Since 2001, the Nevada City Film Festival (NCFF) has brought top independent film, music and comedy, along with attracting thousands of attendees, international filmmakers, and industry guests to the beautiful historic town of Nevada City, California.
Nevada City is known for its supportive arts and cultural scene, and makes screening a film here a positive, encouraging and exciting experience.
NCFF is often referred to as the “Sundance of the Sierra” for its emphasis on fiercely independent cinema that showcases innovative, progressive and exciting new voices in film. Our festival focuses on shorts and short filmmakers, with features peppered throughout. We love supporting first time or mid career filmmakers.
In 2023, NCFF was named "One of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals" by Moviemaker Magazine, and voted the #9 film festival in the USA by 10Best USA Today. In 2024, NCFF was named for the fourth time by Moviemaker Magazine as one of the top 50 film festivals in the world worth the submission fee for filmmakers.
This year’s festival kicks off June 19-22, 2025 in historic downtown Nevada City. This year's festival features film screenings, panels and workshops for filmmakers and festival attendees, filmmaker Q&A’s and coffee talks, after-parties, nature hikes and outdoor excursions, and other special events.
NCFF is known for recognizing and supporting new talent including independent filmmakers such as Jonathan Krisel (Portlandia, Baskets), Jason Sussberg (Bill Nye: Science Guy), Patrick Brice (Corporate Animals, The Overnight), Greg Finton (Dazed & Confused, The World According to Dick Cheney), Augustine Frizzell (Never Goin’ Back), David Zellner (Damsel, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter), Christina Choe (Nancy), Blackhorse Lowe (Reservation Dogs, Fukry), and animator and performance artist Miwa Matryek, among others.
In previous years NCFF has hosted filmmakers such as Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine, Ruby Sparks), Mike Mills, Terry Zwigoff, Wesley Allsbrook, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (Cartoon Networks Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!), Bill Nye (the Science Guy), and comedians including Beth Stelling, John Early, Kate Berlant, Maria Bamford, Tig Notaro, Nick Kroll, Natasha Leggero, Eric Andre, Kyle Kinane, and Marc Maron.
Past NCFF judges have included award-winning producers and directors, plus writers from The Huffington Post, New York Times, McSweeneys, San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone Magazine, NPR, Film School Rejects, and Pop-Up Magazine.
Professional, student, and amateur filmmakers are invited to submit short and feature length films in a variety of genres including, but not limited to, documentaries, animation, narrative, comedy, multi-media, experimental, and music videos.
$1500 Best of the Fest, Judges Award
$1000 Best Short Film Screenplay
$1000 Best Doc Feature
$1000 Best Narrative Feature
$500 Best Short Narrative
$500 Best Short Doc
$500 Best Short Animation
$500 Best Director
$500 Best Performance
$500 Best Cinematography
$500 Best Editing
$500 Best Production Design
$500 Best Musical Score
$500 Audience Award