The Flex Obscura Series & Film Festival is a yearlong series culminating in The Flex Obscura Film Festival all taking place in-person in Chicago! We hope you join us in our inaugural year on this wonderful journey!

*** Our Mission ***
Flex Obscura Series & Festival celebrates the breadth of visual expression and innovation in film. We love weird and things that live in the in-between spaces! Flex Obscura Series and Festival is structured to allow for expansive play across a season of visual, sonic and film exploration and community. Our passion is to celebrate new voices and new vocabulary in visual and sonic forms that are expansive and experimental with a focus on fostering inclusivity and promoting emerging talent. Flex Obscura Series and Festival embraces a wide range of genres, styles, and perspectives. It acts as a catalyst for change, inspiring a new generation of filmmakers to challenge conventional norms and push the boundaries of storytelling.

*** About Flex Obscura Film Festival & Series Structure ***
The series includes (2) amazing opportunities for filmmakers to submit films to be considered as Official Selections that are then eligible to be In-Competition at The Flex Obscura Film Festival.

The Flex Obscura Film Festival & Series 2024-2025 Presenting Year At-A-Glance:

~~~ Films @ AfroFuturist Weekend Festival // October 2-6, 2024
(in-person screening series event)
***Please note films submitted for AfroFuturist Weekend Festival must have a strong focus on Black and African Diasporic narratives, characters and sensibilities***

~~~ For The Love of Film Futures // February 15 & 16, 2025
(in-person screening series event)

~~~ The Flex Obscura Film Festival // May 23 & 24, 2025
(in-person culminating film festival)

We are currently accepting submissions for both:

_________AfroFuturist Weekend Festival // October 2-6, 2024_________
This event is a 5-day celebration of Black artists making forward-looking work that envisions radically positive futures for Black people. There will be performances, visual art installations, video presentations, panel discussions, and immersive experiences meant to generate a call to action to realize these visions. This will be the first year Flex Obscura will add a meaningful micro film festival into the fold of AfroFuturist Weekend Festival! Attending Filmmakers and Official Selections are sure to have a unique Chicago experience!

We seek films that offer a unique perspective on the Black, African and/or African Diasporic experience. We seek films offering forward-looking work that envisions radically positive futures for Black, African and African Diasporic people. Deploying new technologies, drawing upon history, and subverting/inverting exploitative hierarchies, Afrofuturism puts Black people at the center of narratives about the future and we seek films that bring these visions and stories to life through cinema.

***Please note films submitted for AfroFuturist Weekend Festival must have a strong focus on Black and African Diasporic narratives, characters and sensibilities***

&

_________For The Love of Film Futures // February 15 & 16, 2025_________
This 2-day in-person screening series that enlists highly curated workshops, demonstrations, immersive experiences and play in bringing together filmmakers, audiences, industry experts and film enthusiasts with an express interest in pushing boundaries in storytelling and techniques.

We seek profoundly experimental and out-of-the-box storytelling. We program films that challenge conventions through their use of storytelling, narrative and design as well as films that play with new technologies, explore new uses for old technologies and that push the boundaries of what is possible with film, art film and digital storytelling. We also encourage films that play with immersive, multichannel audio formats to apply, as our presenting venue has a 16 omni-directional Hemisphere speaker system available known as CLEAT (Chicago Laboratory for Electro-Acoustic Theatre) conceived and built by Isobel Audio.

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Please read the descriptions for each carefully to choose which your film is best suited for. We reserve the right to place submissions, at no additional charge to the submitter, in the best category and if we do adjust your submission to a more aligned category/series we will notify you.
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Particular consideration is given to projects directed, co-directed, produced and/or written by B&IPOC and/or women identified filmmakers and visual storytellers with a focus on Black, African Diasporic, Indigenous and/or LGBTQAI2S+ identifying voices and storytelling as well as projects that push the boundaries of experimentation in storytelling and technology. We also highly encourage participation from the Chicagoland area.

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At both of the presenting series & The Flex Obscura Film Festival, we screen Official Selections and honor filmmakers with juried awards and the coveted Audience Choice Award.

Official Selections from AfroFuturist Weekend Festival (October) & For The Love of Film Futures (February) are invited back to screen at The Flex Obscura Film Festival in May and automatically eligible to be in-competition! Additional films submitted to The Flex Obscura Film Festival are also invited to screen as part of the Official Selection and may be additionally invited to be in-competition. Beyond the Best of the Fests awards, additional awards for all films in-competition will be announced.

Please note: Films selected to screen at AfroFuturist Weekend Festival & For The Love of Film Futures are automatically eligible to be in-competition at The Flex Obscura Film Festival 2025 and there is no need for selected filmmakers to re-apply to the culminating festival.***

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Official Selection filmmakers are encouraged to attend the series & festival experiences and to participate in Q&A sessions following their screenings. Possible virtual Q&A opportunities may be provided with our live audiences to filmmakers who cannot attend in-person but would like to take part.

Awards & Prizes

We seek to uplift and honor filmmakers who become part of the Flex Obscura Family.

Each of our (3) In-Person Festivals award the following categories with a Flex Obscura Trophy and Winner Laurels:

- Best Film
- Best Director
- Best Cinematography
- Best Actor/Actress/Actrexx
- Audience Choice Award

Additionally, all of our Official Selections receive official Flex Obscura Official Selection Laurels.

Rules & Terms

RULES

- Entries must be original works and entrants are responsible for obtaining any necessary licenses, royalties, release forms, clearances and permits necessary to present their work. Flex Obscura Series & Film Festival is not responsible for any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits or royalty infringement related to the work. If your work is accepted into the Festival, we must be able to screen it without any encumbrances whatsoever.

- Films must have a runtime of 25 minutes or less

- Films submitted must be available in English or in the original language with English subtitles

- Flex Obscura does not pay rental/screening fees. Instead, our limited resources are invested in the production and promotion of the best possible showcase for your work.

- Films and projects are given priority consideration if women are in one or more of the following positions: director, producer, writer, cinematographer, editor, animator, composer/score, camera department (operator or assistant), sound/audio/foley (mixing or sound editing), special/visual effects, gaffer/grip/electric, set design, art direction, choreographer or UPM/Production Coordinator/Line Producer

- Priority will be given to projects with at least one credit with directed, co-directed, produced and/or written by Black, African American, African, African Diaspora and/or Indigenous identifying filmmakers

- Flex Obscura Series & Festival reserves the right in its sole discretion to reject or disqualify any ineligible entries, without a refund

- Flex Obscura Series & Festival reserves the right to arrange film screenings per their discretion regardless of the category for which the film was originally submitted. Please only submit your film to the most appropriate category (one category per film submitted) and the festival will place your film into the appropriate program if selected. NO refunds will be issued to films submitted in more than one category

- Selected films must provide a downloadable digital file of their film for screening during the festival. No YouTube links may be accepted unless the link allows for downloads and the quality of the download is acceptable. If you are unable or unwilling to provide us your film in the requested format for exhibition, DO NOT SUBMIT your film

- We strongly encourage filmmakers to submit their film only after it is fully finished. Each submission is judged as a completed work, whether it is or not. Once a film is entered, we will not update the submission with a more recent cut.

- All entry fees are non-refundable. It’s up to you/your team to make sure your project meets our criteria and the submission guidelines listed. If you have questions, please contact us BEFORE you submit.

- The determination of the judges shall be final

- If your project is selected, you will be asked to provide a digital press kit which includes: director's headshot and brief bio, color and/or B&W stills from the film, brief description of the film (75 words max) and a downloadable video trailer (cleared for use on the Festival website)

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

You hereby affirm that you are the authorized representative for the above mentioned film [as noted on the entry form]. You grant the Flex Obscura Series & Film Festival all rights necessary to exhibit and promote the above-referenced film, if selected, for any of our yearly festival experiences including: AfroFuturist Weekend Festival, For The Love of Film Futures and Flex Obscura Film Festival. You represent that such exhibition will not violate or infringe upon any rights whatsoever (including copyright, trademark, musical or contract right) of any person or entity. You further represent that you are authorized to submit the above-referenced film.

You also grant the Festival the right to utilize an excerpt from this film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes. Additionally, you will indemnify and hold harmless the Flex Obscura Series & Film Festival from any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening material entered. You have read, understood, and hereby agree to the terms written in the General Festival Rules for submissions to the Flex Obscura Series & Film Festival.

You also grant the Festival the right to screen your film at the Flex Obscura Film Festival in May 2025 if you are an awarded film during our AfroFuturist Weekend Festival 2024 and/or For The Love of Film Futures 2025 OR if your film is chosen for an encore screening during the Flex Obscura Film Festival in May 2025.