Each submission must be accompanied by a submission fee paid in full and a working screener in order to be considered. Once we have all the necessary materials, the submission will be marked “In Consideration”. It is the submitter’s responsibility to make sure that all submission requirements are met. If your film has not been listed “In Consideration” 7 business days after submission, please contact us to find out what is needed to move your film into consideration.
All projects must be submitted via a secure online screener - either as a password-protected Vimeo, link attached to your submission or uploaded directly to FilmFreeway. Online screeners must be available to stream; we do not accept any films that must be downloaded.
All foreign-language films must be submitted with English subtitles. If we discover a foreign-language submission is missing subtitles, we will attempt to email the submitter for an update. If the submitter fails to provide working subtitles by the final submission deadline, the project will be considered incomplete and will be disqualified without refund of submission fees.
Please review all submission categories carefully before submitting your project. All entrants are required to pay the submission fee for their film’s appropriate category. If you believe you have submitted your film to the wrong category, contact us immediately. While we can typically facilitate a change in category, the entrant will be responsible for any changes in submission fees. We cannot offer partial refunds for categories with a smaller fee. If the new category has a higher fee, the entrant is responsible for paying the difference.
Incomplete projects must be clearly listed as such. Films should be marked as either a “Rough Cut” or “Work In Progress/WIP”. All incomplete materials or changes to be made should be clearly indicated (ex: temporary score, missing VFX, no color correction) both in your cover letter and the film cut itself (ideally as a title card at the start of the film).
The submitter may update their screener up until the final deadline, as long as the link and password for the submission remain the same. You should not submit your project if it is not complete enough to adequately represent the final product.
By entering your film for consideration to the Denver Short Film Festival, you authorize that your work is cleared for festival exhibition and accept full legal responsibility for the intellectual property therein. The submitter and all filmmakers associated with the project shall indemnify and hold harmless the Denver Short Film Festival Short Films Main Competition and any representative or affiliates from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.
All films under 20 minutes in length are considered short films and all submissions are fairly considered by a broad team of programmers and the date of entry bears no relation to the selection decision.
