The West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival invites submissions in video/film, animation, VR, video installation & performance to its 12th edition, which takes place April 10 – 12, 2025 on the campus of West Virginia University. We’re looking for innovative, provocative, highly charged and deeply personal works in a variety of genres and exploring multiple themes. This year we also welcome submissions to a special thematic category, exploring new insights into evolving definitions and understandings of Space, in all of its many contexts. Deadline for entries is March 1, 2025.
Whether you’re an emerging fine artist, student filmmaker or seasoned pro, the West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival invites your creative and progressively minded submissions in video, film and animation. We screen short narrative films and experimental artworks alike, and welcome all genres: narrative, documentary, video art, experimental animation, comedy, sci/fi, 2D/3D animation, low budget/no budget and that which eludes categorization. Run by artists and art students, we celebrate the bold, the funny, the well-made, the imaginative and the enigmatic. We look for quality in form and depth in content and ideas, whether spectacularly unorthodox or time-honored in approach. Above all, we value authenticity.
Established submission categories include: Experimental, Narrative, Documentary, Animation & Student Work
Additional Categories:
Theme: Space
During the pandemic, our sense of space became severely contracted. We were locked in the physically small confines of our homes. We were left dwelling in our own mental spaces. At the same time, our lives moved more fully into the vastness of online space. Now, roughly 3 years out from that time of isolation, our various senses of space continue to evolve, both locally and globally. The festival seeks submissions that ruminate on the many social, psychological, philosophical, and material meanings of space. How do we experience space, both architectural and natural, in a bodily way? How do we make space for meaningful dialogue that bridges ideological gaps? How does the fantasy of outer space offer the promise of new possible futures? How do digital spaces permeate our material lives? What philosophical, psychological, spiritual or political resonances cause these layers of space to intersect and fold in on themselves? Indeed, how might our understanding of the very nature of space itself be shifting under the suddenly unstable ground on which we are standing?
Video Installation, VR and Planetarium Dome Projection:
In addition to single-channel videos for screening, there are 3 other opportunities to consider as part of the festival. These include a 2-channel video installation space, a VR experience option, and a 360 degree dome projection option.
Two-channel video installation:
We are seeking proposals for 2 channel video installations in a white cube gallery space. There are two 1080p projectors that can by synchronized with up to 2 channels of audio. The dimensions are 2122 square feet and a ceiling height of 10 feet.
VR:
We seek submissions that are designed to be experienced in virtual reality and that engage with the festival theme. Submitted works can take the form of VR films, interactive experiences, etc. Please reach out to Jason Zeh at Jason.zeh@mail.wvu.edu for technical inquiries.
360-degree dome projection / Planetarium:
We are accepting submissions both for live performance works and single channel experimental works designed to be experienced in a 360 degree dome projection environment that engage with the festival theme. This event will take place at the WVU planetarium. More information about the space can be found at https://planetarium.wvu.edu/. Please reach out to Jason Zeh at Jason.zeh@mail.wvu.edu for technical inquiries.
Submissions for the planetarium must conform to the following specs.
Codec: h265 (HEVC) (or h264 is fine as well)
Container: mp4
Framerate: 30 fps
Resolution: 4K (4096 x 4096 pixel)
Target bitrate: 40-50 mbit/s
The deadline for all entries is March 1, 2025.
Established in 2010, the WVMSFF is a creation of the Electronic Media program of the West Virginia University School of Art and Design. The primary mission of the festival is to celebrate, recognize and help to cultivate quality, innovation, and independence in the cinematic arts, and to expose West Virginia University students and the surrounding Morgantown community to the world of independent filmmaking, video and animation. The festival also strives to focus attention on topical issues in contemporary culture and to draw attention to the rich and unique heritage of West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian region.
Modest awards have been established by the festival organizers to recognize work of exceptional accomplishment. They include a $300.00 Best of Festival award, and a $100 award in each of the festival categories.
