The 19th annual student & alumni film competition of Southern Oregon University.

Jury prizes for student and alumni short films and scripts will be awarded in multiple categories and an audience-choice award will be voted on at the end of the exhibition.

SOU STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL RULES (PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING)

1) All submissions are due by 11:59pm (Pacific) on May 9th, 2024. No late submissions will be accepted.

2) All film submissions must have been directed or written by a student while enrolled at least part-time at Southern Oregon University between Spring 2023 and Spring 2024 (or by a high school or community college student who has applied to or plans on applying to SOU's Digital Cinema Major). Film submitted after a student has graduated will be placed in the Alumni category, out of competition. Official selections from past SOUSFF seasons will not be considered.

3) No film submission may exceed 15 minutes total running time including credits (5 minutes for Future Raider category). No script submission may exceed 15 pages total (5 pages for Future Raider category) not including title page.

4) All submissions must be uploaded to FilmFreeway and authorized for downloading. When exporting your work for FilmFreeway, follow all the instructions at this link to ensure the best quality online screener:

https://help.vimeo.com/hc/en-us/articles/224968708-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC-7-2-1-

Final exhibition copies should be configured for high-res downloads and meet the following specs: Video Frame Size of 1998 x 1080 (may have black bars — that's normal); Video Frame Rate of 24 fps (not 23.976); Apple ProRes (preferred) or H.264 Video Codec and .MOV container; Audio Sample Rate of 48.00 kHz; 24-bit Audio Bit Depth; Stereo (L + R) Audio Channels. The organizers are not responsible for the quality of films not submitted in this format for screening.

5) Accepted films will be notified by May 21st, 2024.

6) All submissions must adhere to copyright and fair use laws. By submitting your film, you claim the right to distribute the work in question, grant free license to the SOU Student Film Festival to exhibit the work in question, and take full responsibility for any claims stemming from copyright infringement related to said work.

7) By submitting your project, you authorize the university to exhibit your work in-full at live screening events, on television, on streaming platforms, and on our social media channels, and grant permission to have selected clips from your work be used in promotional reels for the festival or university programs with the director credited. By submitting your film and/or screenplay, you also grant permission to SOU to submit your work to additional film festivals on your behalf, including but not limited to the Ashland Independent Film Festival, the Klamath Independent Film Festival, and SOPBS student showcases.

8) If selected, only directors or lead writers are guaranteed recognition in the festival's printed and online program and publicity materials. Other collaborators will be recognized at the discretion of the festival's marketing team.

9) If you request programmer feedback on your film and screenplay, that feedback will be provided at the end of the Spring term.

10) Students may resubmit a film that was previously rejected if significant changes have been made.

11) The SOU Student Film Festival is produced by the SOU Film Club and programmed as a project of DCIN 444 Film Festival Programming & Promotion under the faculty supervision of Digital Cinema Program Coordinator Chris Lucas. Students are not permitted to judge their own projects or projects they served in a key creative role. Faculty work to ensure programming decisions are based on submission quality and program fit, not student popularity. The programming team has the authority to accept or reject any qualifying submission based on their own subjective judging criteria, and any disputes arising from programming decisions will be resolved by the faculty supervisor.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Film submissions will be rated on the following criteria:

1) Story / Concept
2) Originality & Creativity
3) Cinematography
4) Sound
5) Editing
6) Casting & Performance (not considered for documentaries or experimental films)
7) Genre Achievement
8) Overall Quality of Production Values

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Isenhart Productions

    It's a great festival, I definitely recommend.

    June 2023