For the third year, Creative Guts presents the Creative Guts Short Film Festival!

Independent filmmakers from New Hampshire and beyond are invited to submit their short films to our short film festival, which will be hosted at Red River Theatres in Concord, New Hampshire, on the evening of Thursday, July 30th. We welcome film submissions from any genre that are 15 minutes or shorter. The spirit of this festival is to celebrate the creativity, voice, and collaboration of filmmakers. We encourage submissions from creatives of all backgrounds and at any stage in their filmmaking journey to apply. Show us your creative guts!

A jurying process will be conducted to approve selected films. Works that are hateful, pornographic, contain content that propagates discrimination, and/or violate any national or international law will not be accepted. Youth may submit works to the festival with a release by a parent or guardian. We strive to make our film festival as accessible as possible, and require an open caption file.

Tickets to the festival will be available for purchase through Red River Theatres website starting in June. Filmmakers of selected films will receive one free ticket to the festival.

Awards & Prizes

Award categories will be announced in early July.

There will be award recognition at the festival and in our post-festival marketing. There are currently no monetary prizes for the awards, but this is subject to change. Award winning films may be included in a limited-run showcase at Red River Theatres.

Rules & Terms

GENERAL RULES & GUIDELINES

- Films must be 15 minutes or under.

- A jurying process will be conducted to approve selected films.

- All entrants will be notified of the Festival’s decision by late June.

- This festival screens films as digital files during the Festival and will not screen films on Blu-Ray, HD-CAM, or DCP. By submitting, you agree to provide us your film as a digital file for exhibition by July 1, 2026, not exceeding 2GB.

- Films must be completed at the time of submission. Rough cuts will not be considered.

- Films must be the original work of the applicants (no generative AI). Any films infringing copyright will not be accepted. Your submission must not contain any materials and/or content (including visuals, music, etc) that you do not have permission to use. By submitting your film to this festival, you confirm that you have secured all necessary rights.

- Creative Guts is not responsible for any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, or royalty infringement related to the work.

- Works that are hateful, pornographic, contain content that propagates discrimination, and/or violate any national or international law will not be accepted.

- Youth may submit works to the festival with a release by a parent or guardian. Parent/guardian should email Creative Guts at hello@creativegutspodcast.com to obtain a release form.

- Individuals are allowed to submit up to three short films to the festival.

- We strive to make our film festival as accessible as possible, and require an open caption file. Please note that captions are different from subtitles in that subtitles only contain a transcript of dialogue. Captions are a transcript of a film’s dialogue, sound effects, and music.

- Submissions can be in any language; English captions must be included.

- Every submission must be in horizontal format of a full HD (1920 X 1080 pixels). If a video is produced in square or vertical formats, the file should be inserted in the horizontal full HD format with black bands on the sides.

- By submitting your film, you granted Creative Guts and the Red River Theatres the right to utilize any submitted materials, including video and still images for purposes of promotion of the festival.

- Red River Theatres may screen festival films on a limited run after the festival. By submitting your film, you granted Red River Theatres the right to screen your film for up to 4 weeks.

- Submissions to this festival are $15. As a nonprofit organization, Creative Guts relies on these modest fees to cover production costs and sustain opportunities like this for our creative community. If this fee is a barrier, please email hello@creativegutspodcast.com to request a submission waiver.

5 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Meera Chaudhary

    thank you so much for recogning my film Poison in my blood with the Eye opener award of 2025. i had great experience with the communication team of teh festival.

    June 2026
    Helpful
  • Aaron Cooper

    Loved being involved in this festival, and I look forward to submitting films to it in the future.

    January 2026
    Helpful
  • Nick Czerula

    This was a fantastic festival. The pre-event vibe was great, everyone was friendly and networking.
    The festival ran smoothly and the audience really enjoyed the programming. This was obvious to their interactions with each film while applied and the applause afterward. Definitely recommended!

    August 2025
    Helpful
  • Jonney Zomberg

    Was unable to attend in person but the organizers were highly communicative and accommodating to my film. My friend who was able to attend the show said it was great!

    August 2025
    Helpful
  • Daniel Paul

    This was a wonderful film festival held at a wonderful venue The Red River Theatres in Concord. Very well organized, and a wonderful showcase of the film-making talent in this region. I sincerely hope it happens again next year. My kudos to everyone involved who made it happen!!

    June 2024
    Helpful