ATTENTION: OUR SLATE FOR FEBRUARY 2026 IS NOW FULL
Your submission will be first in line for our Summer festival.

Welcome to No Worries Northwest!

We let freak flags fly, revel in diversity, and value creativity at every skill and experience level. Call us millennial snowflakes, because it’s time for participation awards! Here, any filmmaker has a chance to show their hard work on the big screen, and audiences get a chance to see films that could otherwise be gatekept from them by the politics, commercialism, and financial barriers often set in place by the current festival circuit.

Appropriately set in Portland, Oregon, our weird festival has no judges or competitions. Instead, films are pre-viewed by our team only to ensure alignment with our community values. Films are then assigned to one of our monthly screenings until we run out of room. Local filmmakers attend, participate in live Q+A, and interact with their newly minted fans.

In addition to screening local films, we also often show off other local artists. We've had standup comedians, musicians, art installations, as well as games and other mixer activities designed to create meaningful connections and lasting memories within the local film community.

Awards & Prizes

All filmmakers featured at No Worries Northwest receive coveted NWFF millennial-approved framed participation certificates.

All submissions that meet our community guidelines, whether we are able to screen them or not, are eligible to have their film added to our No Worries Film Fest Patreon and receive share of profits.

Rules & Terms

We accept submissions of completed films of all genres and lengths. There are no restrictions based on when your film was completed.

Films must be made primarily in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and British Columbia, or made by filmmakers from these regions. Somebody from the main creative team must be available to attend the festival (if needed, volunteers may be available to host out-of-town visitors) and should notify us immediately if they are unable to attend.

Your $10 submission fee helps keep this festival running. However, if this presents a significant financial hardship, the fee can be waived. Email press@chiralfilmworks.com to receive a waiver.

While we stand with and support sex workers, we are unable to screen pornographic films at No Worries Northwest at this time.

You must hold all legal rights for the film you submit, including music and stock footage permissions, as well as all necessary clearances for public screening. We do not screen films made using generative AI.

We strongly prefer films with a 16:9 aspect ratio and will not screen vertical videos. We must receive a downloadable .mp3 or .mov version of your film to screen it. We are unable to screen DCP at this time.

Community Values

Films will be previewed by our team to ensure they match our community values, which are as follows:

We value inclusion and celebration of diversity. This means that films reinforcing stereotypes, stigmatizing, or advocating for discrimination or violence based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender and/or gender identity, ability, sexual and/or romantic orientation, or any other marginalized identity will not be screened.

In a world of disinformation, we value objective truth. This means that documentaries and other nonfiction projects presenting demonstrably false information will be omitted from our festival.

We value accessibility. This means that we give top screening priority to films with open or closed captioning.
2 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • soler beer

    I had a wonderful experience at the No Worries Film Festival. From the the very beginning, festival director Sasha was fantastic. Their communication was clear, kind, and welcoming. They made us feel included and seen. It's obvious they're not only a great organizer but also a thought filmmaker who understands what visiting filmmakers need. The Clinton Theatre was the perfect setting. I absolutely loved the neighborhood and the history in those walls. You can feel how deeply the theatre supports its community in so many ways.
    Overall, I felt genuinely welcomed, supported and part of something meaningful. Thank you for creating such positive, community minded festival experience.
    Cheers,
    Kathryn Soler Beer
    Budget Date Writer/Director

    February 2026
    Helpful
  • Margaret Grant

    This is a very small very intimate festival, which takes place in a little cute space in the back of a café. There are only a few films shown and afterwords a discussion with the audience, lead by one of the organizers, all of whom are enthusiastic millennials. So it might not further your film career, but it will give you the most appreciation that your film might get on the Festival circuit.

    March 2025
    Helpful