Submissions
These links will take you to the section for submitting Films and Screenplays, and the Micro Fiction Contest. (or you can just scroll down to see all of them.) If you are looking for information on how to become a guest, artist, vendor, etc, please go to the festival portal (above) and then navigate to the corresponding section.
Submit a Film or Screenplay
Submit to the Lovecraftian Micro Fiction Contest
Submitting a Film or a Screenplay
Festival submission deadlines for films and screenplays.
Submit your film early for a chance to take part in satellite events during the year, such as at the HPLFF over Lovecraft's birthday weekend in Providence, RI.
However, don't wait! We're planning other satellite events now, and submitting early also saves you money through discounted submission fees. As with most things, the early bird gets the worm... sending your film as soon as possible gives us more time to say "yes," so don't wait until the last minute.
- For a complete list of deadlines and fees throughout the year, please refer to our Festival Submission Guidelines on FilmFreeway.
- NEW program for BIPOC Directors. We're offering up to $2,500 of submission fee waivers for our festival season. CLICK HERE for more info and to apply.
Submission Format
For consideration of all films, short or feature length, we require a streaming screener through FilmFreeway, our submission platform. FilmFreeway integrates with Vimeo, YouTube, and takes direct uploads. We have judges in multiple cities and NO LONGER ACCEPT DVD SCREENERS for consideration. DO NOT SUBMIT PHYSICAL MEDIA FOR CONSIDERATION - PLEASE ONLY PROVIDE A STREAMING SCREENER THROUGH FILMFREEWAY.
ON GENERAL AVAILABILITY (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.): We want to show great independent shorts and feature films to our audience on a beautiful big screen in a historic movie theater, especially those films that our audience can't see at home. While we will absolutely consider all films that fit our topics, regardless of general availability, we prefer films that are not easily currently available to the public on YouTube, or other video sites. We recommend that you wait to reveal your masterpiece on video web sites until after it has made its festival appearances. This is optional, but we feel it gives us the best opportunity to attract a large audience that supports independent film in a fantastic setting. Also, if your film is not available for the public to view on-line, we can more easily promote your film to potential audience members and to local News and Entertainment Media as a World, National, or Local premiere, which could lead to great media exposure.
Exhibition Format
Once your film is selected to play at one of our festivals...
SHORT FILMS - We prefer short films to be delivered to us as a digital download through services like Dropbox, Vimeo, or FilmFreeway's own download option. We prefer DCP packages (primary), Quicktime .MOV, .MP4, or other H.264 file formats. We can take a wide variety of formats, but those are the best for us.
FEATURE FILMS (only) may be mailed to us on DCP drive, Blu Ray (for HD), DVD (for SD), or provided by digital download, ONCE YOUR FILM IS OFFICIALLY SELECTED. If your film is selected, we will provide instructions for delivering a final format. If you have a cool film format, like 16 or 35mm, we also have that capability.
Submitting to the Lovecraftian Micro Fiction Contest
The top 10 stories will published in a book with a full color cover, and the overall winner will enjoy serious perks (previous winners have taken part in the yearly Challenge From Beyond, and have also had their stories read aloud by our guest of honor). Go HERE to enter the 2023 contest, deadline is August 8th.
