The inaugural Montecito Student Film Festival highlights the impressive work of undergraduate students from colleges and universities all over California. Tucked away in the Santa Ynez Mountains, Montecito serves as the home of Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts college founded in 1937. In addition, Montecito doubles as a haven for Hollywood's elite, and the MSFF seeks to take advantage of its geographic advantages and proximity to the silver screen's movers and shakers.



Screenings will be held throughout the day May 25, 2023, showcasing the state's best undergraduate talent in Westmont's Porter Theatre. A jury of industry professionals and special guests will judge and award the top prizes while audiences will be polled regularly to determine the winner of the Audience Award.



MSFF will accept films in every genre or topic from undergraduate students enrolled in a California college or university. Films will not be disqualified based on premiere status or date of completion.

Awards & Prizes

Best Live Action Film



Best Animated Film



Best Screenplay



Audience Award

Rules & Terms

A. Entrants must complete the online submission form located on FilmFreeway site.


B. Dialogue or narration must be substantially in English or the film must have English-language subtitles.


C. All required entry materials, including the digital upload of the film for voting purposes, must be received by 11:59 p.m. PT on final deadline date.


D. By submitting a film, the filmmaker agrees that MSFF has the right to make copies and distribute them for voting purposes only.
4 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Tamia Sanders

    Overall, the first Montecito student film festival was a success. There is a lot of potential within this Westmont community. This film department is off to a great start, opening doors and providing opportunities for current and incoming students to excel and explore the art of film.

    April 2023
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  • Cole Anderson

    This festival was great for being its first year! It was awesome to see films submitted from students all around the Southern California region and the talent coming from a variety of schools. I'm grateful to have been able to be in this festival and would definitely recommend submitting. I was a first time film maker and was nervous about how it was going to go, but this was a very warm and inviting environment of all film levels and styles which was awesome!!

    April 2023
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  • Campbell Ralph

    For a first time festival, this was a great experience and seemed to very successful at receiving applicants and showcasing them in a way that the audience was also able to hear from the film makers from different universities. I was excited to show my film at the festival and I have heard nothing but great feedback from people who attended. I am excited to see the festival grow in the future and include even more films next year!

    April 2023
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  • Daniel Palma-Lopez

    This festival definitely didn’t need to be public. It was clearly just meant for this small university, I’m not sure why they felt the need to extend it to other schools. Because of this there were absolutely no networking opportunities to be had since everyone there already knew each other, the closing remarks didn’t even address the entire audience, only those in the audience that went to Westmont. Also, several people who had submissions in the festival also presented other portions of the festival and interviewed one another which I thought was strange to say the least. I wouldn’t recommend others to submit to this festival.

    April 2023
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