Sonoma County students are invited to submit short films for the 18th Annual Sonoma County Student Film Festival to be held on Friday, April 3, 2026 at the Carole L. Ellis Auditorium on the Petaluma Campus of Santa Rosa Junior College.

The festival's CALL FOR ENTRIES will remain open until midnight on Monday, March 2, 2026!

For more information:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad03KMBsSHA&t=1s&ab_channel=SRJC-TV

Awards & Prizes

Filmmakers invited to screen at the Sonoma County Student Film Festival will receive passes to attend Film Fest Petaluma, Sonoma County’s Premier International Shorts Festival, held Saturday, May 2, 2026 at the Mystic Theatre in downtown Petaluma. Films designated as “Best of Show” will be invited to screen as part of the festival program where student filmmakers will have the opportunity to network and engage with industry professionals from around the world.

Rules & Terms

- Entrants must be currently or previously enrolled as a full-time or part-time student in a school located in Sonoma County, California USA during the 2025-26 academic year, or a significant crew member must have been enrolled in a Sonoma County School at the time the film was made.
- The festival welcomes work in animation, live action, documentary, music video, and experimental forms.
-Students with prior enrollment must have made the film while they were at a Sonoma County school to qualify.
- Films must have been produced within the last two years.
- Films must not exceed 15 minutes in length.
- Foreign language films must be subtitled in English.
- Submitted films must be headed and followed by an appropriate amount of black screen (at least 5 seconds).
- Filmmakers may submit a maximum of two film entries.
- Each film entry must include a completed entry form, film synopsis, cast/crew list and 1-3 digital stills to be considered.
- Films must be submitted via FilmFreeway.
- Filmmakers must be able to attend the Q & A on Friday, April 3rd.

3 Reviews
Overall Rating
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Value
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Hospitality
Networking
  • Damian Wood

    Great festival! A lot of the films were nice, and as a filmmaker they treated me great! Amazing reception, great place to meet new people and eat some great snacks. You can tell they care about the filmmakers. Very nicely set up festival.

    April 2025
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  • Heather Murray

    The 2020 festival took place weeks into the shelter-in-place due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and the organizers decided to shift to a virtual festival. They did an amazing job and navigated the technology and logistics with incredible grace and patience. Family and friends from far and wide could attend because it was online. It was a welcome breath of fresh air, making shelter-in-place a lot easier. I am so grateful to the student and faculty organizers, and it was wonderful to hear the stories of all of the filmmakers. This year a film I directed was in the festival, but I attended an in-person version previously just as a guest, and it was well-organized and fun. Highly recommended for student filmmakers!

    April 2020
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  • Neo Wagner

    I had a great time coming back! would highly recommend this festival.

    May 2019
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