Yule Film Fest is a holiday-inspired short film festival in it's 5th year, tentatively taking place at Sea Tea Improv Theater (Hartford, CT). We were founded in 2020, the year of challenges, and have been fortunate enough to make it to 2024! Yule Film Fest seeks to bring soft humor, dark humor, and a variety of other emotions to screen as it prides itself on playing an extremely diverse mix of short films. It will be weird, unique, and beautiful. Yule Film Fest plans to take place in December 2024 and winners be announced at this event.

At this time, the plan for Yule Film Fest is to hold both online and in-person events in December 2024.

Event produced by Hartford Film Club LLC.

Yule Film Fest will award a winner in each category, who will win a physical award as well as a Yule Film Fest award package.

Yule Film Fest

There are multiple competition categories of the event:

Best (Heartfelt) Holiday Short Film
Between 1-12 minutes long
Must incorporate any November-December holiday (including New Year’s Eve) or winter season. Think the holiday classics that hit you right in your feelings.

Best (Dark Tone) Holiday Short Film
Between 1-12 minutes long
Must incorporate any November-December holiday (including New Year’s Eve) or winter season. We have accumulated many horror, murder, and edgy holiday submissions... this is your time to shine!

Best (Student) Holiday Short Film
Between 1-12 minutes long
Must incorporate any November-December holiday (including New Year’s Eve) or winter season. You must be a current student or have graduated within 2 years of 12/1/2024.

Best (Animated/Stopmotion) Holiday Short Film
Between 1-12 minutes long
Must incorporate any November-December holiday (including New Year’s Eve) or winter season. We love animations and stopmotion works, there also happens to be many holiday-themed ones that we get. Show off those projects that take the rigors of the frame-by-frame!

Best Animated/Stopmotion Short Film (any genre)
Between 1-11 minutes long
Must be fully animated.

Best Student Short Film (any genre)
Between 1-11 minutes long
Please include your name, school, and expected graduation year in credits at the end of your short film for recognition. Undergraduate or Graduate programs qualify.

Best Trailer (any genre)
Between 30 second and 4 minutes long
If known, please include the expected title and release date in credits at the end of the trailer.

Best International Short Film (any genre)
Between 1-11 minutes long
Films can be any type, but must include English subtitles and be under 11 minutes long.

Best Female-Directed Short Film (any genre)
Between 1-11 minutes long
Must be directed by a female director.

Best LBGTQ+ Short Film
Between 1-11 minutes long
Must cover LBGTQ+ subject matter or issues, OR be directed by an individual in the LBGTQ+ community.

Best BIPOC Short Film
Between 1-11 minutes long
Must be directed by an individual in the Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color community.

Best Documentary Short Film
Between 1-11 minutes long
Must be truly non-fiction. Mockumentaries will not be considered under the Best Documentary category.

Best Connecticut-based Filmmaker Short (any genre)
Between 1-11 minutes long
Must be produced in Connecticut or by a Connecticut-based filmmaker.

Best Holiday Feature
Between 61-120 minutes long
Must incorporate any November-December holiday (including New Year’s Eve) or winter season.

Rules & Terms

-All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles.

-All films must have been made in or after 2021.

-Any film in either Best Holiday Short or Best Holiday Feature category must incorporate winter or a holiday from November-December in it. It does not need to be the primary focal point, but does need to be present. It also absolutely does not need to be Christmas.

-Reasonable violence is acceptable, but excessive or sexual violence and/or pornography is not allowed.

-Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

-By submitting to us, you give us the right to screen your film in an online festival video. The showcase is truly a film compilation showcase and will premiere over a streaming service.

-Films selected for screening will be notified via email. If you do not receive an email stating that your film has been selected for screening, it will not screen. Please also follow our site to follow our updates.

-We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with. Primary item to include is a film poster. Film trailer (excluding the Best Trailer Competition) is optional.

-We retain the right to change the date and streaming service of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through our online platforms.

-We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online. In fact, we strongly encourage you to submit your works all over! This is YOUR project, our festival is just one opportunity to promote and premiere your work, please be encouraged to continue submitting and advertising your short film or trailer.

-Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file does not work or does not have English subtitles (if in a language not English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

-We cannot provide refunds. Unless of course we have our own technical issues, in which we will refund.

-By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

-Best Student Short Films must be done by a current student or filmmaker that has graduated within two (2) years of 12/1/2024. You can be an undergrad or a grad student, but you must be an actual student.

-We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.

-Yule Film Fest will have an in-person and online screening. At this time, we plan on screening at Sea Tea Improv Theater in Hartford, CT in December 2024 and the online screening will follow after that. This location and date is subject to change due to availability.

Method of Submission

All films must be submitted through FilmFreeway.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Cynthia Bergen

    Thank you Yule Film Fest!, Awarding, A Town Full of Ghosts, Best Trailer. Keep up the good work. All Stars. Cynthia Bergen #nosleepfilm #vintageclubstories

    January 2023
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much, Cynthia! We pride ourselves on our festival range and it means the world!

  • Brit Tobin

    Such a cool concept and great communication with the festival overall. Wish we could have been there in person. Amazing to be included in this festival. Thank you so much!

    January 2023
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much, Brit! It's greatly appreciated. We take a lot of pride in what we do and love having the platform to showcase talent like yourself!

  • It was an honour to have my film ‘I need a Christmas Vacation’ at the 2022 Yule Film Fest and to be a nominee for the best feature film.

    December 2022
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you very, very much! It was such a pleasure to be able to have Features as a category and (no pun intended) feature them on their own scale. Making a feature film is a huge success, let alone one that holds up as well as "I need a Christmas Vacation"!

  • Matt Hickinbottom

    An absolute pleasure to be included in the 2022 Yule Film Festival with our musical feature 'Emily the little match girl'. Thanks for including us and being great hosts. Great comms, support & brilliant array of films... Loved every second! Thank you!

    December 2022
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much for the kind words, Matt! We put in a lot of work to make sure in-person and virtual events would have a degree of that intimate feel as if watching altogether. You all were a wonderful, wonderful audience and group of submitters!

  • The organization committee was so nice

    August 2022
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much, Giu! Wishing you well!