San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival

The San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival returns to the Bay Area to celebrate locally-made cinematic mayhem!

Submissions are now open for our 2026 festival, which will be held at the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco on Saturday November 14 (2200 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121).

Questions or accessibility needs? Shoot ‘em over to MediaMeltdownSF@gmail.com.

HISTORY

Founded by Peaches Christ & Vinsantos in 2003 at the Bridge Theatre, partially as a showcase for their own short films that weren’t getting traction at “legitimate” festivals, the SFUSFF ran under their care for six years until 2008. After Vinsantos moved to New Orleans, Peaches and fellow film programmer Sam Sharkland wanted to see the fest continue and so revived it in 2011 at the Victoria Theatre where it ran until 2015. Now, after 10 years, the festival has found a new home at the 4 Star Theater under the care of Piranha Psychotronica and Kafka X, the maniacal minds behind Media Meltdown Movie Madhouse.

The San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival exists to celebrate local, independent filmmaking. We proudly champion the overlooked and underrated, the avant-garde and the alternative,, the outrageous, the oddball, and the outlandish. Send us your silly, your subversive, your surreal, and your strange! From bizarro B-films to midnight movie trash, we’re looking for the weirdest and wildest you have to offer, regardless of budget or experience level. In fact, the more DIY and handmade, the better!

HOSTS

Piranha Psychotronica: IG - @Piranha_Psychotronica
Piranha Psychotronica is a SF-based theater artist, filmmaker, programmer, and performer. She is best known for her theater directing work with Oasis Arts, Ray of Light Theater, and Eclectic Box, as well as for creating the series of interactive theater comedy shows "Select Thine Own Journey". Along with their partner Kafka X, Piranha hosts Media Meltdown Movie Madhouse, a monthly celebration of hidden gem cinema at the 4 Star Theater. Her short films "Evil in Residence" and "FrankenDivine" have played at festivals around the world. Follow them on Instagram at @Piranha_Psychotronica for updates on future work.

Kafka X: IG -@Kafka.drag
Kafka X (formerly Franzia Kafka) is the technical lead and other primary host of Media Meltdown. For two years, they produced multiple weekly livestreams on Media Meltdown's Twitch channel, and have served as a technical jack-of-all-trades for Media Meltdown's film work and live shows.

POSTER ART
Rae O'Reilly @raebiezvaccine