)
- Unique Category distinctions:
“Dust Collector” category for pre-2009 films
“Tight Shorts” and “Loose Shorts” distinction between running times of less than 15 minutes and those between 15-59 minutes
“Horror” and “Sci-Fi” are separated into two distinct categories
- Finally, our founders are registered Committee Members for the Universal Film & Festival Organization (UFFO.ORG). The UFFO is a non-profit operating out of the U.K., which exists to promote the best business practices for film festivals. This guarantees that your film will enjoy a fair and thorough judging process.