The Santa Barbara Student Film Festival is the first film festival for students in Santa Barbara County. The film festival is an opportunity for student filmmakers in Santa Barbara County to showcase their work with the community. Filmmakers are encouraged to utilize this opportunity to share their passion for film and their voice. Films can be about anything you want and may be any genre as long as they do not contain excessive profanity or inappropriate material and are not a political parody, gory, or a music video. A panel of judges will select the top films, which will be screened at the film festival. The festival will take place on May 20, 2016 at 6:00 P.M. at the Fé Bland Forum at Santa Barbara City College. We look forward to your submissions!

A prize of $250 USD and a custom SBSFF T-shirt will be given to the best short film in each category (narrative, animation, and documentary).

Submission Requirements:
– Only (1) entry per person.
– Films must not exceed 10 minutes.
– Films cannot contain anything controversial and no excessive profanity.
– No music videos or political parodies are allowed.
– Films must fit into one of the three categories: narrative, animation, and documentary.
– All work must be original and created for this project by the entrant(s).
– Films may not include copyright material unless they have written permission from the copyright owner or the proper licenses.
– No fee is required to enter the festival.
– Films must be in English or have English subtitles.
– All entrants will be notified via email of acceptance around May 14, 2016.
– The submission period ends on May 2, 2016 at 11:59 PDT.
– By submitting a film entry, each entrant and/or member of a team grants the Santa Barbara Student Film Festival a nonexclusive license to use the film in marketing, promotional material in all media, and screening
– The Santa Barbara Student Film Festival assumes no responsibility for any failure to receive an entry.

Eligibility:
– Entrant(s) must be a registered high school or college student in Santa Barbara County. Physical proof may be asked.

How to Enter:
– Submissions may be made by uploading to a FilmFreeway.
– If your film is selected, you will be asked to provide a physical copy of the film (acceptable formats include QuickTime movie on a DVD-R that must be labeled with the film title, director’s name, and email).

Winner Selection & Prizes:
– Judges will make their selections in the time period between the submission due date and the film festival screening.
– Films will be judged by a panel of judges.
– Following the submission period, judges will judge each film based on the following criteria:
– 30% for quality of storyline and script
– 20% Production Quality (e.g. lighting, shot composition, focus, sounds)
– 15% Editing
– 35% Creativity and/or content originality
– Judges will select multiple films, which will total to a maximum of 60 minutes in running time, to be screened at the film festival.
– The highest scoring film in each category (narrative, animation, documentary) will receive a prize of $250 USD and a custom SBSFF T-shirt.
– Student teams will not receive individual awards.
– The judges’ decisions are final.