Rules & Terms –
Thank you for your interest in the Buffalo International Film Festival (BIFF). BIFF welcomes submissions from across the globe, and works to provide Western New York audiences with regional premieres of films from around the world and around the region.
Overview –
1.) BIFF requires all invited films to be Western New York premieres (Erie, Niagara, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates Counties). Small private screenings and work-in-progress screenings in which an admission fee is not charged will not disqualify your film from consideration.
2.) Any film that premiered domestically or internationally prior to August 1, 2025 is not eligible for consideration.
3.) Films publicly available online (on platforms such as YouTube) will not be considered for the program. Films participating in online festival screenings with access restricted to paying patrons are eligible for consideration.
4.) If submitting to Racial Justice in View, please review the terms and conditions to affirm your film fulfills the requirements of this program. This free to submit program is only available to films that meet thematic, running time and geographic requirements detailed below.
5.) By submitting, you affirm you have the legal right to represent and submit this project for consideration to the Buffalo International Film Festival for consideration in our 2026 line-up.
6.) Buffalo International Film Festival curatorial staff may reclassify or program a film as it sees fit. Please only submit in ONE category. Western New York based projects for example are strongly encouraged to only submit in the discounted Western New York category.
To ensure that your project qualifies for a place in our 2026 line-up, please read through the following terms, conditions and rules governing our curatorial process. Your submission constitutes an acceptance of the following terms and conditions.
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TERMS OF ENTRY (FEATURES + SHORTS) –
1.) Acceptable Submission Formats: Entries submitted digitally (via FilmFreeway) will be considered. Private, password protected Vimeo links are preferred.
2.) Categories: BIFF defines short films as under 45 minutes. Films exceeding 45 minutes must be submitted in a feature film category. Each submission will receive full consideration - you need not submit to multiple categories as projects may be reclassified as the curatorial process progresses.
3.) BIFF defines 'Episodic Content' as Narrative, Documentary or Experimental works with story arcs unfolding over multiple episodes. Makers may submit a single episode or provide multiple episodes as a single video file for review. Episodic Content over 90 minutes will not be reviewed. Work that will be publicly available online (other than in a film festival with a virtual program) prior to the festival will not be considered.
4.) All selections are required to be a 'Western New York Premiere' as defined as not having screened publicly in the United States within a 60-mile radius of Buffalo, NY, prior to the festival. Small private and work-in-progress screenings are acceptable, provided no admission is charged and the event is not billed as a premiere.
5.) Feature films and shorts in all categories available to the general public in their entirety within the United States via Video-On-Demand platforms are not eligible to screen at BIFF. Films that have screened on a limited basis (no longer than two weeks) in virtual film festivals outside of the Western New York market are eligible to screen at BIFF.
6.) Films that have premiered domestically or internationally prior to August 1, 2025 are not eligible for consideration.
7.) Exhibition formats may vary from venue to venue. Formats generally are DCP and .MOV via a physical drive or download link. If you require a special exhibition format (such as screening on 16mm film) please email us before submitting to ensure we can accommodate your request.
8.) Submissions are reviewed by our screening committee on a rolling basis. Works-in-progress are reviewed, however we recommend submitting a version that is as close to a picture lock as possible. If your film is not yet complete please include your post-production schedule and work to be done (ie: color grading, score, sound mix) in your cover letter.
9.) You may replace your original submission at any time, however any prior evaluation of your film will not be discarded. The screening committee is under no obligation to and may not be able to review new cuts. Submitting a version that is as close to picture lock as possible with a cover letter is strongly recommended.
10.) All submissions are reviewed using the following criteria: strength of direction, storytelling, production/technical value, cultural value, and audience interest. We welcome diverse submissions that blur the boundaries between documentary, narrative and experimental work.
11.) If invited to screen at the Buffalo International Film Festival, you acknowledge the festival is under no obligation to provide accommodations or travel arrangements.
12.) Buffalo International Film Festival endeavors to complete our selection process by the notification date and inform all submitting parties via email of their selection status. Our notification may be subject to change if the review process takes longer than anticipated.
13.) Contacts designated on the submission record will receive information regarding your submission and applicable materials in the event your film is invited to screen. You agree to keep the contact information associated with your submission record up to date.
14.) Showtime and venue scheduling is at the discretion of the festival and may be subject to change.
15.) By submitting a project to BIFF you assert that you are the designated representative of the project’s producer and at this time have the right to enter into an agreement to exhibit the project at a film festival in the United States. You also agree, should the project’s distribution status or premiere availability in Western New York change, to inform the festival via email at info@buffalofilm.org prior to the Notification Date.
16.) Buffalo International Film Festival and its host venues aspire to provide the best quality presentation possible. All exhibition media provided in advance will receive a technical screening prior to its festival screening. BIFF and its venue partners will not be held liable for any failure in the technical quality of its presentation resulting in the cancellation or interruption of a screening. Submission fees are nonrefundable.
17.) You agree to hold BIFF harmless in the unlikely event that the 2026 Buffalo International Film Festival is cancelled, postponed or to move entirely online due to circumstances beyond our control including but not limited to a national, state, regional or city emergency. In the event the physical festival is canceled in whole or part submission fees will not be refunded, however BIFF will (1) complete the curatorial process (2) invite selected films to screen in a time and format BIFF is able to accommodate and (3) offer a fee waiver for a future project to filmmakers selected for the program.
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TERMS OF ENTRY (JUSTICE IN VIEW)
This free submission category includes RACIAL JUSTICE IN VIEW and DECOLONIAL SHORTS, and is newly expanded to include ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN VIEW and SOCIAL JUSTICE IN VIEW.
JUSTICE IN VIEW is open to films up to 10 minutes in length that are created by media makers based in New York State, Ontario Canada, and neighboring Indigenous Nations. Works may be narrative, non-fiction, experimental, or hybrid. Intersectional works are encouraged.
By submitting to JUSTICE IN VIEW you agree to include a brief statement qualifying the project for this category. Work submitted without a brief statement (using the cover letter feature) may be disqualified. Films submitted in the JUSTICE IN VIEW category may screen elsewhere in the program and films submitted in other short film categories may be invited to screen in a JUSTICE IN VIEW program.
BIFF reserves the right to discontinue this category at any time or to require a submission fee from a reviewed submission that does not meet the eligibility criteria stated above.
About BIFF's JUSTICE IN VIEW category:
Buffalo International Film Festival is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and expanding access through community collaboration programmatically and organizationally. Our mission is to amplify diverse voices by creating and maintaining open platforms with which to tell stories through cinema. Recent events in our nation and beyond have underscored the urgency of addressing injustice, and listening to the people that experience and witness these injustices first hand.
Expanding from and including BIFF's RACIAL JUSTICE IN VIEW Program (launched in 2020) – a free to submit to and attend, curated program of fiction and nonfiction film including narrative, documentary, experimental, video essays, hybrid forms, and everything in between; and exploring (de)colonialism, racism, protest, military and police brutality and inequality in the United States, Canada and sovereign Indigenous lands – JUSTICE IN VIEW is an expansion of this program line that encourages intersectional work and invites films that also focuses on economic, social, and environmental justice as well.
Equity issues are often intersectional, and as such much of the content that we program is hybrid, liminal, and embodies ”interrogatory, interstitial spaces” (Homi K. Bhabha), dealing with issues of colonial, racial, gender, economic and/or environmental justice simultaneously and blurring the boundaries between them.
We invite makers from Western New York, Tuscarora Nation/Ska:Ruh:Reh, Tonawanda Seneca Nation/Onödowa'ga:', Seneca Nation of Indians/Onödowa'ga:', Cayuga Nation territories/Guyohkohnyoh, Onondaga Nation/Onundagaono, Oneida Nation/Onayotekaono, Mohawk Nation/Kanienkahagen, Six Nations of the Grand River, Shinnecock Nation, Poospatuck Nation of the Unkechaugi, New York State, and Southern Ontario to submit video work under 10 minutes. We welcome old and new work for this category, but the work cannot be publicly accessible.
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QUESTIONS / ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE:
Please email the programming department at info@buffalofilm.org for assistance. Due to the volume of inquiries please allow a few days for a response.
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REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCEPTED PROJECTS:
Once an entry has been reviewed and selected for the festival, a preliminary invitation letter will be issued by email. Additional information will also be provided in a filmmaker welcome guide.
Upon notification, the Buffalo International Film Festival may request additional press kits and press screeners for each film, sent to the festival electronically.
Acceptance: No project may be withdrawn after accepting an invitation to screen at the festival. You affirm upon acceptance your film adheres to the terms of entry and festival rules including premiere status and agree not to hold a screening of your film within a 60-mile radius of Buffalo, NY prior to your screening. Limited private screenings of less than 15 persons for the purposes of feedback (such as a small friends/family screening or for the purposes of fulfilling a thesis/class requirement) are permissible on a limited basis.
Promotional Usage: Participants agree that all materials related to their film may be published in marketing materials included but not limited to our website, ticketing system, and other promotional materials or property and in all media. Posters and images of the film may be used independently as well as in combination with images from other films to promote the film and the Buffalo International Film Festival. The festival reserves the right to complete any information not supplied by the filmmaker from whatever source available and will not be responsible if incorrect information is entered.
Clearances: If selected for screening, all commercial/private property including trademark and/or copyrighted materials shown and recorded in the project must come with authorized permission for screening. You agree to hold the Buffalo International Film Festival harmless and to indemnify the festival, its sponsors and venues against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees and court costs) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, and screening.
Exhibition Files: File formats for exhibition are .mov and DCP (Digital Cinema Package). A filmmaker welcome guide will include additional details including deadlines for deliverables. You agree to furnish the Buffalo International Film Festival with a tested exhibition copy and applicable encryption keys (KDMs) no later than 20 days prior to your screening unless pre-arranged with our print traffic department.
Competition: Filmmakers selected for competition will be notified shortly after their acceptance. Films may opt out of competition at any time. Films wishing to compete must provide the festival with a private link to distribute to competition judges no later than September 15, 2026.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE BUFFALO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL!
