Out On Film - 2025 Call For Entries
Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) film festival, is one of the most prominent LGBTQIA+ festivals in the world and is an Oscar®qualifying event. Our Best Drama Short award winner is eligible to enter the Academy’s Live Action Short film competition in the concurrent season, provided Academy rules are met.
For our upcoming 2025 festival, we are also a BAFTA qualifying film festival for the British Short programme. Celebrating its 38th year in 2025, Out On Film annually presents approximately 150 narratives, documentaries, shorts, and web series, from international features to local programming and retrospectives. We prioritize filmmaker engagement through our highly regarded visiting filmmaker series.
Our main production is an 11-day festival held each September, complemented by events throughout the year. In the last two years, we’ve also hosted a spring mini-festival, with all submissions eligible for both events. We are tentatively planning another spring event in 2025.
Awards & Prizes
Our festival offers both Audience and Jury Awards across various categories:
• Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary, Best Drama Short, and Best International Film
• Jury Awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best International Film, Best Performance, Best Director, Best First Film, Best Ensemble, Best Drama Short, and Best Documentary Short (awards may vary yearly based on juror selections)
Best Drama Short is our Oscar® qualifying category.
We also host two Screenplay Competitions: the Short Film Screenplay Competition ($250 prize) and the Feature Film Screenplay Competition ($500 prize). Winners may receive a staged reading at the 2025 Out On Film festival.
Rules & Terms
Out On Film is now accepting entries for the 2025 Festival. We seek films that resonate with and are inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community, showcasing life’s diverse experiences through the moving image. Submissions should include a completed submission form, entry fee, JPEG publicity photos, a two-sentence synopsis, downloadable trailer URL (if available), and a Vimeo link with a password to preview the film. Preview links and passwords for selected films must remain active until August 29, 2025. Films must have been completed in 2024 or later and must include English subtitles if not in English.
Multiple entries are allowed, each with its own submission form. However, entries containing multiple films will be disqualified. Applicants are responsible for the shipment of exhibition assets to the festival.
By submitting, you certify ownership and rights for public screenings. Out On Film is granted a non-exclusive license to use an excerpt of up to two minutes for promotional purposes only.
Out On Film requires a minimum of Atlanta premiere status for official selections and Georgia premieres for programs such as our Local Shorts block. We reserve the right to determine screening format (in-person, virtual, or both) and apply geo-blocking measures for virtual screenings. Films screened virtually must be available for at least one week throughout the U.S. and may be subject to encore screenings in October.
We value relationships with filmmakers and strive to facilitate their presence. For those invited, we offer airfare, lodging, and transportation. For those attending independently, we do our best to assist with housing.
IMPORTANT: Time-sensitive communications will be distributed from traffic@outonfilm.org, if selected. Please ensure this email address is whitelisted in your email service provider.
Queer Film Alliance - May
Join us for our Queer Film Alliance meeting on Weds, May 28th at 7pm - 9m at Emory. We'll have nonbinary activist, TedX Speaker, and professional bodybuilder Siufung Law (they/them) as our special guest speaker. They'll discuss their activism in China as a gender expansive person, the world of competitive trans/nonbinary bodybuilding, Ph.D. gender studies at Emory, and their experience as the star subject of They Are Siufung (feature documentary directed by Jean-Luc Bonefacino). We're looking forward to connecting with you!
PANELIST BIO
Siufung Law (they/them) is a nonbinary Ph.D. candidate at Emory University, a professional bodybuilder, a transgender activist, and a TEDx speaker. Their story of activism in Hong Kong and America was featured in the documentary "They Are Siufung" (2024, Dr. Jean-Luc Bonefacino). Website: www.sfunglaw.com IG: @sfunglaw
LOCATION: Emory (Rich Building 108), 1602 Fishburne Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322
PARKING: Free parking at lot across driveway (Schwartz/Fishburne lot on the second level; follow the drive to level 2 - gates should be open - or enter from N. Decatur)
Partnership Volunteer Training
Feel Good Action: Partnership Volunteer Training (1 Hour – Virtual) Curious about how you can make a real difference in 2025? Join Feel Good Action for a one-hour virtual info session to learn how you can get involved in nonpartisan voter outreach and community engagement. We’ll walk you through our mission, upcoming opportunities, and how your energy can power real impact this year. Whether you're a first-time volunteer or a returning supporter, this is the perfect place to get started.
Let’s turn good vibes into real action—together.
FGA Preregistration - Info Session
Feel Good Action: Preregistration Info Briefing (1 Hour – Virtual)
Want to help young voters make their voices heard? Join Feel Good Action for a one-hour virtual briefing focused on preregistration outreach. We’ll cover how preregistration works, why it matters, and how you can help engage and empower the next generation of voters. Perfect for new and returning volunteers who want to support high-impact, nonpartisan efforts in 2025.
Learn how you can take action today to shape tomorrow.
FGA Google Ad Grant - Info Session
Feel Good Action: Ad Grant Info Session (1 Hour – Virtual)
Interested in how digital ads can fuel civic engagement? Join Feel Good Action for a one-hour virtual info session on how we’re using Google Ad Grants to reach and activate voters. We’ll break down how the program works, what kinds of campaigns we’re running, and how your organization can get unlock your own $10K a month. No ad experience required—just curiosity and a passion for impact.
Discover how digital tools can drive real-world change.
Bumbershoot 2025
Celebration of the Pacific Northwest’s unique culture
Bumbershoot is a full-spectrum arts and music experience—from punk to performance art, ballet to wrestling, pole dancing to roller skating, food to fashion, and all manner of ingenuity in between. Celebrating creators and innovators of all kinds, Bumbershoot breaks stereotypes, champions a more inclusive art community and bets on the dreamers, makers and performers who call the Pacific Northwest home. It is Seattle’s moss-covered Mardi Gras, daring everyone to join in the spectacle.
First produced at Seattle Center in 1971, Bumbershoot is Washington’s legacy arts and music festival, made for community by community.
We believe everyone in the region—from individuals to corporations—has a role to play in supporting the power and vitality of the arts. That’s why we amplify the Pacific Northwest creative community, cultivating professional opportunities for artists, welcoming diverse crowds by the hundreds of thousands, and training the next generation of event producers. We strive to be as accessible as possible—whether in our programming, our physical footprint, or our subsidized ticket prices.
Today Bumbershoot is produced by New Rising Sun, a seasoned team of concert promoters and visual arts producers dedicated to supercharging the iconic Bumbershoot brand. New Rising Sun manages and operates Bumbershoot on behalf of Third Stone, a nonprofit that houses the annual Bumbershoot Festival and its workforce development program for young people from historically marginalized and underserved communities. Third Stone’s mission is to foster an inclusive and sustainable Pacific Northwest arts economy through youth education and community-driven programming.
Out On Film - Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ Film Festival
Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) film festival, is one of the most prominent LGBTQIA+ festivals in the world and is an Oscar®qualifying event. Our Best Drama Short award winner is eligible to enter the Academy’s Live Action Short film competition in the concurrent season, provided Academy rules are met.
For our upcoming 2025 festival, we are also a BAFTA qualifying film festival for the British Short programme. Celebrating its 38th year in 2025, Out On Film annually presents approximately 150 narratives, documentaries, shorts, and web series, from international features to local programming and retrospectives. We prioritize filmmaker engagement through our highly regarded visiting filmmaker series.
Our main production is an 11-day festival held each September, complemented by events throughout the year. In the last two years, we’ve also hosted a spring mini-festival, with all submissions eligible for both events. We are tentatively planning another spring event in 2025.
Awards & Prizes
Our festival offers both Audience and Jury Awards across various categories:
• Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary, Best Drama Short, and Best International Film
• Jury Awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best International Film, Best Performance, Best Director, Best First Film, Best Ensemble, Best Drama Short, and Best Documentary Short (awards may vary yearly based on juror selections)
Best Drama Short is our Oscar® qualifying category.
We also host two Screenplay Competitions: the Short Film Screenplay Competition ($250 prize) and the Feature Film Screenplay Competition ($500 prize). Winners may receive a staged reading at the 2025 Out On Film festival.
Rules & Terms
Out On Film is now accepting entries for the 2025 Festival. We seek films that resonate with and are inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community, showcasing life’s diverse experiences through the moving image. Submissions should include a completed submission form, entry fee, JPEG publicity photos, a two-sentence synopsis, downloadable trailer URL (if available), and a Vimeo link with a password to preview the film. Preview links and passwords for selected films must remain active until August 29, 2025. Films must have been completed in 2024 or later and must include English subtitles if not in English.
Multiple entries are allowed, each with its own submission form. However, entries containing multiple films will be disqualified. Applicants are responsible for the shipment of exhibition assets to the festival.
By submitting, you certify ownership and rights for public screenings. Out On Film is granted a non-exclusive license to use an excerpt of up to two minutes for promotional purposes only.
Out On Film requires a minimum of Atlanta premiere status for official selections and Georgia premieres for programs such as our Local Shorts block. We reserve the right to determine screening format (in-person, virtual, or both) and apply geo-blocking measures for virtual screenings. Films screened virtually must be available for at least one week throughout the U.S. and may be subject to encore screenings in October.
We value relationships with filmmakers and strive to facilitate their presence. For those invited, we offer airfare, lodging, and transportation. For those attending independently, we do our best to assist with housing.
IMPORTANT: Time-sensitive communications will be distributed from traffic@outonfilm.org, if selected. Please ensure this email address is whitelisted in your email service provider.