At Hollywood New Directors, we celebrate filmmakers who challenge the conventional way of filmmaking and aim to discover new talents whose works are bold, daring, and reinvent and push the frontier of cinema. 

Hollywood New Directors focuses on films made by new directors of all backgrounds, with unique vision and fresh voices. The mission of the festival is to create exposure for bold and daring creative works that might otherwise go unnoticed, and bring them onto the big screen in Hollywood.

Hollywood New Directors specializes in new ideas and original creative contents from local, national and international aspiring filmmakers. The festival showcases new shorts, features, documentaries, animations, video art and experimental films that reinvent and push the frontier of cinema from emerging talented individuals. Our international juries are looking for films made with passion, obsession and drive, films that go beyond expectations. A strong sense of authorship is a must.

* Jury Award
* Audience Award
* Official Selections
* Honorable Mentions
* Best Film of Individual Categories
* Hollywood New Director Award “Best Picture”

Hollywood New Directors welcomes all kinds of films including fiction, documentary, narrative, experimental, animation, video art and other genres in any language, from around the world.

You may submit more than one project. Films entered in multiple categories may win multiple awards!

Works-in-progress will be considered, provided they will be completed prior to the Festival.

We recommend that non-English language films be subtitled in English.

Hollywood New Directors reserves the right to use small portions and stills of accepted films for publicity and promotion of the festival event.

By submitting, the filmmaker declares that they are the rightful owner of their film.

I have read and agree to the Festival submission and general rule requirements and certify that I am authorized to submit this film to the Hollywood New Directors. Once an entry payment has been processed, a refund cannot be provided. If a payment is disputed, the account holder may be subject to any fees. I understand that Hollywood New Directors is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt of any film submitted for a showcase and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations. The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless Hollywood New Directors from and against 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 videos entered.

Hollywood New Directors is hereby granted the rights to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • I'm so thankful to Hollywood New Directors for showcasing my work and awarding us with the Jury Award! Everyone was so lovely, with lots of time given to each filmmaker to speak and take questions from the audience. Thank you so much to the very kind hosts and organizers of the festival! I would definitely recommend this festival.

    April 2025
  • Daniel Barrios

    Incredible experience with very kind people.

    April 2025
  • J.A. DellaRipa

    Yesterday's event was WONDERFUL. I was so honored that my short film "Another Saturday" won for Best Narrative Short and the Audience Award. The entire team (organizers, host, and volunteers) were AMAZING. The care that they showed each film and filmmaker was so welcoming and sincere. I especially enjoyed the Q & A session which gave me the opportunity to talk about my film/the process in detail as well as learn from the other filmmakers and crew about their film's process. Such unique and diverse films were screened. I highly recommend this festival and I will be back with my next project! Thank you Hollywood New Directors for a memorable event.

    April 2025
  • Gregg Jaden

    We are thrilled that The Curse Effect was Selected for the Hollywood New Directors Film Festival. It’s an honor to be recognized by a festival celebrating emerging filmmakers and creative vision. Thank you for this incredible opportunity to share our work!

    December 2024
  • Leah Raidt

    Thank you so much for naming my short-film LEE BABY as Best LGBTQIA+ and Best Drama at the 2024 Hollywood New Directors festival! Y'all were excellent communicators, and are doing great work to help uplift the careers of emerging voices in film!

    August 2024