The Smith Sound Film Festival was formed in 2017. We're located in Clarenville, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. We're a very small festival which operates in the George's Brook-Milton Community Cultural House our neighboring community. We're also situated on the East Coast of Newfoundland one of our prime tourist destinations in summer taking in historic Trinity and Bonavista visitation points. If you are into winter sports, our communities have some nice trails for the outdoor adventurer. In summer, kayaking is a must along the shores of Random and Smith Sounds.

Our festival's theme since its inception is works rarely seen in recent years or new and upcoming films outside of mainstream festivals. Our main genres include drama, comedy, documentary and the experimental filmmaking craft. This year we are accepting works by Canadian filmmakers with given themes of isolation and world change and human kindness.

Our festival is planned for Friday September 16th of this year. Last year's was a great success and we hope to see some of our returning filmmakers this year.

Awards & Prizes

We're an audience driven film festival awarding prizes based on the highest number of votes. The Smith Sound Silver Spike Award is the top honours. This year we are also introducing the Martin Bourne Award for the film that best captures the spirit of innovation and cinema-verite representing people in day to day life activities. Martin Bourne was a local Clarenville filmmaker who lived here in the 1950s.

Rules & Terms

1. I agree to allow my film to be shown in public at the Smith Sound Film Festival (SSFF) on Friday, September 16th, 2022.
2. Films must be 15 minutes or less and made after 2018.
3. I understand there is no monetary value associated with the festival. Only prizes awarded under the Audience Best Choice and the Martin Bourne Award shall be granted to the winning filmmakers.
4. By submitting to SSFF, the submitter consents that he or she has permission from all other participants such as the producer, director, writers, actors and any other artistic contributor including music rights to have the film submitted to SSFF for consideration into the festival’s programming this year.
5. If the submitted film is selected for programming, the submitter agrees to the above terms that he or she is the holder of the rights to the film work and all parties involved in its creation agree to have the film screened in public.
6. We may provide stills from your film, if programmed, for future promotion of on our website and/or on social media platforms.
7. Non-English language films must be subtitled in English for consideration into the festival.
8. Official Selections for screening will be notified via email
9. If your film is on 16mm print, we do require a digital screener copy submitted of course on FilmFreeway.
10. If you attend our festival, please enjoy our refreshments while watching some fine films. Stay Safe. That's the rules!

5 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
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Networking
  • Carol Mullins

    Outstanding festival! A great festival to look at some wonderful work both local and international. Highly recommend.

    September 2021
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  • Aidan Lesser

    Fantastic local festival.

    Unfortunately I could not attend but my parents went in my place. We're from Ontario and yet everyone was more than welcoming to my family. My parents felt seen and welcome and that's all one can ask for. The screenings were all high quality films with great artists behind them.

    September 2021
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  • KERRY GAMBERG

    Great small town festival, well organized and a really eclectic and high quality program. Can't wait until next year!

    August 2019
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  • Jake Delaney

    Smith Sound screened my short film "Dead Meat".

    This is a wonderful short film festival that really highlights some of the hidden gems not only in Newfoundland, but across Canada.

    The festival organizer, Stephen Bonnell, puts in a great amount of time to see it all happen and actively works with independent filmmakers like myself to have your film shown.

    Overall a great experience and fun festival.

    Looking forward to submitting and attending next year.

    August 2019
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  • Michelle Muldoon

    Smith Sound Film Festival was such a pleasure to be a part of. While I couldn't attend, the efforts of the festival director to stay in contact, keep me updated, and connected to the festival through email was outstanding. I felt like I was getting to know the community through him.
    I strongly recommend this festival.

    August 2019
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