Updated information on MQFF 2024 coming soon! Thank you to all who participated in 2023.

Awards in all major categories and many special awards including technical and performance awards.

All awards will be nominated in categories based on the Festival director and nomination committee choose.

Submissions must be Queer oriented or Queer created or Must have Queer Representation on their production or creative staff.

No Production year and place barrier.

International films in non-English language are very welcome but must contain English subtitles.

Being an "Official Selection" does not guarantee a screening at the In-person festival. The festival directors will select films based on ranking; only Finalist and Semi Finalist will be screened.

Official Selections not screened are eligible for honorary or specific awards decided by the Judges,

Official Selections in the shorts category may receive a online screening for competition to be screened at the in-person festival

Festival accepts films of any length and genre produced.

Pornography will not be accepted.

Works-in-progress will not be accepted.

Applicant admits that he/she/they is authorized to submit the film, being the rights-holder or authorized representative of the film.

All persons submitting Material (“Entrants”) must be 18 years or older.
The submitter owns all the copyrights including music rights.

Festival does not have premiere status requirements. We will happily accept films that have been screened elsewhere and online.

Merced Queer Film Festival does not pay screening fees.

You may send more than one film but a separate application must be made for each film.

Festival only accepts submissions via FilmFreeway.com.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • anne gart

    Thank you MQFF festival team for screening Flights! Welcoming festival & great programming!

    November 2023
  • Dale Lockett

    5 stars all the way around for this festival! Although our documentary team was not able to attend the Merced Queer Film Festival in person, I felt a true connection to this festival. Robert and the MQFF team did a terrific job of showcasing the filmmakers and their work. We were thrilled to be honored with the Best Documentary Feature for our film. I highly recommend submitting your film to the MQFF!

    September 2023
  • Jacobe Love

    I loved the time spent at this festival as a filmmaker! There were people from India, Brazil and from all over the U.S. Great community of film lovers and artists. The whole weekend they turned the city of MERCED into a Pride festival and the film festival was a plus. Great town, movies, parties and people! This was an Unforgettable introduction to California! My team and I also won an award.

    September 2023
  • Faustus McGreeves

    Great people, cute town, good selection of films. Thank you for awarding my film The Wilderness, best queer horror!

    September 2023
  • Holly Holbrook

    I don’t really know how to review this festival because although my short was selected it was nowhere in the program. There was never any specific communication, the two emails I got were very confusing. I never got a response to my email asking any questions. And from the looks of it, my film was actually not screened. bizarre

    September 2023