Our 2026 festival theme is Indigenous Voices - celebrating stories from Native and Indigenous populations across the country. We are looking for short films, both documentary and narrative, that explore the values of home, belonging and community.
Our film festival, now in its fourth season, has been hosted in beautiful Bend, Oregon. Each year we choose a theme to highlight and celebrate stories that are related to the work that we do at Thrive Central Oregon. We're excited to announce that our 2026 festival will be hosted in conjunction with Central Oregon Community College at the Madras Performing Arts Center in Madras, Oregon.
Thrive is a nonprofit that connects Central Oregonians to the resources they are looking for- from housing support to benefits assistance, basic needs to disability resources. In the past, our films have highlighted stories of the working class and stories of finding home/community.
Supporting Central Oregonians in finding sustainable and accessible housing is the core of the work we do at Thrive, and we would love to show our community what people and groups across the country are doing together to support each other and their communities. As always, we hope to highlight the voices of those not traditionally represented: those living in poverty, those experiencing homelessness, the working class, populations of color, and indigenous populations.
Our film festival is a bilingual Spanish event, and encourage Spanish-language filmmakers to apply! We will create subtitles for any English-language film that does not already have Spanish subtitles.
We prefer that the films reflect communities and individuals in the United States, particularly the West Coast and Oregon, but are open to any! We would also love to have Spanish-language submissions. Please let us know if you have any questions or need clarification.
Our admission fee goes directly back to the festival winners. If you experience financial hardship and are unable to pay the admission fee, please email us at: events@thrivecentraloregon.org
We're not going to lie - we're a nonprofit! We know that you are also trying to get your films out there, so we've tried to keep the fees manageable. Each accepted entry will receive a gift package of special Central Oregon treats as a thank-you from us.
The We Are Home film festival is our annual fundraising event for Thrive Central Oregon, and 100% of the funds collected from ticket sales, gear sales, raffle tickets, etc. all goes directly back into our community as application fee assistance, rental assistance and deposit assistance for those in need seeking permanent, sustainable housing.
