We accept family-friendly short films (15 minutes max.). Ours is a community-based, human-scale, family-friendly festival. We show all types of films in a family-oriented festival. Categories include Comedy, Drama, Family & Home, Horror, and Kids/Animation.

This festival has grit: we carried on right through the pandemic, via a drive-in format. We took a break in 2024/25 to recharge - we're back to normal now, and 2027 will be our 9th year. Marcellus has a strong school district, and since 2026 we're getting students more involved with judging and organizing the festival.

Marcellus is a village in a wonderful setting along Nine-Mile Creek in Upstate New York, with a limestone gorge, woods, valleys and the Finger Lakes nearby. We've grown in size and sophistication as a festival, but hopefully maintained our small-town values: bucolic, broad minded and surprisingly worldly. This is a village film festival: popcorn is free, sodas are 50 cents, Mr Spielberg is unlikely to be here, and the volunteers working on the festival do it between their real jobs. We take the time to view and comment on all submissions, and even more on the Official Selections. And we think there will be some hidden jewels in the screenings, with new film-makers to watch out for. We sometimes shorten the name to M3F3!

Features:
- Youth (18 yrs old or younger) are free to submit! Use the coupon 'Youth' at submission time. Must include proof of age.
- Student movies are 50% off! Must include student ID.
- Special Category 2027: Climate Change (submit in any category)
- Payment of prize money within 7 days via paypal or venmo

Awards & Prizes

Prizes will be given to the winners in each category, with an overall prize awarded by the audience and Festival Director to the most outstanding film submitted. We anticipate the awards in each category to be around US$50, with the overall prize in the region of US$100. Festival submission fees go towards prize monies, so these amounts go up or down depending on the number of submissions we get each year.

Rules & Terms

Thanks for considering submitting to our festival! We appreciate it. We know how many other festivals there are out there. Follow these simple rules for a trouble-free experience...

Films must be 15 minutes or less. Films must be submitted online via FilmFreeway and be available for screening as a digital file in MP4 format at HD720p definition. You must be the copyright holder to submit the film. You agree that by submitting the film, you have enabled the organizers of M3F3 to download Official Selections before the festival and exhibit the film during the festival. 

Films must have been completed after June 1 2026. Films must be available for screening during the M3F3, May 2027. Films selected for screening but unavailable for download (it happens!) will be disqualified.

We do not accept works-in-progress and will not update a submission with a more recent cut. Please do not submit your film until it is complete.

Once an entry payment has been processed we cannot provide a refund. If a payment is disputed, the account holder may be subject to any fees. Films submitted using improper fee waivers (e.g. youth or student fee waiver with no supporting documentation uploaded) will be disqualified with no refund. If your film wins a prize, you must supply a paypal or venmo accunt in order to receive prize money.

No films with inappropriate content (likely to be rated as R-Restricted) should be submitted to the M3F3 - all films are pre-screened and any films with inappropriate content (such as use of significant swearing) may be rejected from the competition. Use your judgement for PG-13 rated content.

Judges may not grade entries for which they are the submitter, know the submitter or are related to the submitter, nor may they grade entries in the same category as their own film.

Please Note: M3F3 does not waive entry fees. M3F3 believes waiving entry fees hurts the integrity of the competition. The same rules and entry fees should apply to all applicants so no one film is favored over another. In a similar respect, M3F3 does not invite films to be in competition. Only films that are submitted will be considered for competition.

M3F3 reserves the right to change the submission category at the discretion of the Festival Director.

26 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Alfred Hernandez

    So great to be part of Marcellus Mini Movie Family Film Festival with my video Fruit Crate City and Me. So very important to showcase works for with and by young people. Not enough of this type of festival around.

    June 2026
    Helpful
  • Jean-Luc Rochat

    We are very happy to be an award winner of your festival. So glad your audiance could apreciate our Movie! Thanks a lot for your organisation and communication, everything was very fluid :-)

    November 2023
    Helpful
  • John Michaud

    I was so grateful to be included in this year’s festival. Friendly communication from beginning to end. Thank you!

    November 2023
    Helpful
  • Antonio Maria Castaldo

    Wonderful festival, one of the best

    November 2022
    Helpful
  • Manos Triantafillakis

    The Marcellus is a jewel Festival 💎 I highly recommend it to every Family Filmmaker 🎥 Honour and joy to selected our movie JUST LIKE WATER the audience as a Winner 🏆 Warm greetings with all of my love from Greece 🇬🇷

    January 2022
    Helpful