Sunflowers are hyperaccumulators, plants that have adapted to thrive in environments with high concentrations of toxic materials.

Movies are empathy-building machines. They put the marginalized and the powerless at the center of our consciousness in a way that few other things can. As manifestations of the audacious human reach for community, acceptance, and knowledge, they can make the silent loud and the invisible indelible. In collaboration with the India Love Sunflower Foundation, the Sunflower Film Festival honors the life of India Summer Deibler-Love, who struggled silently with trauma until it was too painful to hold anymore.

We all deal with grief and mental challenges differently. Some of us like drama, some like to sing, some like to laugh our feelings out. However you deal with yours, we are a safe space to exhibit and share.

Ralph Rivera - Ralph has spearheaded events and operations for renowned organizations, including the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT, as well as the Slamdance Film Festival and LA Film Fest in Los Angeles, CA. His extensive career includes roles at Film Independent, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and The Walt Disney Company.

America Young - America Young is working in Film, TV and Video Games, as a Director. She has directed 17 episodes of Network TV and Premium Streaming TV, two features and Video Game Cinematics to name a few. She is one of the founders of the Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood and The Catalina Film Festival on Catalina Island.

Jacob Luckey - Jacob manages bookings for The Lucky Wolf and has an extensive history in the music industry.

Jason Deibler-Love - Founder of India Love Sunflower Foundation and the Sunflower Film Festival, Jason has worked as a producer, musician, artist, entrepreneur, and many other positions within the hospitality and film & music industries.

Awards & Prizes

Best Feature & Best Short - Jury Award

Rules & Terms

All films must have a completion date NO GREATER than 2 years before the first day of this film festival Once already exhibited and/or tracked online, re-edits and/or changes of title do not count as a new completion date for your project.

LENGTH:
These running times must be inclusive of all titles and credits:

Short Films: 1-25 minutes (Under 25 minutes preferred for programming needs)
Feature Films: 50-180 minutes

Short Films Length (& Festival Programming Pains Explained):

The Sunflower Film Festival believes "short" films should be... SHORT (25 minutes and under are preferred). We believe this is a reasonable industry standard for any film festival's programming needs when programming 120 minute programming blocks (90 minute film program, filmmakers' Q and A, venue load-in/ load-out). Longer short films will be considered, and have been accepted in the past, but we believe they push the envelope of what is considered an industry featurette, they take up a greater portion of the film block; keeping our Programming Team from highlighting 2-5 more great short films (usually 5-20 minutes long) that would need to be rejected to accept longer films. Please know your chances of getting in are exponentially greater the shorter your "short" film is in length.

FEATURE FILMS:

US, Midwestern, and Michigan Premieres are preferred, but not required. We won't hold your film hostage to force you to premiere with us while losing other opportunities on the festival circuit.

You are still eligible if you have a festival distribution deal or release after our dates, but no film project with at-large theatrical distribution and/or release dates before or during the festival's programmed dates will be eligible for submission, acceptance and/or exhibition at or during the event. This rule applies to allcategories, including at-large free public viewing (IE: Amazon, Netflix, Youtube, Vimeo, etc...) or at-large paid release dates (theatrical, DVD/Blu-Ray, VOD, etc..), including, but not limited to, advertised pre-sales for your films DVD, Blu-Ray or VOD (As a non-profit company, we can not help you promote for-profit sales to your film as selectee to our festival).

AGREEMENT:

You, as the submitter, have read and agree to the festival submission and participation guidelines and certify that you are authorized to submit this work to the India Love Sunflower Foundation and its subsidiaries. Any copyrighted materials included in the work have been legally cleared for use, and ILSF is not responsible for any copyright infringement resulting from public screenings. By submitting, you agree to indemnify the India Love Sunflower Foundation and all its subsidiaries, AKA’s, employee’s, directors, assigns, staff and volunteers from any wrongdoing involving the exhibition of your project. ISLF will NOT take responsibility for any infringement of copy written materials and reserves the right to reject your project if found it doesn't have clearance.

You, as submitter, hereby grant and assign to ILSF and its successors and licensees the right to copy the entry in its entirety to facilitate technical operations of the festival, in and through any and all media formats now known or hereafter devised. All submissions will be retained by the Sunflower Film Festival for pre-selection, film festival archives and — following written permission from the rights holder — event exhibition or a possible private exhibition with the Sunflower Film Festival and/or Sunflower Film Festival.
You, as submitter, acknowledge and agree that all matters not covered by these regulations, and questions arising from them, will be decided by Festival organizers or programmers at their sole discretion.

By submitting your work, you agree that:
- parts of your film (including trailer/teaser/film poster/stills) may be used for promotional purposes.
- Entry fees are non-refundable.
- Foreign language films must include English subtitles.
- You agree to receive promotional communication from us and our festival partners.
- If applicable, votes and decisions of the jury members are indisputable and final.