Tag! Queer Shorts Festival

OVERVIEW:

Films submitted to Tag! will be considered for the spring 2027 festival, a two-day live event hosted at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland.

Tag! may also consider films submitted to us for inclusion in special events. Filmmakers whose work we hope to use in events outside the festival dates will be contacted in advance by festival organizers with more information about what participation entails and what compensation will be offered.

CONTENT:

Tag! reviews films of all genres and themes provided that they were made by queer or trans filmmakers.We favor work that is directed and produced by people whose perspective on the topic they are exploring is informed by their own life experience.

Tag! CAN once again screen films with explicit, non-simulated sex. HUMP rules apply; consensual sex only with no minors, no animals, no scat. Be aware that films in this category will be placed in a separate block requiring ID checks upon entry.

Tag! welcomes work created through traditional digital videography, analog processes, hand-drawn animation, stop-motion/claymation, and 2D/3D motion graphics techniques. Films created with Generative AI are not permitted.

We appreciate the support and creativity of our filmmaker allies who do not identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ ... and respectfully ask that you not submit to Tag!

SUBMISSION RULES:

Submissions will be accepted online only via FilmFreeway and we require projects to include embedded or linked versions of the films. We cannot evaluate physical media.

Please submit only competed work; rough cuts will not be evaluated.

Work that is available for public online viewing (without password protection) or that is in commercial distribution is not eligible for submission, but may be considered for an invited screening; contact festival organizers for details.

Tag! is committed to accessibility for audiences who need text support to enjoy our films, therefore we require ALL films to provide subtitles or closed captions in their original language and in English *at the time of submission*.

With adequate time we may be able to help arrange the production of captions for a modest fee. Contact info@tagqsf.org for more information.

WAIVERS AND DISCOUNTS:

In order to support filmmakers who do not have the resources to pay submission fees, we provide a limited number of fee waivers. Please contact the festival at info@tagqsf.org to request fee waivers.

Filmmakers from the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia) may be eligible for discounted fees. Contact the festival at info@tagqsf.org if you wish to request a fee discount.

SELECTED FILMS:

By submitting your film, you are granting non-exclusive permission for us to exhibit it in one or more festival programs.

Exhibition copies of films accepted for our special online events much be made available by electronic transfer within 14 days of notification. Films accepted for live screenings must arrive at the festival by two weeks before the exhibition date using Google Drive or similar cloud storage/file transfer service. We can accept physical media such as USB drives if necessary. In either case, any costs involved in getting films to the festival are the filmmakers' responsibility.

Our venue uses a DCP projection system for live screenings, so we strongly prefer that your final exhibition copy be provided in that format. Your DCP can be SMPTE (preferred) or INTEROP, either Flat or Scope, and should have open captions included in the package. If you do not have a DCP version of your short (and we understand that many of you do not) or if your DCP lacks captions, we will generate one for our screening at no cost. You must provide a copy of your film that we can easily repackage as a DCP. Films that deviate from these specifications will have to be re-timed and re-encoded on our end which may generate unacceptable artifacts and problems with visual flow, especially with text/titles:

- Resolution should be 1920 x 1080 (higher is okay)
- Aspect ratios other than 16:9 will have letterboxing and/or pillars added
- Frame rate should be 24fps (23.976 works fine; 25 or 30 are usually okay too)
- Captioning should be in separate .SRT file(s) and NOT burned in if possible
- Audio mixes should have 8 channels and place dialogue in a center channel

By submitting a film, you grant the festival permission to use trailers, stills, descriptions, biographies and other submitted materials for the purpose of festival promotion and publicity. We reserve the right to edit these publicity materials for length, style, and grammar.

Tag! keeps an archival copy of each festival's full program. Out of respect for the creative property rights these copies will not be re-screened without prior consent of the original submitter or their legal representative.

Submitters bear the sole responsibility to clear all content of work submitted from any and all potential legal claims including, without limitation, claims based on libel, defamation, copyright, or trademark infringement. The festival disavows liability for any such actual or potential legal claims and submitters indemnify the the festival from any and all fees and expenses, including but not limited to attorneys’ fees, that each of any of them may incur in connection to such claims.

DISCLAIMER:

We are pleased to operate the Tag! Queer Shorts Festival with financial and other support from community partners. Opinions expressed by festival organizers and the creators of content screened in festival programming are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of community partners, sponsors, or venues.