Welcome to the FilmFreeway page for the UPIKE Film and Media Arts Festival!

The upcoming festival will be our 11th iteration of the event. This year's festival will be held on campus at the University of Pikeville on Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th, 2026.

The biggest change we have made to our festival for this upcoming year is that we are returning to our original format of exclusively highlighting regional films and their creators from our tri-state region of KY, VA, and WV. Additionally, we are adding a new type of submission to our festival - video games. All the video game submissions must be from those connected to our tri-state region of KY, VA, and WV.

The primary goal of our festival has always been to promote the art of filmmaking and media production in Eastern Kentucky and the immediately surrounding region. Therefore, we have decided to go back to our roots and narrow our focus this year to exclusively screen films that are strongly connected to our tri-state region of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. To define this we ask that your film or game meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Was directed by someone from or currently residing in Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- Was written by someone from or currently residing in Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- Was at least partially shot/made in either Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- Was set in Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.

Other connections will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

We like narrative, documentary, animated, experimental, youth films, features, and shorts.

Our festival allows submissions from filmmakers of all ages, this includes elementary-level students all the way up through graduate students in college and professionals in the industry. For more information on rules and regulations, check that section out further down the page.

We prefer to accept submissions to our festival through this page using the FilmFreeway platform. It's very easy to create a FilmFreeway account, upload a digital copy of your film to FilmFreeway and apply to our festival. Once you've submitted your film to our festival it's easy to use the site to find and submit to additional festivals so we encourage you to take advantage of those opportunities as well.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at fmafest@upike.edu

Awards & Prizes

We will have some cash prizes at our film festival and will be giving out the following award certificates:

Best of Show
Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short
Best Animated Film
Best Experimental Film
Best UPIKE Film
Best Video Game
Young Filmmaker Award
School of Social Work Impact Award
Spirit of the Mountains Award

Rules & Terms

We only accept and screen films that are strongly connected to our tri-state region of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. To define this, we ask that your film meet at least one of the following criteria:

- Was directed by a filmmaker from or currently residing in Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- Was written by a screenwriter from or currently residing in Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- Was at least partially shot in either Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- Was set in Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia.

All filmmakers that submit are required to clarify their Kentucky, Virginia, or West Virginia connection in an accompanying cover letter or in their film information.

Failure to clarify this will result in us marking your submission "Incomplete" until you can clarify your entry's eligibility.

We require this because a significant number of films are inappropriately entered into our festival simply because we do not charge to submit. If you fail to explain your film's eligibility, it will eventually result in your entry being disqualified.

We are accepting works of all lengths (shorts and features) and types (documentary, animation, music video, and traditional narrative).

For purposes of categorization, we are considering feature films to be 40 minutes or longer, and shorts to be 39 minutes or less.

All that being said, if you are making a film specifically for this festival we encourage you to produce short films that are less than 10 minutes. As with any festival we only have so much time to show films, so the shorter your film is then the greater its chances are of being accepted and screened.

All entries need to be original work, and you must have the legal authorization to utilize all the content within your film.

We do not have a premiere requirement, but we do ask that you only submit works that were completed within the last 2 years.

Finally, we reserve the right to disqualify or reject your submission if we believe that it does not adhere to our rules or requirements.
37 Reviews
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  • Shane Devon

    UPIKE always shows respect to me and my films and it is always an honor to be included.

    April 2026
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  • Emma Howard

    I was honored to have my film "A Weekly Sting" be featured at this year's festival. I had a really great time and made friends. This festival offered great communication and was a great experience. I can't wait for next year.

    April 2026
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  • Samuel Felinton

    This was one of the best festivals I've attended regarding quality, value, and communication, it was nothing short of a great experience!

    October 2024
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  • Yndiana Montes Fogelquist

    Although I wasn't able to attend in person, I can. see the importance of this event. Communication and social media in special was great, and I'm grateful to professor Tom Hansell for letting me know about this film festival.

    April 2024
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  • Serkan Aktaş

    I was honored to participate in this year's UPIKE Film & Media Arts Festival with "Mirrorty" short film! - πŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒπŸ˜ƒπŸ™πŸ™πŸ™

    May 2023
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