The Third Coast Dance Film Festival celebrates the intersection of contemporary dance and the moving image with a screening series of short dance films. We seek work that reflect diversity in genre, form, and representation. The Third Coast Dance Film Festival is especially interested in low budget/high impact and female (trans, non binary, gender-fluid inclusive) driven work.

The 2025 festival will premiere Reno, NV. A touring program of select films will follow.

Films created in the past four years that are under 12 minutes in length (including credits) will be prioritized during curation.

Awards & Prizes

Best of Festival
Spirit of the Festival

Rules & Terms


-If the entry fee is cost prohibitive, please contact the festival organizer. A limited amount of fee waivers are available for artists experiencing financial barriers.

-Films with sustained full frontal nudity or sustained partial nudity most often cannot be programed due to the restrictions of the screening venues and local laws. Please email if you have questions about this.

-By submitting to the festival, you are agreeing to work with the festival organizers to provide the film in its highest quality digital format.

-By submitting to the festival, you are agreeing that you have secured all the copyright rights, including music and sound, for public screening of this work.

-Upon acceptance, you will be required to provide a high quality downloadable digital file of your film AND 2-3 high res JPEGS.

-All proceeds from submissions fees go towards festival production costs, and in turn we do not pay screening fees. Entry fees are non-refundable.

-The Third Coast Dance Film Festival tours after its annual premiere and select films are chosen to be re-screened in touring programs. This may include encore screenings in future festival programs.

-Please email thirdcoastdancefilmfestival@gmail.com with any questions.
4 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Angelique Kalani Axelrode

    Great experience all around. Would encourage anyone with a dance film to apply to Third Coast!

    February 2023
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  • Jennifer Scully-Thurston

    Wonderful experience! Was so happy to be involved. Thank you.

    March 2021
    Helpful
  • Tuixén Benet

    Even though the festival was online because of pandemic reasons, the communication and care I felt by Third Coast Dance Film Festival was great. Very glad to having been a part of it!

    March 2021
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  • Marta Renzi

    I was glad that my work was included in Third Coast, and enjoyed being in the line-up with other interesting work, which was not the usual suspects. Rosie and the Christian, the museum programs director, invited me to join in a conversation after, which enhanced greatly my experience of the online "networking" and "hospitality" necessitated by the pandemic.

    February 2021
    Helpful