The Sawdust City Fright Fest is dedicated to building on our love of horror and our years of experience in and around the genre. We want to create a festival and environment that would primarily benefit independent filmmakers, with emphasis on, but not limited to, Wisconsin Independent Horror Filmmakers, and the theater(s) which support and screen their films. Our first event, in 2021, was a curated 1 day festival at the historic Time Community Theater in Oshkosh, WI. Working closely with the Time Community Theater, we hope to create a safe, horror-loving community for everyone.

At this time we are not doing awards or prizes.

All submissions must be Horror. As the Horror genre is quite broad and touches on so many other genres, there is a lot of leeway. All non-horror submissions will be disqualified. Wisconsin based or connected films are preferred, but non-Wisconsin films are welcome. Please do let us know your films Wisconsin connection if you are submitting as a Wisconsin film. All films submitted as a Wisconsin based or connected film without confirmation of connection will be disqualified.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Savanna Wrobel

    Thanks for showing my film Lurker!

    November 2024
  • Chad Ferrin

    Excellent fest, venue and people...highly recommend!!!

    October 2024
  • I was, unfortunately, out of town and could not attend. Very disappointing when a festival is in your home state! But I heard nothing but great things. The organizers were very good at communicating, and I hope to attend with another horror short in the future.

    October 2024
  • David Butterfield

    I want to thank them for accepting our film Dream Loop into the festival. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but it sure looks like a fun festival.

    October 2023
  • I was honored to participate in this year's Sawdust City Fright Fest with "Mirrorty" short film! - πŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒπŸ™πŸ™πŸ™πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

    October 2023