San Diego Latino Film Festival

Twenty-nine years ago, the San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) was born out of desire to take a stand against the status-quo of cinema, to challenge the reigning and ever-present stereotypes about the Latinx experience in movies, and to give Latinx filmmakers the power of telling and sharing their stories, first-hand, about what it means to be Latinx. After all of these years, the SDLFF is proud to remain linked to these ideals, constantly advocating for inclusive, diverse, and progressive cinematic storytelling about the Latinx identity. We invite you and all other visionary filmmakers to be a part of the twenty-ninth anniversary by submitting your project to consideration. SDLFF has had the honor of hosting over 3000 renowned directors, actors, producers, writers and more including Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, Alfonso Cuaron, Kate del Castillo, Damian Alcazar, Dolores Huerta, Danny Trejo, among many others. Like many other festivals around the world, SDLFF was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its two most recent editions in 2020 and 2021 took place on virtual platforms. It is our intention to produce our 29th edition as an in-person event. The festival will continue monitoring developments pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic and will make modifications regarding in-person exhibitions following local and statewide health statutes to ensure the safety of its public. Any changes to our festival’s format will be communicated to participating filmmakers. We understand the pandemic has had severe financial repercussions on filmmakers. We have taken the steps to significantly reduce the cost of submission fees. Our Early Bird Deadline will be $5.00 for both Features & Shorts. We encourage you to submit early to take advantage of this discount. However, films will not be given preferential consideration if they submit early. Entries must be submitted into one of the categories below. From there, they will be screened and evaluated by our selection committee and festival programmers. Accepted entries will be categorized into specific programs at the discretion of the programming team. A longer description of each category is included in the Rules and Terms Section. Narrative Feature Documentary Feature Narrative Short Documentary Short Local Film - Narrative Feature Local Film - Documentary Feature Local Film - Narrative Short Local Film - Documentary Short Youth Short Episodic Content This year’s call for entries will be much more competitive as the festival anticipates to accept fewer finalists than in years prior to accommodate capacity limitations. Submission deadlines will be strictly enforced and we encourage all submitters to read the Rules & Terms very carefully before submitting. Films in competition for the festival’s awards will be selected by the programming members of the festival. All entries will be considered prior to a final nominee list is released. The list may include features and shorts submitted during the call for entries. More information on Awards included in the Rules & Terms section below. Please review the following section before submitting your film. Failure to follow guidelines may result in your film being disqualified from consideration.