ANN ARBOR – The Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) is pleased to announce that its Call for Entries for the 62nd Festival begins July 1 and continues through September 30, 2023. The Ann Arbor Film Festival is open to experimental films as well as films that demonstrate a high regard for the moving image as an experimental art form, no matter the genre. Each year AAFF selects over 100 shorts and features for the awards competition portion of the festival. The 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival will take place in person March 26 – 31, 2024 with online dates to be determined.
Filmmakers may submit features or short films. AAFF considers feature films as those that filmmakers deem to be experimental with a runtime of 60 minutes or longer and short films to be films that the filmmaker deems to be experimental with a runtime less than 60 minutes. Deadlines and fees:
Early Submissions: July 1-31, 2023 ($40 features | $30 shorts)
Regular Submissions: August 1-31, 2023 ($55 features | $40 shorts)
Late Submissions: September 1-30, 2023 ($70 features | $60 shorts)
Festival Director Leslie Raymond expresses her excitement for the upcoming festival and call for entries, “We see such a high amount of creativity come through the doors during our call for entries. We are honored that the 62nd annual festival will continue to provide a globally-connected platform to share the best experimental film art.”
Nearly 2,800 films from 95 countries were submitted for the 61st Festival in 2023, which had in-person attendance of 6,500 plus 2,300 online attendance from 29 countries.
AAFF will be selecting over 100 shorts and features for the competition portion of the festival with all accepted filmmakers being paid to show their work thanks to AAFF’s Pay Artists initiative which started with the 59th Festival in March, 2021. Each year, three distinguished jurors award approximately $24,300 in cash and in-kind prizes, some of which are Oscar-qualifying. Details and links for submission can be found on the Ann Arbor Film Festival website at https://www.aafilmfest.org/call-for-entries.
About the Ann Arbor Film Festival
Founded in 1963, the Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest independent and experimental film festival in North America and is internationally recognized as a premier forum for film as an art form. For the 61st Festival, AAFF received over 2,800 film submissions from 95 countries and serves as one of a handful of Academy Award–qualifying festivals in the United States. The AAFF is a pioneer of the traveling film festival tour, and each year AAFF touring programs are presented in dozens of theaters, universities, museums, and micro cinemas around the world. The 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival will take place in person March 26-31, 2024 (online dates to be determined). For more information, please visit aafilmfest.org, and be sure to join AAFF on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Vimeo.
Major AAFF Partners and Foundation Support
AAFF gratefully acknowledges funding from and partnerships with the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, which encourages, initiates, and facilitates an enriched artistic cultural and creative environment in Michigan; the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation; the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, which creates permanent, positive change in southeast Michigan through thoughtful philanthropy; Destination Ann Arbor, which enhances the economy of the Ann Arbor area, and Washtenaw County in general, through the promotion of the area as a destination for day and overnight visitors; Root | Circ, a double event venue that honors the beauty of the past while staying connected to the present; the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design, a place for students to form an innovative, friendly community and apply their creative skills to solve global issues; and Wana Brands, a grassroots, woman-owned business committed to enriching the communities they serve.
