Submissions

Call for entries for the 46th AAFF is now closed. Submissions for the 47th festival will open in July '08.

Filmmakers accepted into the 46th Festival will be notified mid-February by email.

Entry Fees and Deadlines

• Early: 30$ ~ August 1, 2007
• Standard: 40$ ~ October 1, 2007
• Late: 45$ ~ November 15, 2007
• Extended: 65$ ~ December 1, 2007

Submissions must be postmarked by the specified dates. November 15th is the latest an entry may be postmarked and still be considered for competition.

Please read the submission guidelines. We receive over 2000 submissions each year, so it's a big help to us if every submission is formatted the same way.

Submission Formats

The following formats are acceptable for films submitted into competition:

• 16mm ~ Please see guidelines specified below
• DVD ~ Region free DVDs (PAL or NTSC) are preferred; No HD DVD or Blu-ray discs please
• VHS ~ All formats acceptable

Ways to submit a film to the festival

Prescreening and Shipping Procedures

Please do not use packing popcorn when shipping any format of film. If your film is selected for the festival program, you must provide an exhibition copy (16mm, 35mm, Mini DV, Beta SP) by March 1, 2008.

One AAFF entry form or withoutabox number 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.

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. If your film is accepted, you will be notified of how to submit your press material.

If you wish to have the receipt of your entry acknowledged, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard with your film.

AAFF Entry Fee

The AAFF is a nonprofit organization, and like many film festivals in the United States, entry fees are a critical part of the organization's operating budget. The AAFF is financially dependent on submissions fees, especially now due to our lack of state funding.

Due to some legislators in Michigan who not only believe that some of the work that we screen at the AAFF is too controversial for the public but also believe that there should be no government funding of the arts, our past due and future state funding have been jeopardized. See our Censorship Controversy page for more information and ways to get involved.

As a result, the AAFF will not waive entry fees for the 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival. We appreciate your understanding, and we are sympathetic to the accumulating costs that festival entry fees are for filmmakers.

Please send entry fees (check, credit card or money order) with your film and entry form. Make entry fees payable to Ann Arbor Film Festival.

16mm

If you would like the festival to prescreen a 16mm print of your film, please note that tungsten projectors are used during the pre-screening process; xenon projectors are used festival week at the Michigan Theater. It is your choice whether to send a tungsten or xenon print. All 16mm prints will be returned after the festival.

Each film submitted must:

• Be mounted on a reel (not a core) heads-out
• Be contained in a film can
• Be shipped in a standard shipping case or reusable mailing container
• Have beginning and ending leader
• Have labels on the shipping cases, cans, reels, and film leader with film title, filmmaker name and telephone number

DVD and VHS

Tapes, DVDs & cases must be labeled with film title, filmmaker name, phone & email. Please cue VHS tapes.

Please include a self addressed stamped envelope if you would like us to return your prescreening copy after the festival.

Shipping Addresses

Rules & Conditions

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. All exhibition formats, regardless of original format, must be 16mm, 35mm, DVD or Beta SP with either an optical soundtrack, or silent. Foreign entries should have English subtitles.