Newark Independent Film Festival

The Newark (pronounced NEW-ARK not to be confused with the city in Northern Jersey) Independent Film Festival will be held at the beautiful and recently renovated Main Street Movies 5, a digital state-of-the-art movie theatre with 5 screens, located in the heart of Newark, Delaware, near the University of Delaware campus. For our inaugural year, we’ll be accepting short film submissions from round the world in six screening blocks over the course of two days, August 9th and August 10th 2024. Screenings will begin at 7PM, August 9th with afterparty to follow. (Venue TBA) Saturday, screenings will begin at 11AM and conclude at 9PM with award ceremony following immediately with afterparty TBA.

The City of Newark is a unique walkable and bike-friendly community in the northernmost County of Delaware. Within block of Main Street Movies 5 there are numerous restaurants, bars, coffee shops and hotels. There are several additional hotels within a mile radius of the screening venue. The area is surrounded by the stunning University of Delaware campus. Newark is accessible to interstate 95, Amtrak and a 40 minute ride to Philadelphia International Airport. Newark sits approximately 2 hours drive south of Manhattan and 90 minutes to Washington DC. This lively community serves a perfect escape for creatives to relax and share their work. Delaware is the home of tax-free shopping, so we suggest planning to splurge while here.

Festival Director, Kazy Tauginas is a local resident and also an actor and filmmaker. Kazy has been active in the entertainment world since 2009 and has been seen in Hollywood productions like "Equalizer 2" and "Dolemite is My Name". After navigating numerous successful film festivals with his award winning short, “Standing Eight” and seeing the positive impact on the communities where the festivals were held, he decided that Newark was overdue for it’s own film festival. With Main Street Movies 5 being renovated, it seemed like the perfect fit.

Submissions will be open from April 1st through June 30th.