The New Haven International Film Festival Fall of 2021, is 4 Days and Nights Of Film Exhibition and Competition, Education, Music And Of Course - Parties & Networking!
We expect to run virtually and hopefully physically. More to come very soon. Please stand by for updates.

The New Haven International Film Festival wants to help you get your film out there, seen by the world, and then picked up for distribution. Each year we help many filmmakers connect with production partners and ultimately their online and theatrical distributors.

The NHIFF is Connecticut Film Festival's BIG annual event! It is the culmination of our statewide weekly and monthly screening and series that takes place in half a dozen theaters, museums, and cultural & art venues throughout the state.

The 2021 NHIFF plans to showcase more than 175 fantastic, thought-provoking and entertaining films in numerous award competition categories including but not limited to: Comedy, Narrative Feature, Documentary, Shorts, Micro Shorts, PSAs, Advertisements, Student, and Animation as well as Web Series and Parody Commercials and News Pieces.

The City of New Haven IS the arts and cultural hub of Connecticut as well as a hotbed for innovation and emerging digital media and content creation. New Haven is at the forefront of artistic expression, innovation, and of course emerging music. Its club and restaurant scene are only a few minute's walk from the majority of screening and workshop locations in the downtown area.

New Haven's young populous is not by accident. The downtown area and adjoining region are surrounded by colleges and institutions of higher education including Yale University, Gateway Community College, Albertus Magnus College, Quinnipiac University, University of New Haven, and Southern Connecticut State University to name just a few.

And speaking of education, NHIFF and CTFF are known for producing more than 100 educational events a year throughout the state. NHIFF promises more than a dozen educational workshops, panels, roundtables, and a keynote. Additionally, screenwriters will want to attend our 3-day "Writers Unblocked" intensive screenwriting program.

Audience Favorite
Best Narrative Feature Film
Best Comedy Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature Film
Best New Filmmaker 1st Feature Film
Best Children's Feature Film
Best International Feature Film
Best Student Feature (High School, Undergraduate, Graduate)
Best Connecticut Feature Filmmaker
Best Connecticut Grown Feature Film
Best Sports Feature Film
Best Animation Feature Film
Best Green & Environmental Feature Film
Best Political, Human Rights, Advocacy & Activist Feature Feature Film
Best Mockumentary

Best Music Video
Best Animation Short
Best Comedy Short
Best Documentary Short
Best Dramatic Short
Best Student Short
Best Sports Short
Best Web Series
Best Commercial/Advertisement (Television & Web)
Best Parody
Best Micro Short
Best PSA

The New Haven International Film Festival strives to use independent film, video and new media as a vehicle to challenge and excite audiences, inspiring them to make profound changes in themselves and the world. We feel that thought provoking visual stories, whether they be -documentary, drama or comedy, all have the power to inspire audiences to take action! That’s why your film will help provide our audiences with that important Independent Point of View!

The City of New Haven is a cultural and new media hotbed of film making, digital content creation, and visual arts and storytelling. Surrounded by students from more than a dozen of the region’s universities and colleges and home to Yale University, The New Haven International Film Festival attracts a diverse audience of students, educators, and moviegoers who appreciate film!

Visit www.newhavenfilmfestival.com for updates, times, and locations.

NHIFF Season
FILM SUBMISSION GUIDELINES & APPLICATION
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

To be eligible for consideration, all films must meet the following requirements:
-All entries must be postmarked no later than the deadline date.
-Submission fee. Payments are made through an online submission portal. Checks may be made payable to The Connecticut Film Festival.

Submission Media Format: NTSC Format Only
Feature films must be submitted (Preferably) Online through our submission platform/s or on 2 DVDs with labels indicating:
FilmFreeway tracking number (FF# _ _ _ _ )
The title
Director's name
Running time
Contact phone number
Email address
Applicable website URL
The festival will consider online screenings for feature-length films.

Short Film screeners must be made available online ONLY.

-All films must not have been commercially screened in Connecticut.
-All films must be in English or must have English subtitles.
-Only completed projects will be accepted.
-Filmmaker must have obtained all clearances for exhibition and must certify that the work is original and no disputes regarding ownership exist in the film.
-Only completed submission registrations will be accepted.
-All films must be available to screen immediately.
-Although complete care is given to every entry, the festival cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to materials submitted.
-Please do not send entries in fiber-filled mailers. These mailers can damage both your media and our equipment.
-Screeners will not be returned.

Marketing of your film and the festival
To facilitate the promotion of selected films, the NHIFF requests that submissions include an electronic press kit via Dropbox or other FTP sites or through FilmFreeway’s website. The EPK should not come on a disc. The EPK should include the following:

- 5 JPEG formatted images. 300 Dpi and no greater than 500kb
- 1 Poster image. Hi-Res. No greater than 2 Gb
- 1 WORD document with 3 synopses: a short 50-100 words, medium 100 – 250 words, and a long 250 – 500 words.
- 1 WORD document with 1-2 Press Releases. One short press release describing the film, a second more in-depth press release.
- 1 WORD document listing all URL and social media links

Theatrical Screening Formats
All accepted must be made available in the following formats:

Feature Length Films
BluRay and/or 2 Standard Definition DVD discs as a backup. An additional option is Digital format file: QT H264.MOV files will be considered for features.

Short Films, Commercial/Advertisements, and PSAs will be screened from digital files ONLY, with a few exceptions.

Short Films Theatrical Format: QT H264.MOV and MP4 files. Mail 2 Standard Definition DVD NTSC Only discs as a backup. Additional back up option: BluRay.

The management of the New Haven International Film Festival (NHIFF) and parent company: Connecticut Film Festival LLC (CTFF) reserves the right to decide all questions regarding the rules and regulations. Submission of a film constitutes that the filmmaker accepts the rules and regulations set forth herein.

All film entries selected for the Festival give the New Haven International Film Festival the right to use footage and/or titles from and information about the film for promotional purposes. Incomplete submissions will not be considered for The New Haven International Film Festival.

I, the undersigned, have read and understand the rules, regulations, and guidelines of the Connecticut Film Festival LLC and The New Haven International Film Festival. To the best of my knowledge, all the information is correct as indicated on the submitted entry.

The Connecticut Film Festival LLC and the New Haven International Film Festival is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes.

The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations.

The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless The Connecticut Film Festival LLC and New Haven International Film Festival 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. By submitting your project through FilmFreeway you acknowledge this paragraph.

The New Haven International Film Festival, Connecticut Film Festival, FilmFest52, Viva Cinema Latino Film Festival. The International PSA & Micro Shorts Competition, NYComedy Shorts, and its ancillary satellite events reserve the right to change event dates. There are no refunds for submissions.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Steven Lifshey

    It's been over a year since I was notified of acceptance to this festival, and no festival ever happened, nor was there any communication as to why. Considering that, I'm surprised there's still a listing for it.

    November 2022
  • Nope nope nope. No Communication, No Festival, No Return of Entree Fee. Seems this festival is done for.

    October 2022
  • chyna robinson

    Unfortunately, I have nothing good to say about this festival. We submitted with the impression that this was a respected festival, which would explain its high ratings. Sadly, we have received no communication nor refund for our submission. Filmmakers put a lot of time and a lot of money (with very little return, if any) into our projects and to not even communicate past the October 2021 is a slap in the face. It is now June 2022. It seems several of us have been extremely patient. Please show respect to the selected filmmakers and make this right.

    June 2022
  • Lionel Jeffries

    Either an outright scam or so spectacularly incompetent that it may as well be one. I'm a CT filmmaker myself and don't expect anything amazing to take place in this state, but when your festival is slated for 2021 and hasn't taken place by mid-2022 with zero compensation or meaningful communication by the "organizers", you have a pretty shameful farce of a show.

    Where to begin? I asked for my money back months after this thing was supposed to happen and didn't, and was refused by the festival "director". They don't have a functioning website. They used the pandemic as an excuse for their failures, which, by mid-2021 when the vaccines were rolled out, is pretty pathetic-- mind you, another small festival in CT, Mystic Film Fest, was able to put on a successful festival in October 2020 (!!!!) when the pandemic was much newer.

    The festival head said that other film fests that ran during covid wre "irresponsible", which is laughable. I've been to a handful of regional festivals during the covid era that were very well put on and completely safe.

    I encourage everyone else who was meant to take part in this to speak out. We aspiring filmmakers are collectively too timid about speaking out against scam festivals, and guess what-- this platform is full of em, but this has by far been the worst experience I've ever had from a "film festival" or anything off this platform. I'll be discarding my official selection png, not that it was worth anything anyway.

    If anyone responsible for the festival sees this, shame on you. I was a rent and tuition-paying film student when I submitted to this in the hopes that it'd be a worthwhile local event and you stole my money. "New Haven International Film Festival" is extremely fraudulent at worst and an amazing display of ineptitude and disregard for up and coming filmmakers at best. Connecticut and its filmmakers deserve much better than your likes.

    June 2022
  • Robert Menefee

    When will the festival actually happen? Will it be live or virtual? I’m waiting with great anticipation. I live in New Haven, and would love to attend or at least see the films virtually.

    I’m writing again. It’s April now, and I’m still waiting for the festival to happen. I can’t recommend this “festival” because it doesn’t actually exist.

    It’s now May and there is still no festival. I don’t recommend this festival. Is it a scam? Are the reviews by people who say they attended the festival for real; how could they be real when there was no festival to write a review about?

    December 2021