The Seattle Indie Film Festival stands as a distinguished festival that celebrates the finest independent films spanning the globe. Each season, we honor exceptional filmmakers, writers, and producers, extending them an exclusive invitation to our live competition set against the backdrop of Seattle, USA. Our platform embraces a diverse array of genres, ranging from captivating non-fiction pieces to imaginative fictional works.

Beyond the recognition we bestow upon the victors, our commitment extends to forging valuable connections for filmmakers within our extensive network of industry professionals. By facilitating meaningful interactions between filmmakers and our comprehensive database of agents, distributors, and other key figures, we aim to amplify opportunities for growth and collaboration. Notably, our festival maintains a global perspective, actively seeking out cinematic gems not only from the Western hemisphere, but also from the rich tapestries of Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia.

(Increase your chances of selection by submitting to multiple categories.)

Awards & Prizes

Categories :

Best Short
Best Feature
Best Documentary
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Unproduced Script
Best Script
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Student
Best Experimental
Best Horror
Best Comedy
Best Women Emancipation Project

Rules & Terms

Terms & Rules
All films in all genres will be considered. We consider a short short to be under 5 minutes. Filmmakers certify they have the rights to music used in their films. Please upload a digital screener to FilmFreeway

Requirements
For Short Films, the films need to be 50 minutes or less. We prefer most films sit on the shorter end of that spectrum—the average film we feature is 10 minutes. The longer your film (over 15 minutes), the tougher judges we tend to be.

For Feature Films, the films need to be at least 50 minutes.

*Premier Status *
No premiere status is required. So, don’t wait to submit your film.

Rights:
We require films to have all necessary rights and releases secured for us to feature them. Yes, this includes music.

Free to View:
We only select films that are free for audiences.

*What We Look For
We look for great stories that brave new territory. We value great characters, interesting new worlds, and stories that surprise us over fancy visual effects, famous actors, or silly one-liners that often feed much of online videos. The best way to understand what we look for is to watch the short films in our collection. You can get a good sense of our taste by looking at what we have curated in the past.

What We Avoid
We have no hard and fast rules. Every film is different and there are always exceptions. In general, though, the following tend to not be a good fit for us

Refund Policy
Unfortunately we cannot refund a submission fee once you’ve submitted your film. Please make absolutely sure you want to submit your film before doing so. As with other festivals, your fee is paid for your film to be considered. By no means does submitting your film guarantee that your film will be accepted for Short of the Week. If your film is not accepted, your submission fee is not refunded. We receive thousands of submissions every year and only about 4% are selected