The Ojai Short Fest - bringing together Film, Art and Music all in one weekend in beautiful and magical Ojai!

Come join us and experience an eclectic selection of short films and web-series episodes along with some live groovy music sounds by local and visiting artists. Our inaugural year, 2018, was a grand success with two official selections, “Weekends” and “Period. End Of Sentence” being nominated for the Oscars and “Period. End Of Sentence” winning Best Documentary Short! We are now all geared for 2019 to be a bigger blockbuster season!

Ojai Short Film Fests 2019 addition is accepting the following categories -

1. Narrative and documentary shorts and web-series episodes of any genre, live-action and animation, from all over the world and must tell a unique story with a compelling message. diversity, human interest, sustainable, and conscious lifestyles.

2. Branded content

3. Introducing the Pilot Short Series Pitch Fest! - Accepting short series pilot submissions to be a art of our first-ever pitch fest!
- pilot episode should be 25 minutes or under
- Any genre
- Global and local stories that are diverse, inclusive, compelling, and have the potential to break barriers and set future trends.

SPOTLIGHT: Starting this year, we are introducing the SPOTLIGHT initiative. We will be showcasing select films that tell thought-provoking, innovative and creative storytelling by filmmakers from one particular region in the world. This year our SPOTLIGHT is South Asia.

About:
FUSEMM is a digital interface that will be streaming short form content, both scripted and unscripted. Launched in 2018, the vision is to provide an alternative viewing experience for the ever expanding digital mobile universe.

Awards & Prizes

Audience Choice Award - Film
Audience Choice Award - Web-Series
Best Screenplay Award - Pilot Short Series

Rules & Terms

Guidelines:

1. Duration:
Film/episode must be between 1min and 15min. No more than 15min.

2. Accepting:
- Any genre/sub-genre/experimental
- Narrative/documentary/music video
- Live action and animation

3. Screener:
Please provide a private Vimeo or unlisted you tube link for review.

4. Pilot Short Series - submit a one-page synopsis with character breakdown. After review, we will assess and request the pilot episode.

4. Fee:
Submission fee of $10. This goes towards basic operational costs. Refer fee section for additional details.

5. Selection and Notification:
Filmmakers will be notified by September 6th or earlier. Since this is a bi-annual film festival, should your film be accepted but cannot fit into the current quarter's programming, it will be showcased in the next quarter's screening.

8 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Sean Fredricks

    Great festival! Super well organized, by incredibly nice people, in a beautiful place.

    March 2020
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  • Howard Vause

    Would have love to have attended in person - but my family were there - and they loved it! A high quality and varied programme, cool, comfortable and friendly vibe was their verdict. Ojai SFF are top notch communicators and made me feel very much a part of the event. Many thanks for a great (long distance!) festival experience.

    February 2020
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  • Jack Kenny

    What a great time!! Everyone was wonderful! The other movies were all very high quality, and the venue was clean and well presented! We had a terrific time! Plus, Ojai is a wonderful town!

    December 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Hi Jack!

    Thanks very much for your review and feedback on the 2019 Ojai Short Film Fest!

    We are very happy that you enjoyed all the aspects of the film festival! Your review helps us make the festival improve and evolve for the next year! We were thoroughly honored you attended and were a part of the post-screening discussion. Also, the your film The Birds Sing Too Loud was very well received!

    Warmest regards,
    Sunil Sadarangani
    Co-founder & DIrector of Programming

  • Presley Paras

    For being a 1st time festival; Sunil, Austin & his team did a wonderful job of setting & communicating pertinent info needed to attend the festival - lodging, tickets, viewing, etc. Even more so, they did great job of pushing my film through their instagram & twitter. Additionally, I loved how they programmed movies based on theme instead of types. It offered a unique collection of films and they were fun to watch. The strength of this festival remain rests on the shoulder of the people who set it up -- they're all wonderful and caring people. Truly a great group. What I would've liked is more opportunity to congregate with a group of professionals in a certain location/space (like other festivals). It forces a sense of community and interaction if everyone attends a certain space. This of course was challenging due to the resources available in Ojai (lovely town btw) but wanted more opportunities to connect with filmmakers in between blocks/etc. Overall, a strong value for the application fee considering it's so close to LA.

    December 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Hi Ali!

    Thanks very much for your review and feedback on the just concluded 2019 OSFF! We most appreciate it! We definitely plan to grow and shape networking opportunities for filmmakers and provide a more intimate and focused dialogue keeping our mission statement in mind. Due to our financial restraints, it being a brand new festival, we were unable to have another full day to conduct this activity. Our forthcoming year and moving forward we will have such interactive sessions and present more business opportunities for the filmmakers! Thank you again for attending! We loved your film and presence of you and your crew!

    Warmest regards,
    Sunil Sadarangani
    Co-founder & DIrector of Programming

  • Vickie Rose Sampson

    The Ojai festival was so much fun! Such a beautiful place to be in. Everyone was so gracious, helpful and happy. There was a good turn out for my short You Drive Me Crazy and the audience had a great response to it. I wish the venue was better suited for screening the films though. The sound could be better and projection system too. The organizers did a great job curating and I met one if the actresses in a film in my block and who knows? We may make a film together! For only their second year, they made a great festival! I am submitting another film for next year!

    December 2019
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