We invite you and your films to the Western Heritage and Film Festival, Payson AZ, a celebration of the American West!
We ask that your submission uses, reflects, or springs from the classic genre, and that this is apparent in the majority of your entry. We are interested in tales that pull from authentic Western heritage -- whether Indigenous, White, Hispanic or other. We encourage submissions which consider the traditional Western from different perspectives and offer unique interpretations. Standard narratives about the Old West may be used and/or transformed, bridging the past and the present to make compelling stories. Post-modern Westerns are welcome. Your entry may be full length or short, a documentary or a commercial, web-based or animated.
The Western Heritage and Film Festival, Payson AZ is produced by the non-profit Rim Country Artists, which works to connect community through the arts. Our festival originated in 2024 with the desire to enhance the World’s Oldest Continuous Rodeo, held in Payson in August since 1884. Our festival packs a lot of action directly ahead of the rodeo. Last year we included a public dance, an outdoor cultural fair, and Cowboy Poetry. We had excellent partners in our event, including the Tonto Apache Tribe, Gila County, the Holbrook-Pyle Foundation, the MHA Foundation, and the Arizona Commission for the Arts. Calico Springs Studios, a local production company, is one of many other partners, as is the Territorial Troupers, a reenactment company. The past two years, we have shown a range of landmark Westerns, and hosted talks by Bob Boze Bell of True West Magazine and Stuart Rosebrook of the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott. They will continue to work with us as our festival grows. We are now excited to be adding a contest for independent film and filmmakers to our 2026 Western Heritage and Film Festival! As we progress through the years, our festival will add more elements and expand professional opportunities.
Entries will be judged on originality, storytelling, direction, screenplay, acting, cinematography, editing, and sound design. Whether this is your first effort, or your tenth, whether you produced your film on a shoe-string budget or had considerable financial backing, we heartily welcome your submissions.
During the festival only the winning entries and possibly honorable mentions will be screened. Filmmakers and friends are encouraged to attend the festival if possible, and if you win for a feature, we ask that you give a short introduction to your work. Participants will have ample time to connect with each other at meet and greets and at a celebration after the award ceremony.
Located midst the rugged mountains that made Rim Country one of the last “pioneer frontiers” in what was originally Apache Territory, Payson is now just a 90-minutes scenic highway drive north of Phoenix. Our town of 18,000 sits at 5,000 feet. It is surrounded by the Tonto National Forest, part of the largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa pines in the world. The air is pristine. Close by town you’ll find the biggest travertine bridge known on the planet -- in Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. Just up the road we have the newly restored 60-mile stretch of the Highline Trail, with its expansive views, running under the magnificent Mogollon Rim. We have excellent hunting, fishing, golf, and town trails and parks – including one with a lake. The town of Payson neighbors the Tonto Apache Reservation, with its thriving Mazatzal Hotel and Casino.
Come enjoy our downhome hospitality and be part of our inaugural quality independent film festival!

Awards & Prizes

We will give award plaques, laurel stickers, and cash prizes.

Rules & Terms

1. The majority of the submitted work must include or be relative to Western stories and the Western genre.
2. Nothing may be X rated. Any sexuality or violence needs to be part of the story – nothing gratuitous.
3. Students must provide documentation that they are enrolled as a student, or were at the time of filming, no matter their age.
4. Festival attendance is highly encouraged, though not required. If you have been notified that you are a winner, but will not be able to attend, you must provide the festival with a filmed introduction to your piece - no longer than 4 minutes.
5. The applicant holds the sole responsibility of copyright clearance of any copyrighted material in the film.
6. Our festival accepts films made anywhere in the world.
7. Films not in English must be subtitled in English, unless dialogue is minimal and not necessary for the comprehension of the story.
8. All films are to be submitted to judging through FilmFreeway.
9. We encourage you to not wait for the deadline. Please send us your film as soon as you are able. This will assist us greatly in the judging - thank you.
10. Submissions may be made in other formats, but DCP format is only accepted for the winners, and must be received by July 20th, 2026. Use simpledcp.com, and Sawmill Theatres will download your film from there.
11. Winners will be acknowledged on FilmFreeway and will get press coverage, as well as promotion on our festival and RCA websites and our social media outlets.
12. All submitted works will be judged by the Selection Committee and festival producers. We reserve the right to determine the eligibility of any project or to combine, delete, change, or add categories. Works will be categorized or changed at the sole discretion of the Festival Committee.
13. Filmmakers grant the WHFF the right to use, for promotional purposes, an excerpt from the film if it is selected for screening at the festival.
14. All applicants must complete the official festival submission form located on FilmFreeway.
15. Winners must sign a legal document releasing the WHFF and partners of liability.
16. The Western Heritage and Film Festival, Payson AZ, its directors, committee members, judges and volunteers, Rim Country Artists (RCA) and its Board members, Sawmill Theatres and its staff cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage.
17. By submitting to the Festival, you warrant, as sole and exclusive owner/s of all legal rights and titles, that you have absolute authority to submit to the Festival and have accepted responsibility for obtaining any and all clearances necessary to exhibit your film.
18. If artificial intelligence is used (AI), it must be identified in the credits. CGI is acceptable, and must also be identified in the credits. AI actors are not permitted.
19. By digitally signing the FilmFreeway submission form, each participant accepts the terms of these regulations.