Monarch Short-Film Festival: February 26, Friday, 2027, University Theatre, 7-9pm

The Monarch Short-Film Festival is an annual event showcasing and highlighting the work of ODU Film Students and Alumni.* The Festival is a competitive event where members of a jury individually watch and assign points (1-10) to each of the movies submitted. At the award ceremony-evening-event, the top scoring movies (as determined by the points assigned by the jury) are screened to the audience, and the winners of the competition are announced and awarded. Best Student Film (overall) and Audience Favorite are also awarded during the event ceremony.

*ODU Alumni may only submit and compete in the Best Short-Alumni category. But, if the work to be submitted was created while the alumnus was enrolled as a student at ODU (before graduation), this work should be submitted in one of the three student categories--Best Short-Fiction, Best Short-Documentary or Best Short-Animation.

Awards & Prizes

o Best Student Film (ODU enrolled students only)
o Best Short-Fiction (ODU enrolled students only)
o Best Short-Documentary (ODU enrolled students only)
o Best Short-Animation (ODU enrolled students only)
o Best Short-Alumni
o Audience Favorite (ODU enrolled students only)

Rules & Terms

o Date of Production: Films must have been completed between February 1, 2026 and January 31, 2027.
o Duration: 20 minutes or less
o Categories for Submission:
-Short-Fiction (enrolled ODU students only)
-Short-Documentary (enrolled ODU students only)
-Short-Animation (enrolled ODU students only)
-Short-Alumni*
o A student may submit more than one film.
o A film can only be submitted in one category (Short-Fiction, Short-Documentary, Short-Animation or Short-Alumni).
o The student submitting the film must be the director and/or producer of the film. This information should be clearly stated in the submission entry and in the film credits.

Jury, Voting and Prize Awarding
The members of the jury view all short-films entered and mark all entries 10, 9, 8, 7, or 6 with the guidelines of 10 (excellent), 8 (good), 7 (fair) or 6 (poor). The movies receiving the highest number of points in each category (Short-Fiction, Short-Documentary, Short-Animation and Short-Film Alumni) are awarded the top prizes. The film with the highest number of points overall (between the Short-Fiction, Short-Documentary and Short-Animation categories) is awarded the Best Student Film Overall. The movies with the highest number of points in each category are screened during the Festival Award Ceremony, and the audience in attendance will vote on site to award the Audience Favorite (Short-Film Alumni does not compete in this category).

*ODU Alumni may only submit and compete in the Best Short-Alumni category. But, if the work to be submitted was created while the alumnus was enrolled as a student at ODU (before graduation), this work should be submitted in one of the three student categories--Best Short-Fiction, Best Short-Documentary or Best Short-Animation.