The Machetanz Film Festival, at the Glenn Massay Theater, is a part of the Machetanz Arts Festival held at Mat-Su College in Palmer, Alaska each year in honor of Fred and Sara Machetanz. Fred, a noted Alaskan artist, author and filmmaker along with his wife Sara, came to national attention and fame in the 1950's which lives on today. A generous endowment by the Machetanz family to the College inspires the Festival and our Art Department as we celebrate the visual and performing arts.

We encourage film makers from around the world to submit their selection(s) to the Festival so that we may enjoy and promote their works with the citizenry of Alaska and our many visitors alike.

$200 First Prize in the Feature and Student Film categories.

$100 First Prize in Shorts, Documentary, Experimental and Animated Film categories.

$100 Audience Award selected from all films that are screened.

Currently we only offer limited cash prizes but we look forward to expanding the awards as we grow with you.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS for filmmakers submitting to Machetanz Film Festival, MFF.

If accepted for public screening a DVD must be sent as we cannot rely upon streaming sites such as FilmFreeway, the connection or the quality of the materials uploaded or streamed from such sites.

The 2016 MFF is open to any film completed after October 1, 2014 regardless of content, subject, or origin. Any film that has not screened on cable or broadcast television in Alaska or any other U.S. state, prior to March,31, 2016 is eligible for submission. Those films that have screened at other festivals in Alaska will not be considered for screening. Submitting your film to the 2015 MFF is not a guarantee of selection.Applicant also understands that if chosen as a finalist it is a requirement to sign both a general release and a W-9 tax form to receive any prizes.

1.I, the representative of the film being submitted (the Film;),
acknowledge and agree as follows in connection with the film submitted for consideration for the Machetanz Film Festival (the Festival.):
2. I hereby represent and warrant to the Festival that (a) I am duly
authorized, on my own behalf and on behalf of all other persons or
entities who have any ownership rights in the Film, to exhibit this
Film at the Festival, (b) this exhibition will not violate any law or
any right or consent of any person or entity and (c) the Film is not
subject to litigation nor is it threatened by any litigation.
3. I further represent and warrant that, to the best of my knowledge,
the exhibition of the Film at the Festival will not violate or infringe
any copyright, patent, privacy right, publicity right, trademark,
service mark or any other personal or property right of any person or
entity and that my Film does not constitute a defamation of any person
or entity. I have paid and will pay in full all license fees, clearance
fees, and other obligations, of any kind, arising from the exhibition
of the Film in connection with the Festival.
4. If accepted, I acknowledge that the exploitation of the Film does
not create any confidential or fiduciary relationship between the
Festival and I. I understand that I will not receive any compensation
for such exploitation, although some prizes at the Festival may include
cash awards. I acknowledge that no obligation of any kind is assumed by or may be implied against the Festival because of the Festival's selection of the Film. I understand and acknowledge that the selection of my Film by the Festival does not in any way constitute an express or implied endorsement or approval by the Festival or any opinion expressed therein.
5. I agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Festival with any affiliate, subsidiary and parent entities and the officers, directors, employees, attorneys, creative advisers and
agents of each of the foregoing from and against any and all claims,
losses, or liabilities (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that may
be asserted against any of the foregoing or incurred by any of the
foregoing at any time in connection with the Film or the Festival's use
thereof, and/or arising from any breach or alleged breach of any
representation made by me to MFF.
6. I represent that I am 18 years of age or older, or that if I am
younger than the legal age to enter into contracts in my state, I have
provided a written consent from my parent or legal guardian. I agree
that any controversy arising out of or in connection with my Film and
the Festival will be governed by the internal laws of the State of
Alaska and conclusively determined by arbitration in the City of
Palmer in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration
Association before a single arbitrator mutually agreed by the parties.
I hereby waive any and all rights and benefits which I might otherwise
have or be entitled to litigate any such dispute in court, including
without limitation a trial by jury.
7. If accepted, I hereby grant without reservations, to the Festival, and their related entities (a) the right to use footage, stills and/or titles or the film in its entirety and information from the Film for
promotional, public pre-screening, network television or online broadcasting and or post-screening purposes without recourse to the owner, producer, director, or any other party asserting ownership rights of the submitted film and (b) the right to issue and authorize publicity concerning the filmmakers and the Film and to use all associated names, likenesses and biographical information. I also agree to provide contact information for the director and producer(s) of the Film and grant the Festival the right to provide this information to film industry organizations sponsoring Festival events at its discretion.
8. If and when accepted I will not withdraw my submission for any purposes.
9. By submitting my film to the festival I constitute my full and complete
acceptance of the terms hereof. I acknowledge that no oral
representations of any kind have been made by the Festival.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • O. Corbin Saleken

    I partly decided to attend because I'd never been to Alaska, but mostly because I got a good vibe from the very responsive festival programmer. I was very glad that I made the trip. The venue was incredible, the festival people treated me and the other guests very well, and I met some cool filmmakers. In short, I had a great time at the inaugural Machetanz Film Festival.

    July 2016
  • Pedro Solís García

    We could not attend the festival so we can only value communication and networking.
    They have not published award winners, when we asked for them they answer with excuses about volunteers.
    They where totally intransigent with dates. They asked for materials without margin to send. We may insist that the time difference is 10 hours between Alaska and Spain.
    They even asked for a second copy of our short film because they were supposed to have hard drive fail the day before the Opening.
    In our opinion filmakers deserve a better deal.

    June 2016
  • Andreas Gejke

    I didn't visit the fesitval but got a good feeling for it. Fine selection of films, good communication and intense marketing. I would like to go there some day.

    June 2016
  • Mary Katzke

    This is a new festival with a lot of passion, a terrific venue with state of the art projection system and sound, and colorful curation.

    June 2016