The Woodstock Film Festival has just been approved as an Academy Awards® qualifying festival for the Short Film Awards. Recipients of the festival's qualifying awards will be eligible for consideration in the Animated Short Film/Live Action Short Film/Documentary Short Film category of the Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy Awards® official rules which can be found at www.oscars.org/rules
The 23rd Woodstock Film Festival will take place September 28-October 2, 2022 and is open for film submissions. Our final deadline is June 3.
Founded in 2000 in the famed artists' colony of Woodstock, NY, the Woodstock Film Festival presents high-quality films, panels, concerts and special events. More than 80 percent of the filmmakers participate, joining prominent industry members who attend from all over the world.
The Woodstock Film Festival is traditionally a haven for networking with high-caliber industry members, filmmakers, musicians, and artists.
Refreshingly far from the hustle and bustle of the Hollywood scene, yet nestled in an area where many film productions are now booming and where industry stalwarts and game-changers now call home, the Woodstock Film Festival regularly draws celebrity guests and seamlessly integrates them with filmmakers and film fans. In previous years, the festival has hosted Julie Taymor, Matthew Heineman, Roger Ross Williams, Barbara Kopple, Abigail Disney, Ang Lee, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Debra Granik, Darren Aronofksy, Mira Nair, Matt Dillon, Mark Duplass, Jennifer Connelly, Natalie Portman, Rachel Brosnahan, Paul Rudd, Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Steve Buscemi, Melissa Leo, Ethan Hawke, Lucy Liu, Rose McGowan, Tim Robbins, Mark Ruffalo, Uma Thurman, and more.
“Woodstock is my absolute favorite festival because it has everything; a beautiful and relaxing setting, a wonderful artistic community, and a powerfully curated selection of the finest-crafted films. It’s a love fest for film lovers.” — Roger Ross Williams, Academy Award-winning Filmmaker
“Woodstock is the place with the plan for the creative arts, so welcome and stay here and keep it happening!” — Giancarlo Esposito, Actor The Mandalorian, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul
Legendary director Julie Taymor said “The Woodstock Film Festival is a haven for those who love independent and challenging cinema. The spirit of the Namesake of the festival is in the very fiber of the festival itself - freewheeling, experimental, searching and visionary.”
Across a range of juried competitive categories, the Woodstock Film Festival offers prizes including Best Feature Narrative Award, Best Short Narrative and Documentary, Best Student Short Award, Best Documentary Award, the Ultra Indie and the Haskell Wexler Best Cinematography Award. Jury members comprised of distributors, producers, actors and directors present the awards in person at the Maverick Awards. Cash prizes are given out with some of the awards, including the Best Feature Narrative and the Ultra Indie award. Annually, the festival also doles out honorary awards to some of the most notable names in the film business, including Neon’s CEO Tom Quinn and filmmakers Roger Ross Williams and Eliza Hittman in 2021, executive producer Abigail Disney, presented by Julie Taymor in 2019, filmmaker Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, A Private War) in 2018, presented by Alex Gibney and Molly Thompson, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) in 2014, presented by Natalie Portman and Jennifer Connelly, and award-winning producer David Linde (Spotlight) in 2015, presented by two-time Academy Award-winning writer/director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant, Birdman).
Submit your film to the Woodstock Film Festival, and take part in what Ethan Hawke calls “a festival that isn't trying to sell you anything, but simply and beautifully celebrating the art & craft of filmmaking”.
Cash, prizes and/or services are given out for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Short Narrative, Best Student Short, Change Maker Award, Ultra Indie Award, Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography, World Cinema Award, Best Animated Short, Best Editing Award for Narrative & Doc Features, Audience Award for Narrative & Doc Features. Recent AWARD SPONSORS have included Gigantic Pictures, Films We Like, Markertek, Gray Schwartz, Panavision NY, and others.
