The Oregon Documentary Film Festival is a theatrical screening event on the Film Festival Circuit that screens  international independent documentary films in Portland. This event was founded by author and retired filmmaker Mikel Fair who worked on location in the Film and Television industry from 1999-2015. Multiple short films are screened in a "back to back" format in HD 1080p at the 5th Avenue Cinema. Are you inspired by interesting people, historical events, political awareness, behind-the-scenes insights and thought provoking events? Do you enjoy watching films that tell a story? Are you a documentary enthusiast, docuseries binge watcher or story teller? If so, you'll meet a great community of documentary film supporters at our next event in Portland. Also, you don't want to miss our Awards and Filmmaker Networking Mixer event.

Awards & Prizes

14 Award Categories For Documentary Films

Best Cinematography Award
Best Director Award
Best Documentary Film Award
Best Documentary Micro Film Award
Best Docuseries or Web Series Episode Award
Best Editing Award
Best Experimental Documentary Film Award
Best International Director Award
Best International Film Award
Best International Micro Film Award
Best Oregon Micro Film Award
Best Oregon Film Award
Best Original Music Award
Most Inspirational Film Award

Rules & Terms

All films are eligible, regardless if they have distribution or not. All films are eligible even if they have been accepted to other film festivals. All films and videos are eligible, regardless of when or where they were produced. Even if your film or docuseries is publicly available on YouTube or Vimeo, it is still eligible for submission. For exhibition purposes. all films are expected to provide a download link, so that we can compile and project them in HD 1080p. 23.976, 24, 25 or 30 frame rates are accepted and will be converted to 23.976 for projection. Please do not submit 720p or Standard Definition films to this festival.

32 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Robert Menefee

    Thank you for selecting my documentary, “The College FKA Calhoun at Yale University.” It was a great honor to be included in Oregon Documentary Film Festival with so many other very fine films.

    January 2021
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  • Magnolia LOWE

    Great festival with fantastic range of documentaries! Highly professional festival team with great communication. Thanks so much for having us, look forward to submitting again!

    November 2020
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  • Laurie King

    Despite a raging pandemic, Oregon Documentary Film Festival managed to pull off a fun, inspiring event showcasing the work of documentary filmmakers from around the world. Mikel and his team were incredibly supportive and communicated with me throughout the process. And they sent me an amazing photo of my film being projected on the side of a grain silo! If you're a documentary filmmaker, don't hesitate - submit to ODFF and get your work supported and seen!

    October 2020
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  • Jonathan Farrelly

    Unfortunately Covid restricted my appearance at the festival - so I was DEVO! But apart from that, Mikel and the gang were amazing legends - would RECOMMEND to all and sundry - thanks a mill gang! Onwards and upwards! :)

    October 2020
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  • Florie-Anne Virgile

    Unfortunately, my co-director and I couldn't attend this year's edition, where our film was selected, because of COVID. But honestly, this festival and Mikel are really awesome. Mikel gave us a lot of advice on how to showcase our film and we were really happy with all the representation our film got. Thank you guys and keep up the good work, your festival is amazing!

    October 2020
    Helpful