Fugue State, presented by Disassociative Productions and Agitate21C, is a festival of experimental, radical, political, and avant-garde cinema of all sorts, including expanded cinema and VR experiments. The festival will travel to multiple partner venues including The Film-Maker's Coop in NYC, Los Angeles Center for Digital Arts, Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago, and more.

Festival Director, lead curator, and multidisciplinary artist M. Woods conceived of this festival as a direct attack at the gate-kept, corrupted, and cronyistic film festival circuit.

Fugue State seeks to usurp institutions backed by blood money and corporate dollars, opposed to the not-for-profit industrial complex, offering a fully independent alternative where your work matters. We don't have any premiere requirements, and we judge submissions based on their merit, not your connections or institutional roles.

Fugue State embraces the convergence of video art, experimental film, and interactive design, encouraging new media, installation, photography, and expanded cinema/mixed-media performance entries.

Open to art film, genre film, and any other type of cinema, so long as it transgresses the accepted and formulaic languages of the medium.

Rules & Terms

Open to all experimental, avant-garde, and innovative approaches to film, video, performance, photography, immersive design, installation and multimedia. If you have an idea that does not fit into the categories we've provided, please email disamedia@gmail.com

Due to the success of Season 1, we have lowered the prices for our submissions.

WE PROVIDE NEED-BASED SUBMISSION WAIVERS - 1 SUBMISSION ONLY*
Email 13mwmw@gmail.com to ask for a waiver.

* We rely on submission fees because we watch every single movie and give deep consideration to all candidates. We use these fees to fund the entire festival, including venue costs, marketing, and festival production, so we deeply appreciate your contributions, but we also do not gate-keep. We understand the financial toll of making work in this economy, and we do not block entries.

6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Kurtis Matthew Russell

    I didn't get to attend this past year, but M. Woods has championed my work like few else. Their scope, vision, and ethos are truly inspiring and encouraging. Few festivals compare. Absolutely worth it. There might be hope for the future of art.

    May 2026
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  • David Finkelstein

    Well organized. Excellent communication. Festival went out of their way to make it easier for me to attend the screening of my feature film Dirt. Good technical quality for the screening. Very good job at bringing in an audience. Extremely strong films on the program overall. Wonderful opportunity to have an engaging discussion with the audience after the screening of my film. One of my best screening experiences anywhere.

    May 2026
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  • Sage Ó Tuama

    Incredible curation and a futuristic, expansive vision of what a festival can be. Highly impressive and exciting for an artist-run festival in its first year.

    October 2025
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  • Sylvia Toy St. Louis

    Avant garde filmmakers like me are thrilled that M. Woods initiated this festival. We are fortunate but so is the rest of the artworld, that we are sharing a moment in time with such an energetic visionary. It’s fantastic when affirmative initiatives such as this festival come along to move culture forward.

    August 2025
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  • CAMERON BLACK

    This was a fantastic program and masterfully curated. M. Woods is an auteur with exceptional vision of Film and Film Making culture. I would be honored to be part of this festival again. The program Director was very communicative and they picked a great venue for the screenings.

    August 2025
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