The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the longest running experimental and avant-garde film festival in North America. Founded by George Manupelli in 1963. Internationally recognized as a premiere forum for independent filmmakers and artists, each year’s festival engages audiences with remarkable cinematic experiences. The six-day festival presents 40 programs with more than 180 films from over 20 countries of all lengths and genres, including experimental, animation, documentary, fiction, and performance-based works.

Submission Details

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is open to all motion pictures and all genres that demonstrate a high regard for the moving image as an art form. Work previously submitted may not be re-entered. Entries are accepted in one of two categories: short and feature length. Short films are 59 minutes and under in runtime. Feature films are 60 minutes or longer in runtime. Foreign entries should have English subtitles.

The 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival will be held March 26–31, 2019, and the call for entries is now open. Submissions will be accepted through the end of September 2018.

For the month of September, the final deadline period, standard submission fees are $60 for a short film (1-59 minutes) and $70 for features (60+ minutes).

One AAFF entry form or withoutabox entry is required per film. Please submit a brief 2-3 sentence statement (no more than 70 words) about your film for use in the festival program.

Format

Formats accepted are 16mm and URL links. If you would like to submit a 16mm print of your film for pre-screening, please contact the AAFF at [email protected] to make shipping arrangements. We do not accept DVD, Blu-Ray, VHS, or video data files for screening purposes. Filmmakers whose work is selected for screening at the 57th festival in March 2019 will be notified by February 1, 2019.

Please do not submit a press packet with your film. Due to the volume of entries, we cannot ensure that your press packet will survive submission season.

Questions? Email us at [email protected] or visit https://www.aafilmfest.org/