YoFiFest is Your Film Festival! Now in its 13th year, the 2025 YoFiFest Film Festival returns this November to celebrate moving pictures, the people who make them and the people who watch them. Voted by filmmakers as a Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway (NINE TIMES!), YoFiFest was created for filmmakers by filmmakers. Movie Maker Magazine says “what stood out at YoFiFest was the organizers’ obvious respect for the people who craft cinema and video.”

Located on the beautiful Hudson River, YoFiFest takes place in the booming downtown Yonkers waterfront, home to first class restaurants, bars, coffee shops, galleries, waterfront promenade, and even a brewery! With the construction of several studios in Yonkers, including our neighbors Lionsgate Studios, Yonkers is now home to the largest modern film and TV production facility on the East Coast and is rapidly becoming a hub for filmmakers and other creators.

From opening night’s Red Carpet Reception, through our Closing Night Party, YoFiFest is a welcoming and inclusive festival that celebrates filmmakers at every stage of their careers. Our schedule is jam packed with screenings, workshops, panels, networking opportunities and parties that honor and celebrate the independent, artistic spirit from around the world, and right in our own backyard. And it’s run by film, television and audio/visual professionals, ensuring all films receive high quality presentation in actual theaters.

YoFiFest takes the selection process very seriously and is careful to ensure that each movie is reviewed by the screenings committee and programmer, in its entirety, at least three times. We are filmmakers ourselves, and we understand and respect the amount of hard work put into each film. 99% of the films played at YoFiFest were films selected from FilmFreeway submissions! Out of fairness to all filmmakers who submit to the festival, we don't offer any fee waivers. Every film accepted is eligible for our Audience Choice Award in its category.*

While we are well known for our in person parties and mixers, filmmakers have been raving about our Virtual Lobby and online social events that we developed over the last few years to meet the challenges and needs of the pandemic. In light of the demand, and to include as many filmmakers as possible, we’ll be bringing back our Virtual Meet the Filmmaker Nights, Online (and in Person) Trailer Party, Speed Networking Events, Remote Mix&Mingles and more! Filmmakers who attend in person will receive an All Access VIP pass that allows entry to the Opening Night Taste of Yonkers Red Carpet Reception, All the AfterParties, the Closing Night Party and EVERY screening, workshop, panel, party, networking and social event through out the festival!

We believe that a robust range of voices and stories makes for a better and more interesting community. We're committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we welcome and strongly encourage women, persons of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community to submit.

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to seeing your work!

Awards & Prizes

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS:

All selected films are eligible.

One film from each award category will be the Audience Choice Awards Recipient and one film from each award category will be an Audience Choice Awards Honorable Mention.

Every ticket holder can vote, whether in person or online.

The film will be considered in the category in which it was submitted. You may submit your film to more than one category.*

Comedy Short 

Dramatic Short 

Animated Short 

Documentary Short 

Dance Short
Horror/Thriller/Suspense Short

Queer Screen Short
Short Short /Music Video
Locally Sourced Short

Tri-State
Student Short
Episodic
Narrative Feature 

Documentary Feature

Featurette submissions and shorts under 4 minutes will be considered in the category that best suits the content (short doc, episodic, comedy etc)

Recipients will receive laurels, a dedicated social media announcement, and will be posted on our website.

RULES & TERMS
Like we said, we love filmmakers and want everyone to have a great time! However, we do need a few rules to help us best organize and utilize our dedicated and awesome YoFiFest team.
These regulations apply to all sections and submissions:
• YoFi Fest is open to anyone who wishes to enter.
• Please submit as early as possible. Just makes things easier all around.
• YoFi Fest is an eco-friendly festival, so to reduce waste and environmental impact films must be submitted digitally.
• All films must be in English or with English subtitles.
• In our experience, Vimeo screeners have the best HD playback, and are preferred over FilmFreeway’s video uploads by our screening team.
• YoFiFest is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit and therefore we are unable to offer fee waivers under any circumstance. Entry fees support the various event costs (venues, supplies, events, promotional material, online platform etc.) Thank you for your understanding.
• YoFiFest does not consider films that require SCREENING/RENTAL FEES and DOES NOT PAY SCREENING or LICENSING FEES for submitted films. By submitting your film, you acknowledge that the festival will not pay you to present your work.
• FILMS ON YOUTUBE, VIMEO, NETFLIX, ETC.: submitted films should not be commercially available on DVD, or already be on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Vimeo, etc. We want to show great films to our enthusiastic audience in a dark room on a big screen. Though we consider all submissions, we prefer to give screen time to films that have not been released to the public on YouTube, or other free sites. If your film is selected, we ask that you remove it from all free platforms once selected, so that we have the best chance to bring an in person audience to see your film.
• Filmmakers accepted and attending the Festival are responsible for travel and all other expenses.
• If accepted, filmmakers are expected to assist the Festival in the promotion of their screening..
• All films submitted must be free from any legal disputes and it is the sole responsibility of the filmmaker to have cleared all rights and releases for exhibition (including music, audio, images, graphics, trademarked images, etc.)
• Only the submitted version of the film may be considered, and swapping it out for alternate cuts is not possible, so please keep this in mind when deciding when to submit.
• If your film is selected, then you will be asked to provide digital stills from the film, press materials, promo clips and video trailer (if available). Please make sure all assets are current and uploaded to your FilmFreeway account if possible.
• Once accepted, all student films must provide a copy of the entrants current student ID or student ID from the year the film was made.
• By submitting your film, you grant YoFiFest the nonexclusive right to use footage, stills and/or titles and information from the film, as well as your name, photograph, and likeness in connection with any and all publicity and promotional activities regarding YoFi Fest prior to, during, and/or after the festival.
• YoFiFest may use images, sounds and excerpts from the films for promotional purposes in all media including the website and may present accepted films at any YoFiFest event.
• YoFiFest is not responsible for any materials that are lost or damaged.
• The entrant shall release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless YoFiFest, and its agents, respective officers, directors, employees, representatives, contractors, partners, sponsors, and volunteers from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including, without limitations, attorneys' fees).
• The entrant warrants that he/she is the sole and exclusive owner(s) of all legal right and title thereto have absolute authority to submit the enclosed material to YoFiFest.
• By entering, the applicant agrees that all information is true and correct and agrees to all festival rules and guidelines.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Wow. What a really well oiled machine. Patty, Dave, and the rest of the staff were very welcoming & excellent organizers. From restaurant recommendations, to the workshops, and the film selections, it's well worth the trip. And you'll also enjoy spending time & networking at the Yonkers Brewing Company.

    January 2025
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    Response from festival:

    Hi! Thanks or sharing your super fun series with us and for joining us in person :)

  • So honored that my film Windows was chosen as a part of YoFiFest 2024. Wonderful venue space, great parties and networking. All with a low-key, cool vibe. Truly appreciate how Patty and team value and honor independent filmmakers and their works! A gem of a fest.

    December 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you for the kind words Carol!

  • I had an amazing time at YoFi! Everyone involved with the festival clearly loves the power of filmmaking, but the ability to discuss the impact our media can have whilst retaining the sense of joy it can generate was fascinating to me. The organization from events planned to screenings went smoothly, and it was such a great networking opportunity. I hope to collaborate with many of these extraordinary filmmakers later down the road!

    December 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Ryan! Glad you got so much out of it :)

  • Such a great festival! I’ve had two shorts screen here (Casting Kill in 2024 and Sticks in 2017) and both screening nights were such friendly, supportive, fun events. Great communication and great selection of films by Patty and team. Cool screening venues too. Great step and repeat photo ops too. Highly recommend submitting!

    November 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Loved both films you had in the fest and hope we get to see more in 2025!

  • My film, Your Roots Are Showing was a mere thing in a comoputer until YoFi gave us the opportunity to bring it out. This was my first film, and YoFi made the process very easy. What an amazing experience. Everything was well organzed and ran seamlessly. We had a super launch. We also utilized one of YoFi's hospitality partners to host a fun celebratory afterparty. It was great meeting the other filmakers and to share the excitement with so many people with a vision and a dream. I thoroughly enjoyed the other films that I was able to watch. The 5 stars are well deserved.

    November 2024
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you, Ilise! You worked your butt off to fill that room! And we are always so proud to show off the tower of our local filmmakers!