Lost River Film Fest – chiefly hosted in the magical, spring-fed river town of San Marcos, in Austin's outskirts – spotlights independent cinema from Oct 17-20, 2024, for our eighth year running!

Soaked in a youthful, progressive, small-town-Texas vibe, Lost River intends to prove a splendid cocktail of compelling cinema, live music, poetry performances & much more.

The film fest is presented by San Marcos Cinema Club, the 501c3 film society of the nation’s fastest growing town of its size — whom the San Marcos Arts Commission selected for its prestigious 2016 SMarts Award.

Lost River — titled for our town’s fictional name in the campy, locally shot, 1978 horror film PIRANHA — exhibits short films & features, yielded from an international open call for submissions.

Juried awards for the winners in each category.

We are accepting submissions for the following categories:

Feature Narrative - All Genres (40 min. TRT minimum)
Feature Non-Fiction Documentary (40 min. TRT minimum)
Short Narrative - All Genres (40 min. TRT maximum)
Short Non-Fiction Documentary (40 min. TRT maximum)
Web Series (30 min. TRT maximum per episode - may submit up to 3 episodes)
Music Videos - All Genres (9 min TRT maximum)

Films must be completed AFTER January 1st, 2019 to be eligible for selection. Submitted projects that are commercially available are not eligible for juried consideration. We request that your content not be available for viewing online by general public until after November 9th, 2020.

ALL OF THE FOLLOWING MUST ACCOMPANY YOUR ENTRY:

-- Entry fee (must be paid online).

-- -- Film Synopsis: Three-line synopsis for Shorts; 250-word synopsis for Features (These may be used for Festival Program & website)

-- Upload Official Poster

Do not send any discs, online materials are sufficient for submission. No porn content is accepted. Lost River Film Fest (LRFF) is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening (including but not limited to multiple screenings in multiple U.S. and International locations), and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations. The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless LRFF from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

Please note: Films must be submitted as an online streaming video via a participating submission platform or via a password-protected streaming Vimeo URL. LRFF will be screening films as digital files during the Festival and does NOT screen films on Blu-Ray, HD-CAM, or DCP. Please DO NOT SUBMIT your film if you are unable to deliver your project as a digital file.

Requirements.
a. Submission of foreign language films is accepted, English subtitles are encouraged but not required.
b. Films must be submitted to at least one Genre.
c. Entry fees are non-refundable.
d. In the event of a password change or link change after submitting, you must email the Festival immediately with that change so we may update your record.
e. All submissions must include your: physical address, contact phone # and email address.

LRFF highly suggests that you submit only completed projects for consideration. Because of the limited time we will judge each submission as a completed projects for consideration. Because of limited time, we will judge each submission as a completed project regardless of level of completion. If your project is selected to screen at the Festival you will have the opportunity to deliver the most recent version of the film/TV/web content.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Unfortunately, I couldn't attend in person, but they were terrific in their communication. I plan on attending next year!

    November 2024
  • Aaron Gibson

    Had a great time at this year”s Lost River Film Festival. Great hospitality and met some other great filmmakers and participants. Thank you so much for accepting Take Care, Tar Creek and for the Q&A session.

    October 2024
  • Mágico! It was such a delight, I only wish I could’ve been there longer. Will definitely be coming back to lovely San Marcos. Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity to showcase our little corner of the RGV and so many other great films! Shout out to Jordan! Una vez más, muchas gracias estuvo maravilloso!

    October 2024
  • This year has been my first chance being on the festival circuit, and Lost River was a step above every other regional festival I've gone to. Even on a Thursday afternoon, I felt like Higher Knowledge, my microbudget body horror film, was cared for and given a wonderful highlight. The QnA had wonderful questions and moderation and the gift card for dinner at local restaurants helped a poor college student afford to enjoy the festival to the fullest. I hope to be back in San Marcos with my next film, and for Lost River to grow for many more years.

    October 2024
  • Thank you so much! We are honored to have been included for a second year. We’ll definitely be back!

    November 2023