The Made-in-Michigan Film Series is an extension of the Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival in Bay City, Michigan, and it provides an opportunity to showcase an evening of short films made in our state! The event will be taking place at the beautiful State Theatre in downtown Bay City, and we highly encourage filmmakers to attend.

Following the screening we'll be heading over to a local drinking establishment for socializing with filmmakers, festival organizers, and film-goers. This film series event has been well attended over the last several years, and we plan to keep this tradition going!

If your film has previously screened at the Made-in-Michigan Film Festival or Hell's Half Mile it is not eligible for this screening. However, if you're an alum from either festival please email for a fee waiver to submit your latest film.

MiMFF History:

The Made-in-Michigan Film Festival was founded in Lapeer in 2008 by Wally Green. In 2013 the festival moved to Frankenmuth where it continued under the leadership of festival director Paul Weiss for 4 more years. After taking a hiatus for a number of years, the MiMFF partnered with the Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival in Bay City in 2019, and both organizations have worked to program Michigan Films during the annual HHM every September, as well as the for the Made-in-Michigan Film Series every November. So, it's sort of a festival within a festival. We're thrilled to keep this partnership alive, and we're working to expand programming of Michigan made films. Eventually we'd love to see our Made-in-Michigan Film Series happen quarterly or monthly, and potentially return to a dedicated weekend for an annual MiMFF! We have so much talent in our great state, and we simply love the amazing storytelling of Michigan filmmakers.

Awards & Prizes

There will be an audience award for this screening, and it'll be announced at the reception following the event! Cash prize $100! Every film is eligible, and every attending film-goer is able to vote.

Rules & Terms

Films must be made in Michigan to be eligible. If you're uncertain if your film can be considered, please email us and we'll let you know.

All films must be 20 minutes or less. This allows us to program more shorts for our film series. We're open to all genres & categories! Narrative, documentary, animated, comedy, drama, science fiction, thriller, LGBTQ, action, adventure, horror, cult, etc.

If your film is selected for this event, you will receive fee waivers for both future Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival, as well as the Made-in-Michigan Film Series.

Once your film is selected we'll need a download link (MP4), synopsis, and still for marketing.

Acceptable Codecs:
.H264

Acceptable Containers
.mp4 (MPEG4)

Preferred Resolutions
1920x1200
1920x1080
9 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Italia Millán

    This was my first film festival as a selected participant and it was great! The organizers are professional and kind, communicate efficiently and are very supportive of filmmakers. I was truly honored to have had my short doc chosen among such high quality documentaries and enjoyed interacting with the audience during the Q&A session after the film screening. It was an overall wonderful experience!

    May 2017
    Helpful
  • Garret Morgan

    Very nice! I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of professionalism and quality

    February 2017
    Helpful
  • Nicholas Gascho

    This a great festival. A lot of history and story behind it, the people are great, and there are many awards.

    February 2017
    Helpful
  • Molade Balogun

    This is a quality festival with excellent hospitality and communication with the participants. An all-around wonderful experience.

    February 2017
    Helpful
  • Ashray Dravidian

    This festival is an Excellent opportunity for Michigan filmmakers and productions from Michigan. Communication, hospitality and screening venue was amazing. Programmers will aim to screen the film in the highest format available.

    February 2017
    Helpful