FILM ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
• Films must have a completion date of Jan 1, 2022 or later.
• Acceptable NTSC exhibition formats are: DVD, Blue ray
• All non-English language films must have legible English language subtitles.
• All entries submitted must be suitable for children ages 18 and under.
• Films accepted into the festival must arrive with shipping and customs duties or taxes pre-paid.
• You may submit a completed paper submission form.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
Entries received late or incomplete may be disqualified.
• The action of the film should be child & family -driven and the stories should be culturally authentic, timely, and of universal appeal.
• Films submitted to SDIKFF should be made for, rather than about, children and family.
• Film content should be creative, highly original, and demonstrate artistic and technical mastery.
• Content should speak positively to children of diverse backgrounds and cultures and should provide strong role models for both boys and girls.
Criteria for non-acceptance of films into the festival include:
• Excessive or gratuitous violence, nudity, or profanity.
• Content that advocates and supports racial, cultural, religious, or gender bias.
• Any submission not subtitled or dubbed into the English language.
Entrants are responsible for obtaining any necessary licenses, royalties, release forms, clearances, and permits necessary to present their work. San Diego International Kids' Film Festival is not responsible for any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, or royalty infringement related to the work.
Every precaution will be taken to safeguard all materials sent to the Festival, but the Festival is not responsible for damage to submitted materials incurred by shipping to or from the Festival.
Submission Package:
• Signed and completed Entry Form (one entry form per film or episode)
.3 preview copies DVD(NTSC only),
• A minimum of one (1) still from the film (color preferred, B&W accepted). Digital stills and press kits are preferred. Stills must be 300 dpi and at least 4"x 5" in size and contain an actual shot from the film.
• You may email stills to info@sdkidsfilms.org
• Payment
Stated submitter will be considered the contact person for the film and thus will be the only one receiving emails and information regarding the status of the film's acceptance in the festival.
COMPETITION:
San Diego International Kids' Film Festival is a competitive Film Festival. Films accepted are automatically eligible for the applicable competition category. There are three age groups: Children ( age 6-14); Youth ( age 15-18); Adult: age 18+ ; under each age group, there are categories in Live auction ( feature and short); Animation ( feature and short); Mix-media ( feature and short); Documentary ( feature and short). In addition to all official selections being eligible for Jury, Audience and Festival Honors awards, a jury comprised of filmmakers ( both young and adult) and industry representatives will screen all competition finalists, deliberate and announce the results at the end of the Festival.
NOTIFICATION OF ENTRY STATUS:
Filmmakers will be notified on or before Early-August, 2025 as to whether or not their film has been officially selected. Upon acceptance you will receive an email verifying your acceptance. Be sure to have info@sdkidsfilms.org on your accepted email list.
SCREENPLAY ENTRY GUIDELINES:
1. Submissions must be the original work of the applicant. Entries may be adapted from the applicant's own work
2. All screenplay entries must include a completed entry form, the correct entry fee; the screenplay in in one of the following formats: .PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word, or Text. (Your name should NOT appear anywhere on the screenplay as it is mandatory that adjudication is conducted without knowledge of the writer's name or identity); a character description and a 50-word synopsis that in PDF/Doc/text. Incomplete forms may cause delays.
3. Screenplays that are currently optioned or sold are not eligible for competition. Judges who work for the SDKIFF are not eligible to enter the competition, nor are their affiliates or immediate family members.
4. Feature length screenplays must be no longer than 120 pages and short screenplays should be no more than 45 pages. All screenplay entries must be written in English. Any revisions after the entry has been entered are not accepted. Screenplays must be in 12 pt courier font, no promotional materials or illustrations are accepted, pages must be numbered,
5. It is the responsibility of the screenwriter to ensure that their work is protected (US Copyright Office, The Writers Guild of America or Screenwriters Federation of America). International entries should protect their work with similar organizations within their respective country.
6. Entries will not be returned. Be sure to retain a copy of all material submitted.
SDIKFF Film Songwriting Contest
SDIKFF is proud to launch the 6th edition of SDIKFF Film Songwriting Contest through the platform of 2026 San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival. A song can fit in a film so perfectly that it's hard to imagine the scene without it. To continue to promote diverse cultures and kids’ education through motion pictures, we are now offering a great opportunity for talented songwriters to be heard!
The SDIKFF Film Songwriting Contest will embrace KIDS-THEMED films songs in all languages and all genres. This contest is open to songwriters of all ages from any cultural background. Submit your music work for kids’ films and we will make sure your song to be heard!
All official selections will be granted a Filmmaker Badge for the songwriters to attend all the events during the film festival on August 21-23, 2026
A selection of the finalists will be invited by the film festival to do a live performance either on the Opening Night (August 22, 2025) or on the Award Ceremony (August 24,2024).
Sound quality can be studio, live, or demos. Choose the quality to best convey your music message.
Format: .mp3 file is preferred. We also accept .wav, flac and aac. When you choose another format than mp3, please also attach the mp3 file for easiest sharing. PLEASE do not submit music videos!
Each entry must have a song title, and the name of artist(s) or band attached.
An attached song cover or artwork is highly recommended for us to promote your song.
Each song entry must be no longer than 5 minutes.
SDIKFF Audio book CONTEST
The contest embraces Children and Family-THEMED audio books in all languages and all genres. This contest is open to authors, narrators and publishers in worldwide.
1. Audio quality can be a studio, live, or demos. Choose the quality to best convey your audio message.
2 Format: .mp3 file is preferred. We also accept .wav, flac and aac. When you choose another format than mp3, please also attach the mp3 file for the easiest sharing. PLEASE do not submit music videos!
3 Each entry must have a title, and the name of the authors, narrators, etc
4 An attached book cover or artwork is highly recommended for us to promote your audio book.
5 Each entry must be a sample of the audio book, 5 minutes-20 minutes length.
SDIKFF-Virtual Art Contests
Visual art is an important part of film creation and the core driver of a film's visual presentation. Visual Art Unit Contest aims to discover more outstanding talents in visual creativity to film art. These behind-the-scenes workers in film-related visual design have shaped the visual art sensory language of the film through script storyboards, concept settings, film colors, poster designs, character and scene construction, and sowed the seeds for the next generation of artistic innovation.
The visual Art unit contest is divided into two groups: student and professional. The content setting revolves around the multi-dimensional visual creation of film art, including the following sections:
1. Poster design (dynamic ( MP4, Gif, Mov; suggestion 1080x1920 (9:16) or 1920x1080 (16:9 )) and static posters (.JPG, PDF, PNG)
2. Original illustrations and Graphic Novel ( PDF)
3. Stop-motion animation (less than 5 minutes) (MP4)
4. Spin offs product visual design ( PDF)
5. Children Drama Stage art concept design (PDF)
6. Children's Film Festival visual art installation design (including new media forms) (JPG, PDF, PNG)
7. AIGC (AI-Generated Content) generative art (screenplay, film/animation character design, digital human design, audio, and video)
All authors must ensure that their works are independently created and original, and must not plagiarize or steal other people's works, and must not have other commercial copyrights. The San Diego International Film Festival has the right to exhibit, publish (including electronic publishing), and promote the selected works. The work’s copyright belongs to the submitters. The event organizer have nothing to do with copyright-related disputes, and all legal responsibilities are borne by the participants themselves
