Florida Film Festival 2027 Announces Call For Entries
The Florida Film Festival is officially accepting submissions for its 36th annual edition, taking place April 9 – 18, 2027, inviting filmmakers from around the world to submit their latest work for consideration.
A premier showcase for American independent and international cinema, the Florida Film Festival features competitive categories spanning narrative, documentary, animation, and international filmmaking. The 2027 competition will include Narrative Features, Documentary Features and Shorts, Narrative Shorts, and Animated Shorts.
The festival, named one of the “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker Magazine in 2026, is a 10-day celebration of filmmakers and their art. Alongside the Competition, the festival also features an International Showcase, Spotlight Films, Midnight Movies, Music Films, Florida Films, Secret Screenings, Tributes, Special Guests, Panels & Forums, parties, and more. The festival welcomed more than 200 filmmakers and more than 17,000 patrons to the 2026 edition.
The Florida Film Festival is also proud to be accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences® in all three short-film categories. The festival’s Grand Jury Award winners for Best Narrative Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Documentary Short are eligible to qualify for consideration for the following year’s Academy Awards®. To compete for these Grand Jury Awards, selected films must be at least a Florida premiere.
Submission Deadlines
· Early Deadline: September 30, 2026
· Regular Deadline: November 6, 2026
· Late Deadline: November 20, 2026
· Extended Late Deadline: December 9, 2026
Submit at: FilmFreeway.com/FloridaFilmFestival.
For submission guidelines and additional information, visit FloridaFilmFestival.com or contact the Florida Film Festival programming department at entries@enzian.org.
The 2026 Florida Film Festival was the 35th Anniversary edition of the popular film festival which combined salutes to beloved stars, screenings of highly anticipated films, and a concentration of films produced in Florida by local filmmakers, all taking place in the warm (literal and figurative) setting of Central Florida. William Means’ Junkie led the award winners, taking both the Grand Jury prize and the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film. Sharon Leise’s Seized won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Film, and Patrick Bresnan’s First They Came For My College won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film. Michael Borrelli’s The Last Day of Byron Bray also was a two-time winner, taking both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best Short Film.
The 35th Anniversary edition kicked off with an Opening Night presentation of Adam Carter Rehmeier’s renegade road trip movie Caroline, Caroline, and featured a gala Centerpiece presentation of Jorma Taccone’s Over Your Dead Body, with both filmmakers in attendance. Florida Film Festival’s celebrated “An Evening With.. events were huge hits with the packed audiences, as well as fans outside the Enzian Theater, with Academy Award®-nominee Paul Giamatti and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Beverly Hills Cop’s Judge Reinhold delighting everyone with stories from their films and careers, and having fun posing for selfies and talking to people outside prior to the events in the theater. Also making special appearances were Fallout’s Johnny Pemberton, with his film Mermaid, Justice Smith, with his film Grampa, and Orlando’s first African American Poet Laureate, Shawn Welcome, with Welcome, a documentary short film about his life. The film festival saw several screenings sell out, with record breaking audience numbers overall. Filmmakers participated in dedicated red carpets and press junkets throughout the festival’s run, as well as numerous networking events which have become a hallmark of the film festival.