Indie Memphis Film Festival

Indie Memphis announces the Call for Submissions for the 28th Indie Memphis Film Festival, taking place November 5th - 8th.

Submissions are open for:
• *Short films from national and international filmmakers
• Features, shorts, and music videos created by Memphis-area filmmakers (Hometowners)

*The festival will also return with a slate of national and international feature films curated by our programming team outside of the submission process.

The festival has long been a showcase for the best of contemporary American independent cinema, with a distinct focus on regional, southern, and African-American contexts that speak to the unique history of the festival’s setting and routinely draws some of the most significant names in American independent film production, curation and appreciation.

Festival attendees have included recent Academy Award winner Sean Baker (Anora, Red Rocket), Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah), Jim Jarmusch (Mystery Train, The Dead Don’t Die), Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), Chris Elliot, Sam Lisenco (May December), Michael Almereyda (Tesla), Ira Sachs, Lakeith Stanfield, Raven Jackson (All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), Jomo Fray (Nickel Boys, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), Amy Seimetz (Sun Don’t Shine, The Girlfriend Experience series), Rainn Wilson, Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Footloose), Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship), Ted Hope (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Abel Ferrara (Ms. 45), Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock), former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell (KCRW's The Treatment), Mark Webber (Weapons), Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams), Scott Mosier (Clerks, Chasing Amy), Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs Larry Flynt), Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain, The Sorcerer's Apprentice), John Sayles (Matewan), Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter), Richard Brody (The New Yorker) and many others.

Five-time named "one of the coolest film festivals around" by MovieMaker magazine, the Indie Memphis Film Festival has been supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cinereach, and other prestigious funding bodies.

***Official Satellite Screen Partner for the 2021 and 2022 Sundance Film Festival***

***MovieMaker Magazine’s 2023 Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee***

***MovieMaker Magazine's 2019 25 Coolest Film Festivals***

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Word on the street:

“An embarrassment of riches… warm and friendly, yet also exciting and intense. Kind of like Memphis itself.”
- ROGEREBERT.COM by Sheila O'Malley

“One of the most well-curated [festivals] each year”
- THE FILM STAGE by Jordan Raup

"Infused with the city’s warmth and buoyed by the local music acts (they play before each screening), ranks as one of the more satisfying regional film festivals around. Where else do you overhear folks debating BBQ and fried chicken houses while in line for the latest films by Kelly Reichardt and Raoul Peck?"
- BROOKLYN MAGAZINE by Paul Dallas

“Indie Memphis has grown into one of the best and most inclusive festivals in the southern United States with great programing for narrative, documentary, and outside the box films they classify as ‘departures.’ (I appreciate they did not use the word experimental.)”
~ JOHN RASH (filmmaker)

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the most vital regional film festivals in the country, setting the bar for all others from programming to community engagement. So honored to be in the mix with these programmers and filmmakers.”
~ PISIE HOCHHEIM (filmmaker)

“Indie Memphis did not feel like an inclusion rider festival, but rather a well-curated collection from a trusted tastemaker, and yet the pickings were as diverse as they come.”
~ FILMMAKER MAGAZINE by Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

"Indie Memphis is a fantastic, well-curated festival blessed with hometown strengths -- the city's special cultural and political history as well as its great food -- that other fests can only dream about."
~ SCOTT MACAULAY (editor-in-chief Filmmaker Magazine)

"A truly great stop for any filmmaker on their festival tour, with great audiences both local and global, who really invest in the ethos of the entire weekend. Indie Memphis is a festival with an eclectic program that challenges, inspires and always leaves you wanting more. Long may it continue. Films, music, food and craft beer. Is this heaven? No, it's Indie Memphis."
~ JUSTIN DOHERTY (co-founder Filmstock International Film Festival)

“As film festivals and arthouse exhibitors have historically alienated people of color, working class people, and people outside of the film industry, Indie Memphis continues to evolve both internally and externally to welcome more of the Memphis community.”
~ AARON E. HUNT (MUBI Notebook)

"Indie Memphis has so much that I look for in a film festival: programming with a thoughtful and idiosyncratic point of view that reflects its leadership, and reaches out to promising new filmmakers whose work has an unmistakable sense of place; an excited and eager community that attends the films in force looking to be surprised by the fare, rather than congratulated for coming out; and, oh yeah, barbecue."
~ ELVIS MITCHELL (host of KCRW's 'The Treatment')

"I've had screenings of my films all around the world. I've watched my films premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, as well as the Prince's Palace in Marrakech. But there has never been an experience equal to my premiere at Indie Memphis."
~ CRAIG BREWER ('Hustle & Flow') on premiering his debut feature, 'The Poor & Hungry,' at Indie Memphis in 2000