NO MERCY is not a film festival.
*PLEASE READ*

It is a monthly live screening series where your work is judged in real time by a room full of people who do not care about your feelings.

This takes place inside the DOJO.

You must attend in person. The Dojo is located inside Dipiazza's in Long Beach, Calif.

Submissions are not hand-picked or curated behind closed doors.

They are pulled at random from the DOJO BOWL.

The DOJO BOWL removes politics, favoritism, and gatekeeping.

Everyone has the same odds.

No connections.
No special treatment.
No one jumps the line.

If your name gets pulled, your film goes on screen.

At the 60 second mark, the room decides your fate.

An overwhelming response in the form of "NO MERCY!", and your project is cut.

An overwhelming response in the form of "MERCY!", and the project lives on.

After the project ends, alongside the audience, a rotating panel of professionals conducts an interview with the submitter regarding the project.

Doesn’t matter if you got cut at 60 seconds or made it to the end.

At the end of the night, one project is chosen as the Audience Winner and awarded the coveted NO MERCY Champion’s Gi.

Then it resets.

New month. New entries. New names in the bowl.

Some people come back better.
Some don’t come back at all.

This is Trial by Screen.

Free to attend.

Presented by LBVM.

Awards & Prizes

Audience Winner (Monthly)

Each month, one project survives the room and is selected as the Audience Winner.

The winner is awarded the coveted NO MERCY Champion’s Gi.

A physical symbol of survival inside the DOJO.

Something you earn. Something you wear. Something you come back to defend.

Winners also receive:

Prize packs from LBVM and brand partners (gear, merch, and sponsor drops as available)

Featured placement across LBVM YouTube releases and social distribution

Recognition that carries into future events

If you keep showing up and surviving, people start to remember your name.

Rules & Terms

*By submitting you agree to the following:

All submitted projects must be 5 minutes or less.

Final screening selections are pulled at random from the DOJO BOWL.

The DOJO BOWL ensures all creators have equal opportunity to be screened. No favoritism. No curation politics. No exceptions.

Every selected project will be screened live inside the DOJO.

At 60 seconds, the audience may vote to continue or cut the film.

Audience decision is final.

A rotating live panel of filmmakers, comedians, and creatives will react and comment throughout the screening. They are part of the experience, not decision-makers.

All creators participate in a live interview immediately following their screening, regardless of outcome.

Paid submissions skip the line.

In-person submissions are free.

In-person submissions must be delivered on a hard drive. No links will be accepted under any circumstances.

In-person submission window is 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM on event day.

Hard cutoff at 4:30 PM. No exceptions. No late entries.

If you miss the window, you forfeit your chance to be included in the DOJO BOWL.

Submission does not guarantee selection. All entries, paid or free, must be pulled from the DOJO BOWL to be screened.

NO MERCY is filmed and distributed as a live show.

All selected projects, audience reactions, panel commentary, and creator interviews will be recorded and published through LBVM YouTube and social platforms.

Participation requires full agreement to be filmed and distributed.

No opt-outs. No removals. No edits upon request.

By submitting, you confirm you have full rights to all content within your project and grant permission for live exhibition and distribution on our youtube page as part of the episode your project is a part. Pertaining solely to the episode your project is a part of.

There is no monetization on either end, as we have forfeited the right, as our only focus is to give filmmakers more exposure and a platform.

The Audience Winner is selected at the end of each event and awarded the NO MERCY Champion’s Gi.

The Champion’s Gi represents survival inside the DOJO and may carry recognition into future events.

This is a live event. Reactions are real, unfiltered, and part of the experience.

Submission does not guarantee screening. Accepted entries are placed into the DOJO BOWL for random selection during the live event.
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  • Max Slocum

    Thank you for accepting my film "Stay in the Car", the cast and I are incredibly happy about it. I was unfortunately unable to attend the event in person, but hopefully one day I will make it to a later one.

    April 2026
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