Alexander Valley Film Festival

Hey folx, We hope you are safe and well. We need you and your stories more than ever! Here at the Alexander Valley Film Festival, we want filmmakers to have an awesome experience working with us and cultivating life-long relationships. In addition to screening cutting-edge films with distribution like FREE SOLO (2018) and PARASITE (2019), we select diverse works from and about underrepresented artists and communities. We actively seek: * Socially conscious films that depict characters in the richness of their culture and identities; * Works from directors of color; * Latinx- , LGBTQ+-, and female- driven narratives; and * Youth-oriented stories * TV Series episodes * Webisodes/New Media shorts Please do NOT submit to us if: * You want to meet distributors at the fest * You must have a screening fee for us to share your film * You have a slasher film * You feature gratuitous sexual content or blood and guts Still interested? YAY! Below is an overview of our festival. But before you submit, please read the basics: We exist to bring content to our community to which they would not otherwise have access. We're 80 miles north of San Francisco in rural wine county. We are the arthouse of Sonoma County. Here is the link to our Equity Statement: https://www.avfilmsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AVFS-EQUITY-STATEMENT-2.2.2021.pdf In 2022, we hope to offer every screening with Spanish subtitles and closed captioning. Diversity, equity, access, and inclusion are priorities for us. We will show ~80 films/projects for the festival, 15-20% of which will be from unsolicited submissions. We have two staff people year-round. We staff a handful of contractors and normally a hundred volunteers during festival time. Our festival budget is normally $95,000 of a $360,000 year-round budget. In 2021, it dropped to roughly $27,000 of a $226,000 year-round budget. We won't know until December what things look like for 2022. Three people from our anonymous, all-volunteer, community-based screening team will watch your film/project in the screening process. Shorts are watched all the way through. Features are given at least 30 minutes. Screeners can bow out after 30 minutes but are then not allowed to judge the film. Staff make the final decisions. All filmmakers will hear from us either way by early late March. Campaigning for your film does not hurt but your communications will not reach the screeners. All accepted films will be offered two all-access passes and at least a $100 honorarium if a representative can join us for a Q&A or panel. Additional passes may be purchased for $50. ####### AVFF regularly showcases and hosts new and emerging talents from all over the world. We will create opportunities for the community, students and adults alike, to meet, interact with, and learn from visiting artists. We will also offer deeply discounted tickets to students and neighbors in need so that no one will be turned away. The 2022 Festival will take place April 22-May 1, 2022. This event is designed to bring films and experiences to Northern Sonoma County to which the community would otherwise not have access. For more information about the Alexander Valley Film Society, visit www.avfilmsociety.org or call 707.893.7150. ______________ **********ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS: For student rules, regulations, and awards, please visit: https://www.avfilmsociety.org/student-film-competition