Submissions for the 2026 FilmFest are now Open!

Now is the time to start planning and making your short film. We’re here to help if you have questions. Check out the award categories for motivation.

Submission Deadline is Saturday, August 15th.

 

Short Film GUIDELINEs

  1. Films must be five minutes or less.

  2. Films must have a DIRECT CONNECTION TO WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS! The film can be made in Western Mass, or have some principal talent from Western Mass, like a lead actor, writer, director etc.

  3. Entries must be suitable for general audiences. The festival is an event geared towards a general audience from 5 to 105 years old.  Therefore all films submitted must conform to a PG rating as defined by the Motion Picture Association of America. There may be some mild profanity but gratuitous violence, overt sexual behavior, depiction of drug use and nudity are not permissible. Dress that is suitable for public places (e.g. the beach) is acceptable. The final decision on eligibility is at the sole discretion of the Ashfield FilmFest judges.

  4. To qualify for a “Best Youth Entry” award, the film must be created by people who are younger than 18 years.

  5. Music or musical score must be original, public domain or used with written permission of the copyright holder. A vast wealth of recorded music exists out there that can be used for free — see our Resources page for free music sources.

  6. Full written permissions, including the participants, copyrighted materials, and music must be submitted with the entry to be considered for inclusion in the FilmFest.

  7. Any use of AI must be clearly cited in your application and in your credits. While we understand that AI tools can be helpful, the judges seek to honor human talent and so they need to know up front what’s you and what’s tech. We follow the IBM definition of generative AI which states:

    “AI that can create original content such as text, images, video, audio or software code in response to a user’s prompt or request.”

  8. Entrants retain all copyrights for their materials.

  9. Submit your film files with our Film Freeway page. Please submit full resolution copies of your movie as a data file. We accept .mov or .m4v files. We also accept vertical videos. If you prefer, you can copy your files to a flashdrive and mail it to: Ashfield FilmFest, P.O. Box 337 Ashfield, MA 01330.

  10. Western Massachusetts residents can use the promo code: BABYCECILB2 upon submission to waive the entry fee.