AZSFF Rules & Terms

The Arizona Student Film Festival (AZSFF) is open to students living in Arizona and attending school in Arizona.
Films entered into 2027 AZSFF must be made in the calendar year 2026 (Jan-Dec):
This equates to the last half of the 2025/2026 school year and the first half of the 2026/2027 school year.
Films must be submitted into the category corresponding to when they were finished.
There are 2 categories: Grade School (K-8th) at time of film's finish & High School (9th-12th) at time of film's finish.
AZSFF accepts short films of any genre (ie. narrative, documentary, experimental) under 8 minutes in length.
Films must not contain any adult content or language (including but not limited to violence, language, drug or alcohol use) or else may be eliminated from consideration.
Films must be submitted via Film Freeway (www.filmfreeway.com). If accepted, filmmakers must provide their film in the format requested by the deadline (TBD). Failure to deliver finished film for screening may result in disqualification.
Film must not be subject to litigation nor is threatened by any litigation. Entrant accepts all licensing responsibility for any copyrighted material contained in my film.
Entrant must be authorized to submit this film to the Festival and its competition and understand that the Festival holds the right to screen my film for Festival screening and promotional purposes and to extract clips from this film for promotional purposes. This includes streaming of films online on sites of Arizona Student Film Festival and/or its sponsors and affiliates.
Awards will be awarded to the top films as determined by a panel of judges selected by AZSFF. All decisions by judging panel and AZSFF are final.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you still do not see an answer to your question, please fill out our contact form on the home page, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Yes. In fact, you can have more than one film as a finalist and therefore have more than one film screen at the film festival!
Nope. One film per submission and entry fee.
Entries should be submitted for the year the film was finished. You finished it in 8th grade, therefore, you would submit it in the grade school category.
Since the last modifications to the film were done when you were in High School, you would submit this in the High School category.
If you are in college and an Arizona filmmaker, you can enter your film to the Phoenix Film Festival in the Arizona Short Films or College Short Films categories (or both). Learn about entering PFF by clicking here.
Nope. We know that filmmaking can be a very adult medium, but this is a competition for grade-schoolers and high-schoolers. Keep it creative, interesting and suitable for everyone.
Here’s what we will say: you have read the rules, you know your film so you know if it is appropriate to submit. We can’t make that judgement for you. Films should be suitable for all audiences.
No. Please cut 1 minute and 32 seconds out of your film. All films submitted must be 8 minutes or under in length.
Yes. Although, it better be a pretty amazing 5 seconds…
You must have the rights to everything in your film. That means any clips we see on the television and music we hear. Therefore, you are better off composing your own music or having a friend do it for you. Music clearances are hard to come by and usually expensive.
It’s not a good idea to put brands or logos in your film. Sometimes it’s unavoidable (a FedEx truck drove through the background of your shot), but if you can avoid it (wear different clothes, drink out of glass instead of a can, peel the label off of the bottle), you should.
If you are planning to shoot on a city street or park, permits are usually required. Check with your specific city for permit information. Because of cost and time restrictions, you may not be able to get the correct permits. Part of being an independent filmmaker is ingenuity. So if you can not shoot in a city park, maybe you can find a place on your school’s campus that looks like a park. Similarly, to do a driving scene, you will have to get permits and police to block off the road. But you can also try to “fake” a night time driving shot in a garage with the car off and flashlights. Check out “poor man’s process” online if you’d like to see an example.
Sorry, you can not. You will have to sit down and decide who will enter it. There is a place in the entry to put credits for additional people who were instrumental in the creation of the film.
No. Only the student PRIMARILY responsible for the film (usually the director, but not always) can submit. Similarly, teachers who oversee projects may not submit under their name.
You the student have to be PRIMARILY responsible for the film. They can offer suggestions, but they can't do things for you. So they can move a light for you or cook lunch for the crew, but they can't tell you how to frame the shot or write any of the script.
FilmFreeway is the way that filmmakers from all over the world submit their films to festivals. We want to encourage you to submit your film all over. By learning how to use FilmFreeway, you will be that much more prepared for your next film!
Sure. Ask away. Send an email to azsff@phxfilm.com with “AZSFF Question” in the subject line or fill out our contact form at the bottom of the main page.