THE CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR THE 2025 EDITION IS OPEN
-THE DEADLINES YOU SEE HERE ON THE RIGHT REFER TO THE PRESELECTION COMPETITION QUALIFYING FOR THE 2025 EDITION (FALL 2025). THE "EVENT DATE" HERE ON THE RIGHT IS THE SECOND NOTIFICATION DATE (COMMUNICATION OF THE OFFICIAL SELECTION).
-THERE ARE 4 PRESELECTION COMPETITIONS (EACH LASTING 3 MONTHS) WITH NO SCREENING EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR UNTIL THE ACTUAL LIVE EVENT IN FALL 2025:
1) JUNE 2024 TO AUGUST 2024
2) SEPTEMBER 2024 TO NOVEMBER 2024
3) DECEMBER 2024 TO FEBRUARY 2025
4) MARCH 2025 TO MAY 2025
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The Dumbo Film Festival (DFF) is a live screening event occurring in DUMBO, Brooklyn every year.
Before the live event, a number of annual official selections for each category is chosen during preselection competitions (no screenings) throughout the year.
On FilmFreeway you can find information about the current preselection competition (deadlines and fees).
The call for entries is already open for the 7th Dumbo Film Festival (taking place in DUMBO in fall 2025) after all the preselection competitions are closed and the whole lineup to screen is chosen (June 12, 2025).
Like every year, all the officially selected films will screen in Brooklyn, New York during the annual live screening event, and a final ceremony will be held to award projects that have been judged the very best over the past year.
This structure allows the festival to collect funds for the organization of the annual live event. As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Corporation, the Dumbo Film Festival is totally independent and the budget to allocate on every year's live event is built out of the submission fees and donations.
This structure is also meant to give everyone a chance throughout the year and highlight both affirmed and emergent filmmakers by launching promising artists into the world film stage.
Main missions of the nonprofit Dumbo Film Festival Inc. are:
• highlighting the young and artistic heart of Dumbo district by making it an appealing destination for both emergent and affirmed filmmakers to share their talent and sensitivity;
• becoming a den for cinema lovers by organizing competitions, screenings, galas and related activities;
• building a bridge among the many different cultures that can be experienced under the wing of independent cinema (thus contributing to raising tolerance and familiarity towards different ways of life, traditions and new points of view).
By the end of the Seventies, a prosperous renewal has brought the district of Dumbo to a new life, and it is now considered to be one of New York’s most glamorous districts and a thriving destination for artists to meet and share their thoughts.
On this background of revival within the New York panorama, the Dumbo Film Festival aims to establish itself among the most important independent festivals in the world.
Producers and directors from around the world can meet each other here, encounter new ideas, and begin working toward prestigious goals.
Many of our award-winning films are official selections or winners from Cannes, Berlinale, Raindance, Sundance, Tribeca, the Goya Awards, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the American Academy Awards (Oscar®), and so on. Many have been distributed on major televisions and international platforms such as HBO, Netflix, Amazon, PBS, BBC.
The DFF awards six categories:
-Feature Narrative
-Short Narrative
-Feature Documentary
-Short Documentary
-Animation
-Experimental.
The official selections screening in Brooklyn will compete to win the Best in Category award and the Grand Bridge award.
Feel free to visit our official website dumbofilmfestival.com for further details about the trophies, past editions and winners.
GRAND BRIDGE AWARD
This Award is for the Best film of the year.
Eligibility: chosen among all the annual official selections.
Jury: This award is assigned by the Board of Directors of the Festival.
BEST IN CATEGORY AWARD
Assigned to the best film in each category:
1. Narrative Feature – Prize: Trophy
2. Documentary Feature – Prize: Trophy
3. Short Narrative – Prize: Trophy
4. Short Documentary – Prize: Trophy
5. Experimental – Prize: Trophy
6. Animation – Prize: Trophy
Jury: This award is assigned by the panels of Judges.
The films that are selected during the preselection competitions will access the annual exhibition. Each of the nominees will have the opportunity to win two awards: the Best in Category Award and the GRAND BRIDGE AWARD.