Welcome to the "Slamdance of the South!"

The South Carolina Underground Film Festival, an IMDb qualifying festival, is a truly inclusive film festival celebrating all genres of independent film. Taking place in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, SCUFF is seeking films from all over the globe to program for our next festival. The SCUFF will be three packed days of indie films where fans and filmmakers can meet and mingle and celebrate obscure and independent film.

Our special guests such as filmmaker Mark Borchardt (American Movie) have come to SCUFF and shared inspiring stories with our attendees.

Besides promoting and showcasing the best in independent cinema from all around the globe, the SCUFF also promotes local filmmaking in SC. We will shine a special spotlight on SC produced films and filmmakers. Filmmakers will have an opportunity to have their works screened for a captive audience while competing for awards in many categories.

From the novice to the professional, from the student to the experimental filmmaker, from obscure to the mainstream, SCUFF is seeking all type of films that may not be able to play at other film festivals.

Drama, comedy, horror, sci-fi, action, animation, music videos, documentary, LGBT, and so on. If you can create it, we want to see it. The more obscure the better! If it’s not obscure...great. We like all types of films!

Do you have to ask yourself if your film is too much for our festival? If so then we definitely want to see it! Does your film push social boundaries? Would other festivals laugh at you thinking you had a chance to get into their festival? Then we want your movie!

Q&A’s will follow screenings with visiting filmmakers to give you a chance to connect with our audience. The festival will end on the third night with a big awards ceremony as we give out SCUFF awards! Follow us on Facebook and we continue to make announcements until the festival arrives! Good luck and we can’t wait to see what you made!

SCUFF wants to promote and nurture independent films and filmmakers. We want to expose to the world a whole new segment of cinema that they would never see anywhere else. We hope this will bring out lots of people to all the screenings and create a fun and festive environment for not only the attendees but also visiting filmmakers.

SCUFFY is our mascot, a miner always digging for new films and screenplays. SCUFFY Awards will be given out in many categories. Our SCUFFY awards were designed and sculpted by special effects artist Tony Rosen who is most famous for creating the Annabelle doll used in the films "The Conjuring" and "Annabelle".

Official Sponsor Final Draft scriptwriting software will present software to the winners of the best un-produced screenplay categories.

Winners will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you'll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film.

Trophies and awards will be given for:

Jury Award
Best Feature film
Best Short film
Best Documentary
Best Un-produced Screenplay (short and feature)
Best Produced Screenplay (short and feature)
Best SC Film
Best SC Filmmaker
Best Foreign Film
Audience Choice Award
Honorable Mention Awards

Filmmakers who have a short film chosen as an official selection will be given 2 free VIP pass to the fest!

We are an IMDB accredited event.

All filmmakers who have films chosen as official selections will get two (2) free 3-day VIP passes to the festival. Additional passes can be purchased if needed. Filmmakers who have film chosen as an official selection must provide a HD digital download for exhibition by October 25th. If not received by then, then your film will be removed from the screening schedule.

The 2024 festival is for films produced January 2021 or after.

If the film is not in English, then it must have English subtitles

​All submissions are screened and evaluated by the SCUFF Preview and Selection Jury, appointed by the festival steering committee. Judges decisions are Final.

The submission of a film to the SCUFF will be considered to be an acknowledgement of the festival rules.

​SCUFF will determine the date and time when submissions will be shown and while every effort will be made to follow screening times as printed in the festival program, SCUFF cannot be held accountable for changes to the schedule after the festival line-up is announced.

The Festival will not be responsible for the cost of receiving any additional materials i.e. DVDs, posters, photos, etc.

SCUFF reserves the right to refuse to screen any submission deemed by the festival to be overly offensive, violent or racist.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • We are extremely grateful to have our project BRUTUS at SCUFF, and we're equally as grateful to have taken home Best Animation!!

    SCUFF is a super fun festival. Everything happened at a locally owned and operated movie theater which made it feel like we were just taking a typical day to go see some movies with friends... Except they were OUR movies! Staff was super warm, Tommy and Tracey were both very attentive and sweet and I felt very at home with both of them.

    As far as networking goes, SCUFF does an amazing job of bringing in people from all around the world-- not just South Carolina. That being said, we did meet a lot of local filmmakers and actors and felt very included in the local film scene, even if it was just for a weekend.

    The only thing I had a gripe with (and it's such a small small small thing) is that there wasn't an area for filmmakers to talk and network. Usually, we just stood in the hallway between theaters. But like I said earlier, the festival was held at a locally owned and operated movie theater which was still showing movies when we were there. It would have been nice to have a few tables or a little corner where we could rendezvous with people we wanted to follow up with.

    With all that said, I highly recommend the South Carolina Underground Film Festival and I would encourage anyone who's considering it to apply. Hollywood-level films with Southern hospitality and a great atmosphere!

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your kind words! So glad you could attend and congrats on Brutus! Hope to see you back soon!

  • RFR Talent Management

    Fantastic festival. With the size of the festival the ability to network with local filmmakers was much easier than a huge festival. Great lineup of quality films! Well done! Bravo!

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you! Hope to see you back!

  • Natsuki Umeda

    It's a great film festival. I was disappointed that I couldn't participate.

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you! Hopefully you will be able to attend soon!

  • Anders Elsrud Hultgreen

    I had a great pleasure of be selected to this year South Carolina Underground Film Festival.
    Unfortunately I was not able to go there in person. I wish I could go.
    The dialogue with the festival was great and the festival did a great promotion of my film.

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Congrats on your film and thank you for your review!

  • Loved meeting these folks and attending this festival.

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    We loved meeting you as well!