Now going into our 12th year! The Awesome Con Short Film Festival, the film festival that brings fandom and filmmaking together, one of the funnest and most fan friendly film festivals that you'll attend or be part of, and it takes place inside one the biggest pop culture convention in the united states, Awesome Con in Washington DC.

Every year Awesome Con has movie stars guests, pop culture icons, cult legends and must see comic book and fine artist from around the world that take part in their show, and every year its averages about 70,000 and plus attendees, thus making it the perfect place to have your film be seen by a true pop culture audience.

The goal of the film festival is to get your film seen and noticed and enjoyed, by not just your friends and family and other filmmakers, but by a real audience. And the truth is, in this type of setting, you never really know who might be sitting and watching your film.

Each day of the convention there will be a block of films selected by the festival judges and screened in mixed genres. The genres that we will be screening are Horror, Sci Fi, Action, Drama, Comedy, Animation, Fantasy and Documentary

The end of each screening block will be followed by a filmmakers Q&A with any attending filmmakers whose works were shown.

Our industry professional judges will vote for "Best Film", "Best Cinematography" and "Awesome Performance" Awards.

Plus the audience will vote for "Awesome Film Award" Audience choice award.

If your film is chosen to be part of the festival, your film will receive a single three day pass to Awesome Con, which can be used to attend the festival and the massive pop culture convention.

20 MIN RUN TIME LIMIT

If the film is over 20 mins and under 30min, it can still be under consideration, but since its a short film festival, longer films have more of a challenge to program in.

Awesome Con itself is a family convention. You can submit any film you want, but the content and quality and how it is perceived within the structure of the festival will be a factor in its judging. But please submit anything you feel strongly about, we do want to see it.

Your film does not need to be a premiere and it can exist online to be considered for the festival. But if the film does exist online, just as a screening courtesy, if it is chosen, try your best to make it not view-able during the screening weekend.

CLOSED CAPTIONING FILE WILL BE NEEDED

And of course, submission into the festival does NOT guarantee it will be screened at the festival. NO REFUNDS

Please make sure you hold all copyrights to your film and its elements.

And finally, if your film is chosen, please have promotional material ready to be submitted as it will integrated into Awesome Con and Awesome Con Short Film Festival marketing materials.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Tamara Hernandez

    Awesome Con was fun. I enjoyed the creative atmosphere there. The festival has created a welcoming space for filmmakers, and the audience engagement made it especially rewarding. Joe, the festival director was really nice. I enjoyed sharing my filmmaking experience at the panel and it was also great to meet all the other filmmakers. I’m grateful to have been part of it.

    March 2026
  • Noelle P. Wilson

    Awesome Con is... Awesome! Seriously though - Joe does an incredible job of programming top notch films and packing the house. Will definitely be referring this festival to my fellow filmmakers and hope to return myself again and again! ALL THE STARS!!!

    March 2026
  • Two Hander

    Salute to Joe and the entire team for amazing, curation, community, communication and all! World-class experience and we are honored to be a part of it!

    March 2026
  • This fest was AWESOME! Joe is the best and was so great to work with. Definitely recommend!

    March 2026
  • Excellent festival, very well organized, very responsive festival directors, high quality films and an incredible venue at the DC Convention Center. Plus you get to experience AwesomeCon, which is awesome :)

    March 2026