HOLLYWOOD SOUTH URBAN FILM FESTIVAL 2024
Event Date: Friday, August 15, 2025 - Sunday, August 17, 2025

The Hollywood South Urban Film Festival will be on display once again to bring you some of the most creative and most ORIGINAL SERIES, INDEPENDENT FILMS, DOCUMENTARIES, AND MUSIC VIDEOS from ACROSS THE GLOBE. In year 2024, filmmakers from NEARLY 25 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES chose our platform to display their UNIQUE CONTENT for the world to see. Our film festival will once again bring you “Virtual Online Screenings.” The HSUFF 2025 will be a THREE-DAY ONLINE EVENT. Screenings will take place online on our hsuff.com platform FRIDAY, SATURDAY, and SUNDAY.

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Welcome to the 8th Annual Hollywood South Urban Film Festival 2025!!! HSUFF is a Film Festival that BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER to acknowledge and appreciate the history of the African American culture. This year we will screen SHORT FILMS, FEATURE FILMS, FEATURE DOCS, SHORT DOCS, GLOBAL FILMS, THE BEST SERIES, ANIMATION FILMS, MUSIC VIDEOS, STUDENT FILMS, SOCIAL JUSTICE FILMS, and the New Category of AI GENERATED FILMS that will be SUBMITTED from all over the WORLD. There will be something for everyone for all ages to enjoy. The HSUFF will provide up and coming FILMMAKERS, ACTORS, SINGERS, and MUSIC PRODUCERS a platform to tell their stories by providing them OPPORTUNITIES to show their art on our "Virtual" WEBSITE; which means that your films can be seen from over the world. Although we focus on PROVIDING EXPOSURE of African American content, this FILM FESTIVAL will also be a PLATFORM that will GIVE ALL GENRES OF FILM an OPPORTUNITY for THEIR WORK to BE SEEN. MANY TIMES ART that is related to the AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE gets overlooked because of the lack of STAR POWER or strong finances to back it. So our FESTIVAL COMMITTEE will personally screen every project that is submitted. We will select the very BEST PROJECTS to be SHOWN. WE ENCOURAGE you all to take full advantage of all the RESOURCES from ATLANTA, GA to across the GLOBE that the FILM and TELEVISION INDUSTRY provides for INSPIRING FILM MAKING!!!

The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Feature Film Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Short Film Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Feature Documentary Film Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Short Documentary Film Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Global Film Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Series Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Music Video Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Best Student Film Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Animation Film Award Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Social Justice Award Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - AI Generated Film Award Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Georgia Spotlight Award Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Outstanding Spirit Award Winner
The Hollywood Crystal Star Award Trophy - Audience Choice Award Winner

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NOTE: All SUBMITTED PROJECTS ACCEPTED in the HSUFF SHOWCASE will via email receive an "OFFICIAL SELECTION" LAUREL from the Hollywood South Urban Film Festival 2025 SELECTION COMMITTEE.

ELIGIBILITY -

To be eligible for consideration:

ALL FILMS SUBMITTED to the HSUFF must be written, directed, produced or having the main character of the film/project acted by a person of color or a person of African American descent.
(ONLY EXCEPTION to this RULE is the GLOBAL FILM CATEGORY - THIS CATEGORY is OPEN to ALL FILMMAKERS of ANY RACE or ANY NATIONALITY THAT IS “NOT” BLACK AMERICAN. THESE FILMS can get made ANYWHERE in the WORLD; the UNITED STATES or ABROAD.)

Any feature-length film, short film, feature documentary film, short documentary film, global film, social justice, best series, music video, or student film that is submitted to the HSUFF, can be made from anywhere in the world.

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-FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS: All Feature Length Films must have a running time of at least 60 minutes or more.

-FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILMS: All Feature Length Documentary Films must have a running time of at least 60 minutes running time.

-SHORT FILMS: All Short Films must not exceed a running time of 30 minutes.

-SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILMS: All Short Documentaries Films must not exceed a running time of 30 minutes.

-GLOBAL FILMS: For all Global Films submitted in this category, (shorts, features, documentaries, music videos, series, comedies, animations, or student films ) there is no mandatory running time.

-SERIES: All Series submitted must not individually exceed 30 minutes of running time.

-MUSIC VIDEOS: All Music Video's running times must not exceed 7 minutes running time.

-STUDENT FILMS: There is no mandatory running time (short, feature, short doc, feature doc, global film, web series, or music video) of any student film submitted. Any student films submitted can be made from anywhere in the world.

-AI GENERATED FILMS: All of these films will be films that are generated with AI Technology. There is NO MANDATORY running running time.

-GEORGIA SPOTLIGHT FILMS: All films submitted in this category MUST BE MADE IN GEORGIA or ABOUT GEORGIA will be eligible for the GEORGIA SPOTLIGHT AWARD as well as ALL OTHER CATEGORIES. There is no time limit.

-SOCIAL JUSTICE AWARD: All films that are created that put a spotlight on the racial, social, and/or political environment of the society that we/you live in anywhere in the world. There is no time limit.

-OUTSTANDING SPIRIT AWARD: This award will be given to the filmmaker who does the highest degree of promoting his/her film if selected during the HSUFF on all of your platforms on social media.

-AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD: All the films in this category will come from all the films selected to be screened during the film festival. The winner will be determined by the response of the audience during the screening of all the films.

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Festival programming staff may use their discretion to place your film in the appropriate category.

Non-English language projects must have English subtitles at the time submitted. Dialogue lists will not be accepted.

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For any questions: Please email us at filmfestival@hsuff.com

Please visit our official website at hsuff.com

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • isaiah francis

    Blessed to be a part of this festival. Awesome to see my film, Orange County Conversation, and other magnificent films being displayed. Great communication and set up. I will return. Thank you.

    November 2024
  • Leah Lamb

    Thank you HSUFF for including Welcome to School in our very first Film Festival! We were blessed to be a part of such a well organized weekend.

    November 2024
  • Kyle Dandy

    I had an amazing experience with the Hollywood South Urban Film Festival! My short film Employee of the Month was selected for their 2024 Virtual Edition, and the entire process was seamless and well-organized. The festival organizers were communicative and supportive, keeping us filmmakers informed every step of the way.
    The virtual format was a fantastic opportunity for the film to reach a wider audience, and I was thrilled to see the lineup of diverse and powerful stories showcased. I’m grateful for the chance to be part of such an inspiring festival that champions urban storytelling and independent filmmakers. Highly recommend HSUFF to other filmmakers and film lovers alike!

    November 2024
  • Sheldyn Moore

    The Hollywood South Urban Film Festival was a great one. This was my 1st selection ever. I highly recommend this festival if you would like to showcase your work.

    January 2023
  • Diallo Thompson

    I hate to give a bad review, but unfortunately, this festival had some issues. For one, it was difficult for viewers to navigate. Many people who wanted to see our film...and who had purchased tickets...were unable to access it online. Second, due to a hurricane, they emailed us and said to give them a few weeks to deal with that and then they would announce their winners. We never heard anything else from them and I emailed them several times. No communication at all after that last email.

    December 2021