Established in 2017, Scumdance is a celebration of the best of underground film. ​We champion punks, weirdos, mutants, misfits, metalheads & maniacs from around the globe.

We specialize in horror, comedy, horror-comedy, sci-fi, avant-garde, sleazy, trashy, trash-sleaze, exploitation, punk rock, experimental, and music based films (though really, we're just looking for good, weird movies).

Please note: selection into the festival does not guarantee that your film will be screened at our live event.

Awards & Prizes

Awards Categories:
Best Short
Best Feature
Best Score/Soundtrack
Best Performance
Best Animation/stop-motion
Best Directing
Best Cinematography
Audience Favorite
Scummiest Film aka The Travis Calvert Scumdancitarian Award (for the film that truly embrace the ethos of Scumdance)

2025 Winners:
Best Short - Soliloquy Of One
Best Feature - Dead, White and Blue
Best Score/Soundtrack - Jeremy Klewicki for Skip Intro
Best Performance - The entire cast of Grandma's Pleasure Episodes 1 & 2
Best Animation/stop-motion - Egg Mama in Carbon Cowboy
Best Director - Aidan Weaver for Good Boy
Best Cinematography - Lola Jett for In The Light of A Miracle
Audience Favorite - The Porker & Roundy Show
Scummiest Film - Murder In The Park AKA No One Likes You

2024 Winners:
Best Feature - REQUIEM ESPRESSO
Best Short - An Imminent Threat
Best Music/Sound - Dallas Brown & Anja Freigang Friends With Myself
Best Performance (TIE) - Yuri Casagrande Conti REQUIEM ESPRESSO
Best Performance (TIE) - Land Smith-Abbinante Mr. Sun
Best Animated Film - Les Bêtes
Best Director - Andrew Dimitrov The Corruption
Best Cinematography - Stefan Scherperel The Connoisseur
Audience Award Feature - Albert Pyun King of Cult Movies
Audience Award Short - Les Bêtes
Scummiest Film - Mr. Feets

2023 Winners:
Best Performance: Micheline Chartier - Red Tiles
Best Cinematography: Jakob Bilinski - Real Cool Time
Best Music/Sound: Logan Felber - Annihilator
Best Animated Film: Duban Pinzon - Lete
Best Director: Dustin Shea - Untitled.mov
Best Short: Now Is Not The Time
Best Feature: INTO THE SHED
Audience Award Best Short: Annihilator
Audience Award Best Feature: Kim's Video
The Travis Calvert Scumdancitarian Award: (TIE)
Microdosing directed by Patrick Adam Peña
and
Motomarine directed by Gabriel Auclair-Doucet

Rules & Terms

Send us your most entertaining live action, stop motion, and animated movies. Any submissions that are deemed to be overtly racist, sexist, homophobic, featuring animal or child abuse, or otherwise just plain outside the bounds of bad taste will be flatly rejected.
Shorts - 30 min or less
Features - 30 min or more

Please note: selection into the festival does not guarantee that your film will be screened at our live event.

Our 2026 screening date is tentatively set for late August.

By submitting your work, you give Scumdance permission to use it and any materials you provide through FilmFreeway for festival screenings, educational use, and promotion. Scumdance is not responsible for any copyright, trademark, credit, or royalty issues related to your work. You may receive emails from Scumdance. The festival will never stream your film online without your explicit permission.
42 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thomas Vidosh

    Truly wonderful freaks running this joint. So gracious and communicative. I wish I could have attended in person to revel in the slime!

    October 2025
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  • Max Radbill

    This was my 3rd time at Scumdance, 2nd in person, and 1st time winning Best Short Film! I always love coming to San Francisco for this festival, and this year was even better than the last. The Selection was great, with truly some of the strangest, grossest, and most hilarious films I've seen in a while. George runs the festival with so much care and love and his passion shines through the entire time. Will always and forever submit my weird films to this festival and will always make the trip when I can.

    October 2025
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  • Mike Davis

    George and the crew at Scumdance are the coolest, nicest people you ever want to meet. Don't be fooled by the name- this was a warm, friendly and well organized event in a prime location where we met up with many visiting filmmakers and local fans. The Lost Church is the perfect vibe and an intimate, eclectic space to experience the types of films in their program. Thanks for hosting DEAD, WHITE AND BLUE!

    October 2025
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  • Walter Santucci

    I want to thank Scumdance for giving my film "I'd Rather Be Turned Into Cat Food" an honorable mention. It's a feature film and there wasn't room in the schedule for it but they were kind and gracious enough to give it recognition anyway. Much appreciated! World class move by a world class event!

    September 2025
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  • Justin Wilson

    This is a great festival run by people who truly love the medium. They support lots of artists working at the edges of the art form and I will defiantly submit to them again.

    May 2025
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