*2026 FESTIVAL CANCELLED*

Thank you for your interest in Audience Hunters and your patience throughout this process. Unfortunately, we did not receive enough submissions to put on a legitimate festival this cycle. Out of respect for your art and time, we’ve decided to suspend the Audience Hunters concept until further notice. Any submission fees will be refunded.

We wish you the best as you continue your filmmaking journey. If you’re still interested in learning more about growing your audience and potentially hosting an online screening for your work, you can reach out to htthewriter02@gmail.com or audiencehunters@gmail.com.

Continue to create, collaborate, and put meaningful art into the world!

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Audience Hunters Film Festival has one singular mission. Connect movie lovers with passionate filmmakers who mutually support each other!

All official selections will receive screening fees.

All official selections will have the opportunity to earn a percentage of festival ticket sales using their own affiliate code.

All official selections will receive audience viewership information and contact information to further build their audience for future release or distribution.

*All feature submissions will also be evaluated for possible distribution by OMNITUBE regardless of festival selection.

Awards & Prizes

Best Picture Audience Award for each genre category:

Horror / Thriller
Action / Crime Drama
Comedy / RomCom
Suspense / Drama
Documentary

(Trophy + Award amount TBD by sponsors)

Film Festival Grand Prize (Features Only):

Chosen from a winner from one of the 5 genre categories

A full distribution package which includes:

Strategic audience planning
US Theatrical or Streaming Distribution
P&A Budget ($TBD)
PR Campaign

Rules & Terms

It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the full submission process and requirements before submitting your film.

Projects will be submitted via the Film Freeway Submission site, which will be available from July 5th to October 18th. The platform is safe and secured but entrants can submit films that are watermarked, if desired.

The content will be treated as confidential and will be made available only to the administrative staff. It will not be shown in public. If a project gets nominated, Audience Hunters will contact the content owner for permission to accept the film into the festival. A Screening Fee License will be paid for each festival acceptance.

Screening License Fee:

Feature Film (min 40 minutes / max 125 minutes) $100.00

Short Film (min 5 minutes / max 25 minutes) $10.00

To be eligible for consideration, the entrant must submit:

Finished full length project with a total duration of 125 minutes maximum for the Theatrical Feature and the Premier Spotlight categories, and 25 minutes maximum for all other categories.

Trailers must contain scenes or parts of scenes no less than 30 seconds. Complete scenes do not have to be shown, but excerpts must not be edited to alter the original sequence of shots within a scene.

Video format requirements:

Preferred Submission:
Container: Quicktime .mov
Codec: ProRes 422 HQ
Colour Space: 2.4 Gamma / Rec.709 (mastered for dim surround)
Resolution: 1920×1080
Frame Rate: Native frame rate of the project (non-fractional preferred: e.g. 24 instead of 23.976)
Container: MP4
Codec: H264 / H265

Audio Native Language: English Spoken or English Dubbed

Close Captions: .SRT format (SDH Closed Captioning preferred /Subtitles minimum)

Please label files as: NameOfFilm_YourFirstNameYourLastName

DO NOT submit a file that has a slate, countdown, 2 pop or credits (credits can be added for festival screening if accepted). Any of these will cause your file to be rejected during the QC process.

Entries may be submitted without sound. In the event that an entry is submitted without sound, it must be stated in the submission form.

For all categories, at least one piece of supporting material is strongly recommended to facilitate the qualifying process: Trailer promotional videos (ProRes or H264) and/or supporting artwork 2x3 or 16x9 poster or material (.PNG) are recommended be uploaded.

If you would like to discuss the viability of your film prior to submission, please reach out to us and book a quick appointment using our website www.audiencehunters.com Thanks.