Submission Rules:

• All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles (if in a different language).
• All films must have been made on or after December 1st, 2024.
• Short films must not exceed 40 minutes and feature films must exceed 40 minutes; all other categories have no limitations.
• Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.
• By submitting to us, you give us consent and right to screen your film in front of a live audience, and, under special circumstances, online screening.
• All entries must be submitted online via FilmFreeway.
• Entry fees are not refundable.
• Submission of a work confirms that the Madison Film Festival has permission to exhibit it during the Festival and during any Festival Tours. Submission of a work implies that the Festival can employ moving image excerpts and reproduce stills for exhibition promotion. If your film is selected for screening, you also agree that Madison Film Festival has permission to mention and use excepts of your film, as well as reference the film's creators and actors on any future promotional materials, including digital and printed media and promotional videos. (Basically if you get super famous we're totally going to brag about it 😀)

Judging

Official Selections are films that have been selected to participate in our festival. There is no guarantee your film will be screened if given an official selection. Films to be screened will be curated by our judges and program directors and will range from official selections to award winners. Official selection films are considered to be nominated for an award, and will be notified via email.

Nominations: These are all the films that have been nominated for an award in a category. Not all nominated films will be screened.

Official selections, nominations, and winners will be contacted via email on August 5th, 2025.

Award Winners

Chosen from the Nominations (which includes the Official Selection).

• We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.
• We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through email and our online platforms.
• We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.
• We do not accept partial screeners, trailers, or screener links that require access other than password protected links.
• Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.
• We cannot provide refunds.
• If you have submitted your project in the previous year, please do not resubmit the same project to the current edition.