Long Distance Film Festival is a new form of film festival for these unprecedented cultural moments. We are an entirely online global live-stream marathon of short films built to highlight new and exciting work from people all around the world.
This is a great festival for filmmakers both amateur and experienced alike; especially if your films are overlooked by the conventional festival framework. We want to see everything and anything! All media, new or old, of all genres and form (or not), are welcome and encouraged!
Last year’s festival was a huge success. We played over 52 films from 26 countries, and thousands of people tuned in over the festival weekend to indulge in a curated set that ran the gamut of form and style. We showcased classic genre fiction, documentary, experimental, arthouse, dance films, video essays, music videos, quarantine films, you name it! Moving forward, LDFF will stay true to its origins by supporting art and media made under quarantine’s limitations. We welcome personal films made with smaller budgets and limited crews.
Films will be screened live online through Spectacle Theater’s new streaming platform and will be completely free to viewers around the world.
This year, we plan to make the festival even bigger to highlight the many different ways we express ourselves and our ideas through art. Should lockdown restrictions loosen, we plan on also physically screening the festival in theaters around the world. Our ambitions also include more prizes, a larger jury, and more. We’re excited to see how LDFF will grow in the future.
These films will be screened to our programming team, composed of artists and critics, before being curated into screening blocks that express unified or developing themes. We hope you share in our idealism for a more broadened appreciation of media and hope you will submit your films and join us in May!
Read more about last year’s edition here: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2020/festival-reports/closer-than-ever-the-1st-long-distance-film-festival/
Contact us regarding press or partnerships at longdistancefilmfestival@gmail.com
New awards and festival partnerships will be announced in the future! Please stay tuned.
- An "Audience Award" will be given to the three most popular films of the festival through a form on our official website. The winner of these awards will each receive a copy of screenwriting software Final Draft.
- Jury awards will be given out to several films throughout the fest. Last year’s winners were given a featured spot on Kinoscope.org as part of its LDFF Spotlight along with an annual membership to Mubi. Prizes for this year's festival will be announced in the coming months.
- A group of filmmakers will be selected as "semi-finalists," their work may not screen during the festival but will receive festival laurels as well as opportunities in the filmmaking community.
- All semi-finalists and filmmakers selected to screen during the festival will be connected to an online community of their peers.
- Festival laurels will be provided for all official selections and semi-finalists.