MISSION & OBJECTIVE
STJFF is a showcase for new voices in American and International filmmaking. The festival serves to celebrate uniquely, creative visions and emerging filmmakers, and to promote the cinema’s ability to inspire audiences, individuals and communities.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The first annual St. John’s University Film Festival features film selections in Narrative, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental, as well as local-specific to Queens and Student film competitions. Since this is our first year, STJFF is looking for those films with original voices, and emerging filmmakers who are taking innovative approaches to filmmaking from across genres. As a metropolitan university, filmmakers will benefit from having their films screened at STJFF, which resides in the heart of New York City’s diverse community, with its intellectual and artistic resources. As a global university, filmmakers will have the opportunity to have their films seen at one of our nation’s most diverse institutions of higher education, enriched by a mixture of cultures. Selected filmmakers will be invited to attend the festival with full festival passes.

Awards & Prizes

CATEGORIES
Features (American and International)

NARRATIVE FEATURES
Any work of live-action or animated fiction over 50 minutes in length. We are looking for films with original voices, and take innovative approaches to filmmaking from across genres, while exploring alternative points of view. Films in this category should push boundaries and classification, but should also engage in creating a space for constructive dialogues that allow for deepening our understanding and appreciation of individual, and shared human experiences.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Any work of live-action or animated non-fiction over 50 minutes in length. We are looking for documentaries that commit themselves to the exploring diverse, and often overlook stories of the human experience that demonstrate respect and ethical regard for its subject matter and people across cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds. (Mockumentaries should be entered in Narrative Features.)
Shorts (American and International)

NARRATIVE SHORTS
Any work of fiction of 30 minutes or less. This category is open to all genres and filmmaking styles that push the boundaries of what short, narrative storytelling can be. (Documentary, Animated and Experimental shorts should be entered in their respective categories.)

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Any work of non-fiction of 30 minutes or less. This category is open to all approaches of non-fiction storytelling, and innovative filmmaking techniques that examine a subject matter with compelling clarity and brevity, while also demonstrating respect and ethical regard for its subject matter and people across cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds

ANIMATED SHORTS
Any work of animation of 30 minutes or less, including animatics so long as the animatic tells a complete story and does not simply storyboard a scene, or sequence of scenes. (Films made using puppets or live-action sequences converted to animation should be entered in either the Narrative or Experimental Shorts category), Animation category is devoted to showcasing those original voices using animation — cell, stop-motion, and computer — as an alternative form to live-action storytelling.

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS
Any work of experimental or conceptual film of 20 minutes or less. Because this category can be rather open to interpretation, we are looking for any film that explores various themes and stylistic techniques in the narrative and visual arts that expand the boundaries and definitions of cinema. This can include photography, graphic design, animation, and other forms of multimedia content.
Other

QUEENS CINEMA
The Queens Cinema competition is dedicated to the discovery of films and voices from Queens New York. A film in this category can be narrative, documentary, live action, animated, or experimental, but it must have a Queens-centered theme that explores, celebrates, or offers new perspectives on this New York borough.
STUDENT FILMS (College and High School)
The Student Film Competition is dedicated to the discovery of emerging filmmakers. A film in this category can be either narrative, documentary, live action, animated, or experimental, but it must have been made entirely by a student or a group of students. (Films submitted in this category are not eligible to compete in any of the other categories, except for Experimental and Queens Cinema competitions.)

OPEN CINEMA
Any work from non first-time filmmakers from all around the world. This category is open to narrative and documentary filmmakers from across genres and styles, and regardless of a film’s premiere status. All films selected is this category are not eligible for Juried Awards, but are eligible for the Audience Award.

Juried Awards
Best Narrative Feature
Best Documentary
Best Short
Best Animated Short
Other Awards
Best Queens Cinema
Best Student Film
Audience Award

Rules & Terms

Submission Guidelines
STJFF has a minimum of a New York premiere requirement for all films. We will screen films that have played at other New York festivals, or have had public screening promoted to the general public or publicly ticketed prior to being submitted to STJFF (See the Open Cinema category), but these films are not eligible for Juried Awards, and only for the Audience Award.
International features must include English subtitles.
Short and Experimental films that are available on the internet for public consumption will be considered for the official selection, but cannot compete for Juried Awards, only for the Audience Award.
Employees of St. John’s University, or their relatives are eligible to submit films.
All submissions must be uploaded to Vimeo with the link entered directly on the submission application.
If password protected, the password must be included with the submission application. If submitting more than one project, please send a link for each submission and password if necessary.
Selected Films
Selected films can be submitted a single Blu-ray or DVD disc, or using a Vimeo link. (Once more, International features must include English subtitles.)
If submitting via Vimeo, files can be 4K, 2K, but no less than HD (1080p) and can start playing with one click. If password protected, the password must be included with the final submission of link, via e-mail.
If submitting on Blu-Ray or DVD, DO NOT include menus, trailers, production stills, or any other video clips. The disc should start playing as soon as it is inserted, and discs should be submitted in a simple paper sleeve.
DVDs should be NTSC, Region 1 or Region free (Region 0). Blu-ray should be region-free.
Please write or print all contact information, including the title of the film, category and running time on the face of the Blu-ray or DVD disc.
(Be certain that the submission plays all the way through regardless of the selected format. Please make certain that discs play all the way through in a standard Blu-ray or DVD player; do not simply burn a video file to a disc as data).