2027 Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival

THIS IS A FAMILY FRIENDLY FILM FESTIVAL.

All films must be made available as a download or with a download request if selected for screening.

ALL FILMS MUST BE G OR PG (KID FRIENDLY) TO BE ACCEPTED (ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS). This means no "F" words or overt adult content including violence or substance abuse.

ALL FILMS MUST BE ONE TO FIFTEEN MINUTES IN LENGTH (NO EXCEPTIONS).

FILMS MAY BE IN A HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL FORMAT.

NO MUSIC VIDEOS ALLOWED.

LIMITED A.I. IS ALLOWED (Location Settings, Scenics, VFX). ABSOLUTELY NO A.I. CHARACTERS OR PERFORMANCE ALLOWED*

*Anything containing A.I. will be scored on a different level along with category and must contain a disclaimer in the credits stating that A.I. was used in the making. Films including A.I. will not be included in the following Technical awards: Cinematography, Editing.

By entering your film for consideration, you agree that you have read, understand the accept the ratings guidelines for admissible films in this festival. Please go to https://www.metrotheatres.com/mpaa-ratings/ for ratings guidelines to ensure that your film is acceptable. Blatant disregard for the guidelines will result in immediate disqualification and no future entries from the violating party will be accepted for future festivals.

Entries will be accepted for the 2027 Festival beginning July 1 of 2026.

Early bird submission deadline ($10.00 entry) is: 5:00 pm (MST) on Friday, October 28, 2022. Regular submission deadline ($15.00 entry) is: 5:00 pm (MST) Friday, January 27, 2023. Extended deadline ($20.00) is: 5:00 pm (MST) Friday February 17, 2022.

All submissions must go through this site and must include a downloadable file or download link. Extra large files may be made available via ftp (Dropbox, etc.)

All fees must be paid before an entry will be considered for acceptance. No refunds as fees help to off-set the cost of staging the festival including prizes.

All films submitted must have a downloadable version of the file available for festival screening use. Recommended file type is either MP4 or MOV with a preference to HD (4K files are acceptable). All foreign language films should include English sub-titles for the judges and festival screening audience.

Participation in Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival is open to everyone.

No films completed prior to 2025 will be accepted.

No commercially available films will be accepted.

No refunds will be given for films that do not make the final screening list (All films are important though not all make it to the screening list).

SUBMISSION RULES and DETAILS:

Maximum Running Time: 15 minutes from opening through end credits.

Divisions: We have a “Student Division” for high school and under, an "Advanced Student Division" for under-graduate and post-graduate level work and an “Independent Division”. A cross competition will occur for “Best of Fest” and “Audience Favorite”.

We also have a special category for films that contain A.I.

Genre: All genres are permitted (horror, drama, comedy, action, suspense, etc.).

NO ATTRIBUTION OR MUSIC VIDEOS WILL BE ACCEPTED. We do not consider music videos as a genre of narrative storytelling. If you have someone singing as part of a dramatic story in a “Musical” fashion (as part of a scene), that might be acceptable. If your story is about the making of a music video and includes the music video, we will consider it to be a music video and it will not be accepted for judging or screening.

No previous Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival submissions are permitted.

Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival reserves the right not to accept offensive or obscene material.

Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival reserves the right to accept or decline any films based on the discretion of the organizers.

By submitting your film to this festival, The entrant has read, understands, accepts and agrees with each of the following provisions:
1. Entrant has read and fully understands the “Film Rules” listed above.
2. To the best of entrants knowledge, all of the following statements are true.
3. This film is not subject to litigation nor is threatened by any litigation and entrant accepts all licensing responsibility for any copyrighted material contained in the film (Entrant must own the copyright or have the necessary rights for any content that is contained in the film. This includes: video, film, pictures, graphics and music. Entrant must also have signed releases from any and all talent or persons who appear in the film).
4. Entrant is duly authorized to submit this film to the Festival and understands that the Festival holds the right to screen said film for Festival screening and promotional purposes.
5. Entrant is authorized and/or empowered by all parties to legally represent the film.
6. Entrant understands that any adult content including violence, language or other adult themes may cause the film to be eliminated from screening consideration at the “Festival” organizers discretion.
7. Entrant understands that even though the film will be juried, it may not receive a screening based on final judging scores and ranking.