Sponsored by the Long Island Film-TV Foundation and the County of Nassau and the NCIDA, The Long Island International Film Expo – LIIFE, 26 years young! – is the longest running regional film festival on Long Island. Selected films will screen in the historic Bellmore Movies and Showplace 350+ seat theater. We also have festival-long networking in our Filmmakers Lounge, daily industry panels, opening and closing night parties, with press and media coverage of our events, screenings, and awards ceremony.

LIIFE accepts films of all genres; Drama, Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Documentary, Arthouse, Psychological, LGBTQIA+, Family, Animated.. you name it! But first and foremost, we love our local Long Island based filmmakers, and we want to showcase your work alongside films from around the world. So if you are a local filmmaker, be sure to submit to one of our Long Island categories. If you are a LIIFE Alum, we want to see more of your work, so please email us at LongIslandFilmExpo@gmail.com for the 2024 Alumni discount code (subject: “Alumni Discount'' and tell us what film you had in the fest, and what year it screened).

PLEASE SUBMIT TO ONLY ONE CATEGORY PER FILM - DUPLICATE ENTRIES WILL NOT BE REFUNDED!

While we do not require premieres, we will take a films premiere status into account when scheduling; Especially for Feature Films. Long Island Premieres preferred for Feature Films.

Films that are available to the public via streaming, theatrical, or home video before the festival will be disqualified from judging and pulled from programming, INCLUDING the “Episodic Pilot” category. NO EXCEPTIONS!

We understand not everyone can be everywhere, but LIIFE is about creating a community, fostering and furthering relationships in the film industry, and we ask (but not require!) that filmmakers attend the festival, participate in our in-person Q&A's, sit in on our panels, and enjoy our Filmmakers Lounge which is open daily throughout the festival, specifically for networking. Many of our filmmakers have made connections, found producers, cast, crew, and more by just being here. Contributing to the filmmaking community is the best way to guarantee the longevity of your career, so join us festival week!

Winning films with attending filmmakers will receive trophies at our closing night awards ceremony, as well as laurels for all selected filmmakers. Other prizes (goods and services) may be be added as we get closer to the screening dates.

Best Screenplay Winner will have their screenplay read by actors in a live table read (in-person or virtually, dependent upon on location availability, and time and capacity restrictions), and Winners Certificate & Laurel.

Three (3) screenplay finalists will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you'll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film.

GENRE FILMMAKERS!!
Over the past few years we have been curating Genre Blocks, and will continue to do so! We have our "Retro Futurism" block for Sci-Fi Films, "Scared For Your LIIFE" for Horror Films, "Midnight Madness" for quirky, fringe, and genre-bending cinema, "LIIFE Is Funny" for Comedic films, and in 2023 we added "Kicking Ass, Taking Names" for Action films! So send us your genre films!

Midnight Madness: At the end of the block, a one-of-a-kind handmade award will be presented to one of the filmmakers (who MUST be in attendance to win!), and all audience members will receive a custom 2024 pin!

1- To submit a film, you must own all intellectual property rights (including copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity) to the film and everything contained within the film, or have signed permission from the rights holder to use the intellectual property in the film and publicly screen the film at film festivals and markets. Please alert us to all “fair use” claims or failures to secure chain-of-title to third party footage, writing, or audio recordings.

2- You grant LIIFE the non-exclusive right to screen the film as part of LIIFE, and perpetual non-exclusive right to use, distribute, and share the film poster art, trailer, synopsis, movie stills, and clips from the film to promote the film festival and its screenings and events.

3- The Long Island Film-TV Foundation has the right to reject any films or withdraw any acceptance letter issued to any film, at any time prior to the commencement of that year’s festival, at the foundation's absolute discretion.

4- All fees are non-refundable.

5- Only submit ONE film per submission to ONE category - duplicate entries will not be refunded! You may submit multiple films, each with its own submission form and paid submission fee.

6- For films 59 minutes or less please submit as a short, 60 to 120 minutes, please submit as a feature.

7- Digital Screeners only! We do not accept physical submissions.

8- All films submitted are eligible for awards in all applicable award categories (with the exception of student film submissions and awards).

9- Students must present valid Student ID to submit in the Student Filmmaker category. *NOTE: If submitting as a student film, your film will only be eligible for an award in the Student Filmmaker awards category.

10- Films that are made available to the public via streaming, theatrical, or home video before the festival will be disqualified from judging and pulled from programming, INCLUDING the “Episodic Pilot” category. NO EXCEPTIONS!

11- LIIFE Alumni (Directors/Producers/Writers: please email LongIslandFilmExpo@gmail.com for a discount code. (Subject: “Alumni Discount” and, in the body, tell us the title and year of the film you had in the fest)

12- Any film that is not in English must have accurate English subtitles (non-electronic subtitles).

13- NO FEE WAIVERS – NO EXCEPTIONS!

14- You hereby release the County of Nassau, Nassau County Film Commission, The Nassau County Department of Recreation and Parks, The Nassau County Planning Commission, The Long Island Film-TV Foundation and any participating festival directors, judges, venues, agents and volunteers from any liability related to your film or script. You also hereby agree to testify under oath, upon request of any of the aforesaid entities or people, to the validity of the release, in the event that there is litigation related to your film or script.

15- WE DO NOT PAY SCREENING FEES

Upon Acceptance:

1- You will receive a survey to complete which will give us all pertinent information about your film, and provides you the information needed to send us your film, trailer, stills, press kit, and other promotional items you may have. This information is vital to us being able to promote the films in the festival.

2- You must provide a digital submission copy in MP4 ONLY (no MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, etc). All films must be formatted to 16:9. If your ratio is different, you must pillar box or letterbox to 16:9. We can also accept DCPs (Feature Films only).

3- We recommend mailing a physical backup to the theater (DVD, Blu-ray, flash drive, etc - just in case!). We cannot mail them back, but we can return them if you are in-person at the festival after your film has screened.

4- Each accepted film receives two Filmmaker badges, good for yourself plus one guest, which gets you access to all film screenings, panels, and events throughout the festival.

5- Any accepted film that is publicly available before their screening will be pulled from programming, NO EXCEPTIONS!

6- Films or scripts may not be withdrawn once they are accepted and programmed into the program. Films are scheduled at the discretion of the Long Island International Film Expo.

Scriptwriting Contest:

LIIFE is looking for the next generation of screenwriters. To be eligible, the script cannot have been optioned or produced, nor can the writer and/or the screenplay be represented by a manager or agent. Final scripts must also be between 75 - 100 pages. The contest will consist of two rounds:

1- For the first submission round, writers submit a Single-Page treatment of a feature-length screenplay. A treatment covers the specifics of the story, including descriptive paragraphs telling the story from beginning, including character descriptions, development, conflicts, with relevant plot points including twists and turns. These treatments will each be read by our panel of judges and 3-5 finalists will be chosen and Selected for LIIFE. Please do not submit unless your script is completed.

2- Selected treatments will be asked to submit their full-length screenplays (75-100 pages) which will then be read by our Screenplay judges and one winner will be selected.

Three (3) finalists will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you'll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film.
One (1) Best Screenplay Winner will have their screenplay read by actors in a live table read (in-person or virtually, dependent upon on location availability, and time and capacity restrictions), and Winners Certificate & Laurel.

Award Categories (categories may change from year to year without notice):
Best Short
Best Feature
Best Director
Best International Film
Best Story
Best Animation
Best Long Island Film
Best Horror Film
Best Documentary
Best Student Film
Best Episodic
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Art Direction
Audience Choice Award
Alan Fortunoff Humanitarian Award
The Marc Stein Comedy Award
Scared For Your LIIFE Award
Midnight Madness Award

Based upon the content of the submissions received, we reserve the right to add or remove awards categories. (ie: if we do not receive enough submissions in one award category, we may combine award categories, or if we receive many submissions of a particular genre, we may add another award category to accommodate)

Thank you, and we hope to see you at LIIFE 2024!

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Brianne Neira

    It was an honor to premiere my short film in my hometown of Long Island through LIIFE! What an incredible experience, the networking events and Q&As were super helpful and I really felt like I was a part of a community. Thank you for selecting my film and I will 100% be submitting my next film!

    November 2023
  • LIIFE was a very fun and welcoming experience. The LIIFE staff is well organized and kind. I appreciate that the filmmakers get a chance to speak a bit about their films after the screenings with a Q&A. It’s always nice to hear about other filmmakers’ processes and experiences. They provide plenty of networking events throughout the expo, which was a great place and way to meet new filmmakers. Thank you LIIFE for giving me the opportunity to be a part of it all!

    October 2023
  • Merissa Morin

    This was a wonderful festival to be a part of, and I'm so happy to have attended multiple days. We got the chance to meet so many talented filmmakers! Thank you so much Debra and the rest of your amazing team for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

    September 2023
  • LIIFE is one of the best run festivals! Great communication. They get what it takes to put on a great festival for the filmmaker, with the filmmaker lounge which was great for networking, the panels and workshops were very informative. I was able to meet up with some friends and make new ones as well. Thank you so much for selecting my feature film Showdown In Yesteryear not only to screen but to also win Best Art Direction. I encourage other filmmakers to submit!

    September 2023
  • What a wonderful festival LIIFE is!
    It was such an honor to be a part of the 2023 lineup.
    Extremely friendly atmosphere, genuine networking opportunities, excellent films - and most importantly, fun.
    So much fun seeing a lot of familiar faces of friends in the industry, and making friends locally and internationally!
    Thank you to the entire team for making it such a memorable event!
    Highly recommend submitting to LIIFE!

    September 2023