Māsima Film Festival is co-presented by the Utah Pacific Island Film Series, a program under Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources, and the Salt Lake Film Society. This is an annual film festival showcasing Pasifika Films and Filmmakers in the heart of Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 2026, we celebrate our 6th year of programming and welcome artists telling Pacific Islander centered stories and elevating Pacific voices to share their talents with our bustling, ever-growing Pacific Island community here in Utah. Salt Lake County boasts one of the highest concentrated areas populated with Pacific Islanders putting our festival in the unique position to present these films to a community that is eager to see more Pacific perspectives. It's a perfect opportunity to share your films with those who would understand and benefit from them the most!

To date, we have had the distinct honor of showcasing dozens of films across previous iterations of the festival, all speaking to the diversity of experience and Pasifika heritage that exists within our global community. We hope you'll consider sharing your films with us and helping to enrich our community's film heritage with your impactful and varied stories!

Awards & Prizes

Each film officially selected to participate in Māsima will receive a honorarium depending on film length. There is a $500 USD honorarium for selected feature films and a $200 USD honorarium for select short films with the opportunity for the amount to increase depending on the number of the festival selections per year and at the film committee's discretion.

Rules & Terms

MASIMA FILM FESTIVAL RULES & TERMS

All films submitted to Māsima must either have been created by an artist with Pasifika heritage or be a film that centers a Pasifika character or narrative. We will not consider any films for exhibition that do not feature a Pacific Islander in a key creative role or is not reflected in the story being told onscreen. These submissions will be immediately disqualified from further advancement in the festival selection process. We will not be accepting vertical films created and sized for social media (TikTok, Instagram, etc).

We do not require exclusive world or U.S. premieres but our programming committee may take those into consideration due to limited amount of programming slots and screening availability. Additionally, we support the work of upcoming and emerging Pasifika artists that challenge cultural and creative norms as well as underrepresented narratives within our own Pasifika community, so special consideration may be given to films that reflect those parameters.

We accept all submissions for consideration regardless of a filmmaker's age, experience level, or location. You do not have to be U.S. based to submit. We welcome multiple films from a single filmmaker to be submitted for consideration. There are no submission fees.

HONORARIUMS

All films selected for Māsima receive an honorarium, dependent on film length, that will only be processed through PayPal for international filmmakers outside of the U.S. and Venmo for filmmakers residing within the U.S. By submitting your film you acknowledge that if selected you will be responsible for obtaining an account for one of these platforms to obtain your payment.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

All film submissions must include at least two (2) high resolution image marketing assets such as a poster, film stills, though ideally a combination of both. Please be sure to have these assets included in your submission through the FilmFreeway platform. If your film is selected and these assets are not available you will be notified to provide them ASAP to our festival staff in order to participate.