CHROMA: Image & Sound is an experimental film and music festival based in Knoxville, Tennessee.

An expansion of our year-round screening series, the festival brings together filmmakers, musicians, and audiences for a weekend of work that rethinks how images and sound move and resonate together.

We present short and feature-length experimental films in conversation with hand-selected, carefully curated music. Rather than treating sound as accompaniment, each program is conceived as a dialogue between moving image and live ambient and experimental music, allowing both to shape the experience of time, space, and attention.

All films will be presented as submitted with their own original audio, however if you wish for your film to be presented alongside a live improvised score, you can select that option upon submission.

We are drawn to work that takes risks: films that slow down, disorient, or reimagine cinematic language; that dwell in the in-between of fiction and nonfiction, ritual and routine, the spiritual and the mundane.

Hosted at St. James Episcopal Church, CHROMA: Image & Sound transforms the nave into a contemplative cinematic space. The sacred architecture is not a backdrop but an active participant in the experience. Each program is curated to encourage reflection, conversation, and connection between artists and the local community.

CHROMA: Image & Sound is not a non-competitive festival. It is about communion, a shared space where filmmakers, musicians, and viewers gather to encounter one another and rediscover the mystery of the moving image and sound together.

Rules & Terms

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

CHROMA: Image & Sound is an experimental film festival focused on work that challenges the form and expands our sense of what cinema can be. We’re not looking for traditional narratives unless they experiment with structure, sound, or image in meaningful ways.

OUR APPROACH

CHROMA: Image & Sound is entirely volunteer-run and community-supported. We don’t charge submission fees (unless late), and we can’t currently offer screening fees. Every resource goes toward keeping the festival open, accessible, and low cost to the public.

SCREENING AGREEMENT

By submitting, you grant CHROMA: Image & Sound permission to publicly screen your work during the festival and agree to provide an exhibition copy if selected. If programmed, we may request stills or short clips for press and promotion.

ELIGIBILITY & SUBMISSIONS

Films must have been completed between 2021 and 2025. Up to three (3) works may be submitted per filmmaker. Exceptions for older works may be made for special or retrospective programming.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Please provide a FilmFreeway link to your film. Password-protected links are accepted.

SCREENING FORMATS

All screenings will use digital files.

FUTURE SCREENINGS

Selected films may be invited to additional CHROMA: Image & Sound events. Participation is optional and will not affect festival selection.

SELECTION TIMELINE

Filmmakers will be notified of programming decisions by late May.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

All musical performances are curated by the programmers and are not selected based on submissions.

Due to the volume of submissions, we’re unable to offer feedback on work that isn’t selected.