The SPE (Society for Photographic Education) Media Festival (originally the SPE Women's Film Festival) has featured innovative and provocative short documentaries, animation, fiction, video art, and new media projects by, for and about women, POC, and members of the LGBTQIA community since 1995. Recently, new categories have been added to create a more expansive and dynamic program.

The 2026 Media Fest will be held March 19 - 21, 2026 at the Courtland Grand Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia during the annual Society for Photographic Education Conference.

Categories include:
Women: works 30 minutes or under by, for, or about women.
Multi-Cultural: works 30 minutes or under on cultural issues by, for, or about people of diverse cultural backgrounds.
Pride: works 30 minutes or under by, for or about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people.
Documentary: non-fiction works 30 minutes or under that cover a wide range of topics including social issues, nature, environment, history, science, culture, and more.
Narrative: works 30 minutes or under that tell stories in a wide range of genres, including drama, comedy, action, science fiction, romance, horror, and more.
Animation: works 30 minutes or under that encompass a wide variety of techniques, including traditional hand-drawn animation, stop-motion animation, computer-generated imagery, 3D animation, and more.
Experimental: works 30 minutes or under that explore unconventional, innovative, or abstract techniques that push the boundaries of form, structure, and aesthetics.
Short Shorts: works that are 5 minutes or under.
SPE members: works 30 minutes or under by current SPE members.

Awards & Prizes

Laurels for Best Women Film
Laurels for Best Multi-Cultural Film
Laurels for Best Pride Film
Laurels for Best Documentary Film
Laurels for Best Narrative Film
Laurels for Best Animation Film
Laurels for Best Experimental Film
Laurels for Best Short Short Film
Laurels for Best SPE member film

Rules & Terms

Films, video art, animation, and new media projects must be 30 minutes or under. Projects submitted to the Short Shorts category must be 5 minutes or under. Projects overtime will be automatically disqualified.

Entries must include the following information:
Web link to the full video – If password protected, include password.
Contact information (name, address, email and telephone number, website optional)
Distributor information if different than filmmaker
Short film synopsis (no more than 50 words)
Short director’s bio (no more than 50 words)
Year of completion
Exact running time down to the second (do not count color bars, black, etc.)

SPE membership is not required to enter the festival. Entry fee for submissions received by 11:59 PM, September 30, 2025 is free for SPE members. SPE members must check off that they are members and enter the member's waiver code sent by SPE to members at checkout to receive the SPE early-bird free entry.

Films can only be entered in one category. Filmmakers can enter multiple films, but each film can only be entered in one category.
Festival organizers reserve the right to move entries to a different category.
Films entered in previous years are not eligible.
All entries must be submitted through FilmFreeway
All rights must be cleared.

We do not pay screening fees.

Accepted films will be screened March 19 - 21, 2026 at the Courtland Grand Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia during the annual SPE conference.
Accepted filmmakers will be notified by December 19, 2025.
Accepted filmmakers must provide a Quicktime H.264 file at the original dimensions, up to 1920px x 1080px, by Jan. 16, 2026.

18 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Art Vision

    It was a great honor for us to have several films from our collection Selected in your festival, and we are especially delighted that one of our films (Rose) received an award.
    We truly appreciate being part of such a remarkable and inspiring festival.
    We hope to have the opportunity to participate again in the coming years with our future projects.

    April 2026
    Helpful
  • David Helfer Wells

    Great communication and attention! I couldn't attend so I can't speak to Hospitality/Networking.

    March 2026
    Helpful
  • Kristal Sotomayor

    Great festival! Wasn’t able to attend but I’m very thankful to have won an award.

    September 2025
    Helpful
  • Luiza Printes

    I have been a fan of SPE for a long time, and it was truly an honor to have my experimental video art "Digital Moments, Liquid Experiences" selected for their 2025 conference. The communication from the selection to the event was always on time, and it truly gave me a rewarding feeling to know my work has been reviewed and carefully considered by amazing educators in the field of photography and visual media. Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity!

    June 2025
    Helpful
  • Mara Trachtenberg

    It was a wonderful opportunity to share my work with this community and there were some wonderful films by talented story tellers. However, it felt as if the festival was a filler event-running through the conference during all of the other goings on with people dropping in and out of the room where the films were screened. I wish there was an opportunity to discuss the work or network with any of the other film makers.

    March 2024
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    The festival is part of a larger conference, but we are working on ways to make it more rewarding for filmmakers. The upside is that SPE, the Society for Photogrpahic Education is the main academic organization for Lens-based arts and draws roughly 1500 professors and teachers, who all receive the film festival program and access to the festival screenings. While most don'y watch the entire festival, the two-day schedule allows participants to catch films throughout the day.