Open Air Media Festival is an outdoor media arts program. The festival invites the public to experience video, performance, installation, sound, and other media arts in communal, accessible locations.

This year's open call is for a traveling screening program. The first screening will occur in Iowa City where the festival ran for five years from 2020 through 2024. The program will then travel across the Midwest and Southeast to Louisville, KY, and Greenville, SC. Additional pop-up venues may also be added through 2027.

5/29/26
FilmScene, Iowa City, IA
Projector: Barco 34,000k lumens, 4k
Screen: 48 feet wide, positioned half a block away from projector
Sound: 10,000 watt sound system
Venue info and images: https://icfilmscene.org/visit-contact/filmscene-in-the-park/

6/5/26
Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Greenville, SC

6/13/26
Waterfront Park, Louisville, KY
Screen: vertical bridge support under the Big Four Bridge
https://ourwaterfront.org/

Rules & Terms

Artists based in the United States, age 18+
Submissions must be under 15 minutes, and completed within the last 5 years
Open to any genre with a preference towards experimental work: video art, non-traditional documentary, animation, narrative, non-narrative, use of artificial intelligence

Maximum 2 entries per artist

All works should be suitable for a public-facing, screening format. Multi-channel video installations or expanded cinema projects are not eligible.

Submissions must contain the full film/video, no excerpts or trailers.

If your work is selected, the festival reserves the right to use submitted image and video files for event promotion.

Work that utilizes Artificial Intelligence is required to detail what AI tools were used in the creation of the work.