nukhufest is an audience voted festival and online premiere opportunity powered by nukhu.com, a curated, submission based streaming platform built to help independent films get discovered and monetized.

We call our releases nuvees (nukhu movies): short films, feature films, music videos, and episodic work curated for Concept, Aesthetics, and Relatability.

Founded in New York by filmmaker and entrepreneur Sanjay Singh, nukhu began as a studio in 2010, launched its streaming platform in 2014, and started nukhufest in 2015.

At a glance
• Format: rolling curation on nukhu.com, then community voting, then an in person NYC celebration where the Best Nuvee is announced
• Creator control: filmmakers keep control of pricing and film rights within a non exclusive marketplace model
• Monetization: films can be priced from $0.10 and creators earn 50 percent of each purchase
• Marketing support: selected films can be scheduled with paid marketing and publicity support
• Mission: we prioritize supporting underserved and underrepresented artists through our foundation’s programs

How selection works
• Submit on FilmFreeway
• If your film is selected, you will receive instructions to upload to nukhu.com as an Official Selection Semi Finalist
• Accepted films premiere on nukhu.com every Wednesday, scheduled in coordination with each filmmaker’s preferred premiere timing and rollout.
• Semi Finalists are voted on by nukhu members; the top voted titles advance and culminate in the Best Nuvee announcement

Deadlines
• Semi Finalists curated by the nukhu committee until August 8
• Top 10 Finalists curated by voting members until August 29
• Top voted Finalist announced as Best Nuvee at 8 PM ET on September 19

Film eligibility
• Films completed in 2024 or later and uploaded by August 8 are eligible for nukhufest 2026
• Prior screenings do not disqualify a film; online premiere status may be considered
• Any genre, any duration

To become a voting member, visit nukhu.com.
To participate as a Semi Finalist partner, submit on FilmFreeway.

Awards & Prizes

nukhufest is designed to do more than award a laurel. Selected films can receive marketing support and participate in a viewer driven festival pathway that ends with an in person NYC announcement.

Marketing and audience
• Official Selections are released weekly (Wednesdays) with coordinated promo support.
• Promotional support and paid marketing opportunities for Official Selections
• Community voting on nukhu.com determines the films that rise to the top

Revenue
• Films can be priced from $0.10 and filmmakers earn 50 percent of each purchase

Best Nuvee winner receives
• Hand crafted nukhu ball
• $3,000 Development to Distribution Grant awarded annually to the Best Nuvee (popular vote)

Rules & Terms

nukhu content submission guidelines: nukhu is a curated media festival and marketplace that helps filmmakers by allowing their short films, feature films, and music videos to be available online. If you are interested in having your audio-visual content appear on nukhu.com, you may submit it to nukhu for consideration by filling out an official submission form, paying any applicable submission fee, and uploading your content. You may make multiple submissions. By following the above submissions procedure, you represent, warrant and agree that: (I) nukhu is under no obligation to accept any submission or return submitted materials to you; (II) You own the copyright in all of the content that you submit (except to the extent it incorporates public domain materials or music, clips, or other materials that are properly licensed); (III) You currently hold and own all world wide digital and other distribution rights in all content that you submit and will promptly advise nukhu if there is a change in such circumstances at partner@nukhu.com. Submission fees are non-refundable and subject to change. If nukhu notifies you that it would like to feature your content on its platforms, then you will be given an opportunity to enter into a “Content License Agreement” with nukhu, which, among other things: (i) will grant nukhu the non-exclusive right to distribute, market, promote, reproduce, perform, display and sell downloads of and stream your submission on nukhu.com and other nukhu-branded URLs; and (ii) will give you the right to share in a percentage of the net revenue derived from sales and other exploitations of your content by nukhu. If nukhu presents you with a Content License Agreement, and you wish to have your content on nukhu.com, nukhu may also require you to provide stills from your audio-visual work, related press materials, a director head shot and filmography, and/or a video trailer of your work. Please do not send any materials to nukhu (other than your initial audio-visual submission) unless asked to do so by nukhu. Unless a Content License Agreement is signed between nukhu and you, nukhu will not use content you submit by the above procedure for any purpose except as required by nukhu to internally determine, in its sole discretion, whether it is interested in featuring your content on its platforms. You are not giving up copyright ownership over your audio-visual content by submitting it to nukhu by the above procedure.