Martin Scorsese made his blood-filled short “The Big Shave” (1967) while he was a graduate student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. George Lucas built a dystopia at the University of Southern California for “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB” (1967). Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, and Ridley Scott all made their marks with shorts crafted while still in school.
Even recent filmmaking success stories trace back to the campus quad. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert met at Emerson College and began entering their work in festivals—a collaboration that would eventually land them seven Oscars for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022). Ari Aster honed his craft at the College of Santa Fe before his AFI Conservatory thesis short, “The Strange Thing About the Johnsons” (2011), premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival.
Hope to join the ranks of student-turned-filmmaker stars? Start with these top student film festivals.
1. Mometu College Film Festival
Final deadline: June 29
It’s only in its fourth year, but the Mometu College Film Festival, held at the Harmony Gold movie theater on Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard, has already established itself among North American film students. Mometu is broken up into eight categories, with filmmakers competing for the best drama, horror/sci-fi, action/thriller, comedy, documentary, black cinema, animation, and foreign language film prizes. Judges grade submissions on originality, creativity, plot, writing, character and performance, cinematography, production value, and entertainment value.
The final criteria is the overall minutes a film was watched on the Mometu app, a free streaming service that specializes in independent, international, and classic movies, TV shows, and documentaries. Prizes include $500 in cash, mentorships, and film equipment. Those who attend the festival in L.A. also get to take part in educational panels on marketing, filmmaking, distribution, and film festival strategies.
Mometu College Film Festival accepts U.S. college student submissions with a $25 entry fee. The festival screenings are in Los Angeles between July 1 and Aug. 1.
Mometu College Film Festival will run July 1 to Aug. 1.
2. Virginia Film Festival
Regular deadline: June 30
With over 20,000 attendees, the Virginia Film Festival is one of the biggest cultural events in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now entering its 39th year, previous guests have included Matthew Broderick, Sandra Bullock, Nicolas Cage, Morgan Freeman, Ethan Hawke, Oliver Stone, and even Jimmy Stewart. The festival showcases domestic, foreign, and independent features and documentaries, but it specifically honors and promotes local filmmakers from across the state.
Key to that is its student shorts competition, which is broken up into separate contests for filmmakers who attend non-Virginia universities and those who attend Virginia universities. Audience members are asked to vote for their favorite features and shorts across several categories.
Virginia-based filmmakers can submit to VAFF’s student shorts competition for free, while out-of-state students pay $10. The festival is primarily noncompetitive, with audience voting in select categories.
The Virginia Film Festival will run Oct. 22 to 26.
3. SCAD Savannah Film Festival
Late deadline: June 30
Extended deadline: July 17
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is a weeklong annual celebration of film attended by over 65,000 cinephiles, which makes it all the more impressive that it was founded in 1997 merely as an event to bring film industry professionals to SCAD’s students. Notable names in the industry, including Park Chan-wook, Jon M. Chu, Brendan Fraser, Rian Johnson, Spike Lee, and Tessa Thompson, have attended the festival in recent years.
SCAD usually receives around 2,800 submissions, from which judges select just 100 projects to compete for the 20 “best of” and monetary awards presented over seven days.
Student filmmakers may enter live-action narrative, documentary, and animated short categories; SCAD students can additionally submit to the Katie Spikes Legacy Scholarship Award, a $7,500 jury prize for documentary shorts. No publicly released films are eligible.
SCAD Savannah Film Festival will run Oct. 24 to 31.
4. Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival
Regular deadline: July 15
Extended deadline: Aug. 1
The Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival was founded 55 years ago, when cinematography faculty at Karpenko-Kary University wanted to screen their students’ films. Decades later, the festival’s mission remains the same: to aid the development of up-and-coming filmmakers and give their work a platform.
The festival hands out thousands of dollars in prizes across various genres to numerous international and domestic films. Previous guests include Jacques Audiard, Danny Boyle, Stephen Daldry, Xavier Dolan, and Bruno Dumont.
Molodist accepts student films under 45 minutes and debut short films across fiction, animation, and documentary for its international competition. The festival is open to filmmakers worldwide.
Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival will run Oct. 24 to Nov. 1.
5. Hellbender Student Film Festival
Final deadline: Aug. 4
Extended deadline: Oct. 22
Held on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, since 2020, the Hellbender Student Film Festival draws its name from the salamander that calls the state home. In order to achieve its mission of highlighting student films from across Missouri, the U.S., and the world, all Hellbender screenings are open to the public.
The festival hands out separate prizes to college or university and high school students, with special awards presented for the best films made by Missouri students.
Open to high school and college or university filmmakers worldwide, Hellbender accepts narrative, documentary, animated, LGBTQ+, and dance short films, with dedicated awards for Missouri-made student work.
The Hellbender Student Film Festival will run Nov. 16 to 18.
