American Horror Film Festival

American Horror Film Festival logo
American Horror Film Festival

Is this your festival?

Is this your festival?

About the festival

The Alamo Drafthouse in Tempe, AZ plays host to the American Horror Film Festival! Now in its seventh year we travelled the country to find the perfect venue from Texas to Indiana, finally settling on the Grand Canyon State!

The most beautiful difference about our festival? We create a custom menu to go with your movie! That’s right, imagine your very own version of the 5 Dollar Shake, or a Mississippi Mud Pie twisted to be served while you watch your movie! The Alamo Drafthouse has a full waiter service, so you can enjoy one of fifty beers on tap, while your film screens, or even indulge in a full three course meal!

Our screenings are for real horror film fans and we indulge that, so be sure to keep an eye out for our free give aways including t-shirts, stickers featuring your movie and much more!

Not only that we also have links with distributors, sales agents and film financiers, so you never know who is going to be in the audience with you!

We have a full awards ceremony after the screenings and then a chance to grab a drink and celebrate the event in the fully licensed bar afterwards!

So if you want a packed screening, a fun appreciative audience, in a unique and lively atmosphere and a festival you won’t forget - this is it! Submit today to be a part of the Official Selection, we accept horror films or all shapes and sizes and put the emphasis on quality, over budget, every time!

* Best Feature Film
* Best Short Film
* Best Music Video
* Best Director
* Best Music
* Best Actor
* Best Actress
* Best Supporting Actor
* Best Supporting Actress
* Best Animation
* Best New Screenplay

About

The Alamo Drafthouse in Tempe, AZ plays host to the American Horror Film Festival! Now in its seventh year we travelled the country to find the perfect venue from Texas to Indiana, finally settling on the Grand Canyon State!

The most beautiful difference about our festival? We create a custom menu to go with your movie! That’s right, imagine your very own version of the 5 Dollar Shake, or a Mississippi Mud Pie twisted to be served while you watch your movie! The Alamo Drafthouse has a full waiter service, so you can enjoy one of fifty beers on tap, while your film screens, or even indulge in a full three course meal!

Our screenings are for real horror film fans and we indulge that, so be sure to keep an eye out for our free give aways including t-shirts, stickers featuring your movie and much more!

Not only that we also have links with distributors, sales agents and film financiers, so you never know who is going to be in the audience with you!

We have a full awards ceremony after the screenings and then a chance to grab a drink and celebrate the event in the fully licensed bar afterwards!

So if you want a packed screening, a fun appreciative audience, in a unique and lively atmosphere and a festival you won’t forget - this is it! Submit today to be a part of the Official Selection, we accept horror films or all shapes and sizes and put the emphasis on quality, over budget, every time!

* Best Feature Film
* Best Short Film
* Best Music Video
* Best Director
* Best Music
* Best Actor
* Best Actress
* Best Supporting Actor
* Best Supporting Actress
* Best Animation
* Best New Screenplay

Awards & Winners

There are no winners yet for this festival

Terms and rules

1. Dates and Venue
The American Horror Film Festival will take place in September 2021. The category winners (see 8.) will be announced at the Awards Ceremony. The venue for 2020 will be the Alamo Drafthouse in Tempe, AZ.

2. Competition
The Festival reserves the right to place entries into alternative categories if they feel it is to the benefit of the title. Each submission must be entered separately. Entries will be assessed and successful submissions will be programmed for screening and enter the Festival competition. Failure to submit a screener copy four weeks prior to the festival will rule out eligibility for an award. If your films is selected we reserve the right to show your film at a time and date of our choosing.

3. The Arizona Filmmaker Category
Filmmakers must currently reside in Arizona, USA to submit to this category.
Proof of residence may be requested at any time during the judging process. If this proof is not supplied in the requested timeframe the film or screenplay's acceptance can be revoked at the administrator's discretion without a refund of the application fee.

4. Formats
For films, online screeners via FilmFreeway are the only acceptable format for the selection process.
For screenplay submissions the only acceptable format is .PDF via FilmFreeway.
Successful submissions that are granted a screening will need to supply their highest-res .mov or .mp4 file (Vimeo links and the like are acceptable as long as they are downloadable) at least 7 days before the date of the screening.
Please note, we do not accept films shot in 4:3 unless the filmmaker has reformatted it to 16:9.
The final date for submissions is as dictated on FilmFreeway.

5. Selection
The Festival is organized by a committee. The festival committee reserve the right to invite films for the competition and programme. Screening schedule will be announced after the final submission deadline. The final award winning entries will be selected by a festival jury and audience votes. Award winners will be notified within 14 days of the festival screenings.

6. Entry Returns
We do not return submission entries.

7. Screenings
It is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure that films for screening are deposited with the festival organisers at least 7 days before any scheduled screening.

8. Publicity
We reserve the right to use extracts from submissions for festival publicity and marketing purposes. Press kits are not required, but are useful, so please feel free to send these with your submissions.

9. Categories
Please note that if we do not receive enough acceptable submissions for each category, we will merge them e.g. music videos will be moved into short films.

Films from all years are considered, regardless of completion date.
International submissions are accepted.

Awards
* Best Feature Film
* Best Short Film
* Best Music Video
* Best Director
* Best Music
* Best Actor
* Best Actress
* Best Supporting Actor
* Best Supporting Actress
* Best Animation
* Best New Screenplay

Awards may be subject to change at the discretion of the Film Festival Committee.

9. Submission, Selection for Screening, Awards and VOTING
There are 3 distinct stages. Submission, screenings and awards. The administrators' decision is final.

Ratings & Reviews

Categories and fees

Feature Film
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $30
Regular (7th May, 2021) $45
Late (16th July, 2021) $60

Films over 55 minutes in length.

Documentary
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $30
Regular (7th May, 2021) $45
Late (16th July, 2021) $60

Documentary Films about anything horror related!

Short Film
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $20
Regular (7th May, 2021) $35
Late (16th July, 2021) $50

Films under 55 minutes in length.

Music Video
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $10
Regular (7th May, 2021) $15
Late (16th July, 2021) $25

Any horror style music videos, must be under 6 minutes in length.

Unproduced Screenplay
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $15
Regular (7th May, 2021) $25
Late (16th July, 2021) $33

Screenplays that have yet to be made into a film.

Student Film
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $10
Regular (7th May, 2021) $15
Late (16th July, 2021) $25

This is a category for student produced films between 1 and 180 minutes. Submissions must have been produced by students at the time of its filming.

Arizona Filmmaker - Film
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $2
Regular (7th May, 2021) $3
Late (16th July, 2021) $4

We are proud to announce that filmmakers who currently reside in Arizona are eligible to submit their work in this category for a highly discounted rate! This includes works of any length between 1 and 180 minutes.

Arizona Filmmaker - Screenplay
Early Bird (2nd April, 2021) $2
Regular (7th May, 2021) $3
Late (16th July, 2021) $4

We are proud to announce that filmmakers who currently reside in Arizona are eligible to submit their work in this category for a highly discounted rate! This includes screenplays up to 200 pages.

Matchmaking

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