The YellowHammer Film Festival is a free, enriching, and interactive experience for high school and college students. The fest will consist of workshops, a keynote speaker, a student film exhibition, photo exhibition, and an awards ceremony.

Please do not enter the exhibition unless you are a high school or college student in the United States.

Awards & Prizes

Awards will be given in the following categories for both HS and College Students:
The YellowHammer Award (Best of Show)
Best Writing / Storytelling
Best Directing
Best Producing
Best Cinematography
Best Audio/Score
Best Acting
Best Editing
Best Animation/Visual Effects

And New This Year:
Best Movie Poster
Best Photography
(So make sure you upload your movie poster when you upload your film!)

The YHFF reserves the right to not award and/or change award names at its discretion.

Rules & Terms

RULES:

You may only submit films uploaded to FilmFreeway, YouTube, or Vimeo. All films must be set to downloadable.

All film entries must have been created in the past 2 years - nothing prior to November 1, 2022.

The entrant must be either the writer, director, or producer of the production.

The film must have been created while you were in either high school or college - even if you are not there now.

All entries are completely free.

You do not have to attend the conference to enter the exhibition - although we'd love to have you do both.

All submissions are due by October 1st for judging purposes.

All entries must be less than 10 minutes long including credits.

All genres are allowed.

You must have the legal right or approval to enter this work.

Examples of productions you may consider entering are: Short Films, Commercials, Promos, Social Media Videos, Animations, Kinetic Type, Music Videos, etc. We are very liberal on acceptable medium.

At this time we are only accepting submissions from college and high school students studying in the United States.

YellowHammer Film Festival reserves the right of full discretion as it applies to the acceptance or rejection of any films based on content and messaging.

10 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Zachary Brantley

    Great communication on all fronts leading up to the fest and afterwards. The fest it self was very smooth and well organized. The team did a great job with live in person and remote viewing of the film blocks and answering audience questions.
    Will submit again next year!

    November 2023
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  • Wasan Hayajneh

    Was ecstatic to take part in YellowHammer Film Fest, thank you so much for selecting ELECTRA WASP to be a part of your animation segment along with so many other incredible pieces! I was also overjoyed to to find that we won Best Direction in the Animation Division! I was able to attend online when I couldn't make it in person, and got to attend the panels as well. This festival has been one of my favorites so far among student/college based festivals!

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    WASAN! It was an honor having you in attendance virtually. We hope you join us again next year. Electra Wasp was incredible. The judges absolutely loved it. Bravo!

  • Johnny Yager

    Thanks for letting us show our film!

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Johnny, Le Tour was a fantastic nod to films from an era gone by - well done. Very funny!

  • Ashton Pulis

    Had a great time at Yellow Hammer film festival! I was honored to have been awarded "Best Director" as well as "Best Film of the Year" in the High School category with my film, "Rose Tinted Glasses"

    October 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Ashton, your film "Rose Tinted Glasses" blew away the judges. Kudos to you and your whole crew and congrats on all of your awards, well deserved!

  • Kino Jin

    It was such a cool festival, I attended some sections online and especially enjoyed Chassidy's keynote speech. I really wish I could be there physically. YellowHammer really encouraged the students to chase their careers in the film industry, and I hope it would shine brighter and brighter!

    October 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Kino, your animation work is STELLAR! Never stop making!