Trenton Film Festival screens new, cutting-edge film of various genres from around the world, offering filmmakers the opportunity to interact with audiences and connect with other filmmakers at various stages in their career. Located half-way between New York City and Philadelphia, Trenton is a small city with easy access to one of the largest film markets in the world, yet intimate enough to give new film exposure that might be hard to achieve in a larger place or festival.

Trenton Film Festival returns for year 11 in 2019 with more meet-ups to afford filmmakers and audiences expanded opportunities to connect and share their love of film, and filmmaker seminars to allow filmmakers to hone their craft and learn from each other.

Awards & Prizes

Prizes will be awarded at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, March 31 for:

James Solheim Award for Best Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short
Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Animated Film
Best New Media (Music Video, Spoken Word Poetry, New Media)
Audience Favorite

Prizes do not include a monetary award.

Rules & Terms

To be considered, films must have been completed after 1/1/2018.

Films must be submitted on-line prior to submission deadlines. By submitting a film you agree that if your film is selected, the Trenton Film Society (TFS) may screen your film at the 2019 Trenton Film Festival (3/28-3/31/2019) without payment of screening fees and may include your film in festival publicity and publications.

TFS charges admission to screenings to provide a portion of funding required to produce events such as the Trenton Film Festival; by submitting a film you agree that TFS may charge admission to screenings that include your film and represent that this does not violate any agreements that you have with third parties.

Films must be submitted via on-line screener.

If your film is selected, high definition digital .mov or .mp4 file is the requested format for presentation copy. We do not have equipment to present your film in 35MM or DCP.

For digital files, .mp4 or .mov files must be compressed with the H.264 codec at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, 720p or 1080p for high definition or 480p for standard definition, and 2-channel (stereo) audio.

Do not submit originals; we will do our utmost to care for your media, but can not accept responsibility for loss or damage.

Presentation copies must be sent with shipping charges prepaid. Presentation copies will be returned if pre-paid shipping envelope is provided for USPS, FedEx, UPS or DHL.

Presentation copies must be submitted by 1/10/19.

9 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Steve Herold

    We had a great time at the Trenton Film Festival. It is a smaller festival set in an awesome old church. The fest hosts were very responsive with communication and ran a nice Q&A session after the films.

    November 2018
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  • Joe Sikoryak

    The TFF is a small but well-run festival by a committed group of film enthusiasts. Their venue, the Mill Hill Playhouse, is a converted 300-year old church with good sound and projection and decent seating. I especially appreciated how well I was kept informed in the weeks leading up to the event, and after the screening the Q+A was very enjoyable. As a filmmaker I felt appreciated and welcome, and the range of films was wide and compelling. A good experience for emerging filmmakers.

    April 2018
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  • Michael Benko

    This was one of the best experiences I've had on the festival tour of my film SUMMER PARK and one of the favorite film festivals I've had the chance to attend. TFF is a filmmakers festival. The programmers are enthusiastic and I had a chance to come before the screening to meet the team and have coffee with them.

    This festival is community based and they have a beautiful venue which is a theater restored from a gorgeous brick church. The theater was almost sold out for my screening, and I can tell you, it makes a huge difference when you go to a festival when the theater is full. Projection quality was stellar.

    Many of the people in the theater were wearing weekend passes, which is a sign of the community organizing TFF must do around arts in Trenton.

    I had a lovely Q&A with Susan Fou, who was thoughtful in her moderation and questions and had a great chance to talk back with the audience.

    TFF is a really wonderful festival!

    April 2017
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  • Stuart McBratney

    I was sadly unable to attend in person, but they arranged a video link, and my Q&A was beamed live into the cinema! The Trenton team were lovely, enthusiastic, and easy to communicate with.

    April 2017
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  • Chuyao He

    The festival is run by a group of very nice people. The hospitality is great and there are some good films included. I was joining the Q&A and went out pretty good! Hope can have more chances to network tho. After all, love Trenton Film Fest and can't wait to come back!!

    April 2017
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