The Ely Film Festival is a promise of exposure, exploration, and cultural enrichment.

The 2027 Film Festival takes place March 10-14, 2027. Place a hold on your calendars!

Awards & Prizes

Awards to be announced

Rules & Terms

Films completed on or after January 1, 2023 will be eligible for the 2027 festival.

Submission fee is non-refundable.

Film Freeway submissions prioritized. Please email Festival@ElyStateTheater.org to inquire about exploring alternate options to submit your film, if needed.

More than one entry may be submitted. Each entry must be accompanied by its own online entry and entry fee.

Films produced in languages other than English must provide legible English subtitles.

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Filmmakers are responsible for delivering a complete Digital Cinema Package two months in advance of the festival dates. We provide options for digital transfers. Filmmakers will assume any shipping and handling costs required.

For a modest fee, Ely Film Festival offers a DCP encoding service to filmmakers who do not have the means to produce their own. We will provide a link to download the completed DCP.

Ely Film Festival (EFF) negotiates screening fees, travel stipends and speaker stipends according to our ability on a case-by-case basis.

If your film is accepted, EFF has the right to show, post, or broadcast images from the film in association with materials related to advertising and promoting EFF.

42 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Nicklaus Fritz

    Absolutely wonderful experience. We felt welcomed and the selection of films was lovely, so happy to have been selected (“Thumb Man”) and hopefully we can return again next year!

    April 2026
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  • Jacob White

    Fabulous festival! My shorts block included locally and regionally produced documentary short films. There was a filmmaker in attendance from every single short film! Kudos to the program team for putting together another fantastic program.

    What an honor to share the mic with giants like Eva Thomas, Maggie Lemere, Tessa Blake, and more. The most down-to-earth and non-pretentious film festival I've ever attended. Incredibly authentic, genuine, and enthusiastic opportunities for real connection. Filmmakers and audiences -- Don't sleep on the Ely Film Festival!

    April 2026
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  • Jonathan Thunder

    Thank you Ely Film Festival!
    I'm grateful to have shown our film in Ely for the World Premier. This festival is great. They made us film makers right at home, communication is excellent and the after party at Kwazy Wabbit was fun.
    I met some wonderful film makers there too and watched some world class cinema.
    I recommend this festival to anyone!

    March 2026
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  • Hannah Wolf

    We were honored to have DOUBLE DATE screen in Ely! The communication was super clear, and the team was very nice. Thank you for including us!

    March 2026
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  • Margaret Renner

    I had a wonderful time in my hometown showing my film, I was a bit dismayed all the awards and announcements happened after the first afternoon of the festival and the real start was the following evening. I was a passholder and the ticketing process was a bit janky, sent to multiple areas to claim seats for a showing and the process online was a funky as well, regardless it brings a lot of needed hubub to the area

    March 2026
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