Cactus Club is a small artist-run venue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through Moving Image, we hold monthly screenings from a wide range of artist-driven and independent media. As a series, we hope to offer a space for the community to engage with film and expanded cinema from makers from a variety of backgrounds.
Our festival specifically aims to feature makers of all backgrounds and levels of experience. Cactus Club Independent Film Fest was founded to accept a more diverse range of submissions, celebrating low budget independent films, bringing disabled, Queer, BIPOC, and underground filmmakers to the front, and material of any genre. We look forward to bringing back CCIFF for its third season!

Winners will be offered the opportunity to be a featured guest curator with Moving Image along with other awards from the club to be announced this season.

Rules
We will not tolerate any hateful, homophobic, racist, ableist, ageist, transphobic or fat phobic material.
Shorts submissions must be under 15 minutes.
Feature submissions must be under 90 minutes.
Submission must include a readable file with a downloadable link.
Submissions must be made within the last 5 years.
Premiere status is not required.

Terms
You have the choice of the student fee (if you are enrolled in any level of education), or standard fee, both vary by date of submission.
Request a waiver for a discounted or free submission fee.
Original and manipulated appropriated material is accepted.
Filmmakers are responsible for ensuring all copyright on their materials.
Films must be cleared for all the uses described in these Terms and Conditions.
Our venue is capped at 50 people.
Contact via email with any questions or issues.
If your film is selected, you will be required to confirm our use of your work, promotional stills, and submit a synopsis of your film in a timely manner.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Philip Thompson

    Milwaukee is a fantastic DIY film scene and this is a wonderful place to screen your independent work for this community! Highly recommend!

    October 2024
  • Everything is good. I am very happy to be a part of the festival.

    August 2024
  • Anya Liftig

    Great Festival. Thanks for including Don't Pretend You Didn't Know!

    August 2024
  • Jordy Brazo

    I was honored to be included in the Cactus Club Independent Film Festival. I was able to make connections with other filmmakers both locally and from elsewhere, and found the experience extremely rewarding. Looking forward to future festivals as an attendee and hopefully exhibiting maker!

    October 2023
  • I had an awesome time at the festival!
    Thank you for selecting my film!

    August 2023