San Francisco Documentary Festival

San Francisco, California, United States, North America

03 - 20 Jun, 2021

Keywords

california, indiefest, roxie

Category

Feature, Short

Genre

Documentary

San Francisco Documentary Festival logo
San Francisco Documentary Festival

San Francisco, California, United States, North America

Is this your festival?

Is this your festival?

General Information

founded

2001

edition

20th

organizer

Jeff Ross

Founder/Director

Contact details

2440 16th St #107 San Francisco, CA 93103 United States

93103

info@sfindie.com

N/A

Web & social

About the festival

SF IndieFest is a founding member of the FILM FESTIVAL ALLIANCE

MISSION & OBJECTIVE
We screen the best documentaries from around the world for two weeks at the Roxie Cinema, the oldest art house theater west of the Mississippi. Many of our titles end up with calendared runs at the Roxie later in the year. We get great coverage in San Francisco, the second largest film market in the country, plus industry reviews.

San Francisco is a very receptive town for documentaries and our fest has built a passionate following over the past 19 years.

LAST YEAR'S PRESS COVERAGE: https://sfindie.com/press-coverage

ABOUT SF DOCFEST
SF DocFest is an annual festival devoted to documentary cinema. Since 2001, this two week-long event has brought the most weird and wonderful aspects of real life to the big screen.

“Docfest offers a zippy blend of politics, music, social issues and youth-oriented subcultures. The good news is that DocFest promotes documentaries as a vibrant, irreverent form of entertainment to a younger demographic, blasting the notion of educational films to smithereens. There’s no room for anything approximating — watch it, I’m about to blaspheme – the obsessively measured and utterly somnambulant musings of Ken Burns.” – Michael Fox, KQED

“Since its inception, DocFest (May 31-June 15 at the Roxie and the Vogue, with opening night at Alamo Drafthouse) has compiled a colorful scrapbook of genuine characters in contrast to the current events survey, educational seminar or social-issue forum that defines many documentary series… There are one or two people in Off the Charts you won’t soon forget, which could be said about nearly every film in DocFest. That’s one of the pleasures of scrapbooks.” – also Michael Fox, KQED

ABOUT SF INDIEFEST
Comments about SF DocFest parent organization SF IndieFest:

"Festivals bring unexpected benefits. Festivals are essential for brand creation. Premiering at Tribeca was enough to convince people to at least listen to me, but surprisingly it was the San Francisco Indie Fest that was just as crucial for our theatrical release. Our press from this festival in February ‘08 helped convince the Red Vic to book us in April (I thank the amazing S.F. publicist Karen Larsen for convincing me of this in advance). We also incorporated festivals into our broader theatrical release, and while we did not claim them as cities in our 17-city count, they helped give us something to crow about."

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/fall2008/bomb_it.php

"I've got to tell you that Indiefest was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I tell all filmmakers - and festival organizer friends of mine - how you run your fest and how you run each film twice. Every single time people look at me with shocked disbelief. Truly, Bonnie and I loved being a part of the event.
Thanks again for including us. SF Indiefest really made me feel that making YEAR was worth the whole effort.
Best-
MIKE CARROLL"

Audience Awards and Jury Prizes

About

SF IndieFest is a founding member of the FILM FESTIVAL ALLIANCE

MISSION & OBJECTIVE
We screen the best documentaries from around the world for two weeks at the Roxie Cinema, the oldest art house theater west of the Mississippi. Many of our titles end up with calendared runs at the Roxie later in the year. We get great coverage in San Francisco, the second largest film market in the country, plus industry reviews.

San Francisco is a very receptive town for documentaries and our fest has built a passionate following over the past 19 years.

LAST YEAR'S PRESS COVERAGE: https://sfindie.com/press-coverage

ABOUT SF DOCFEST
SF DocFest is an annual festival devoted to documentary cinema. Since 2001, this two week-long event has brought the most weird and wonderful aspects of real life to the big screen.

“Docfest offers a zippy blend of politics, music, social issues and youth-oriented subcultures. The good news is that DocFest promotes documentaries as a vibrant, irreverent form of entertainment to a younger demographic, blasting the notion of educational films to smithereens. There’s no room for anything approximating — watch it, I’m about to blaspheme – the obsessively measured and utterly somnambulant musings of Ken Burns.” – Michael Fox, KQED

“Since its inception, DocFest (May 31-June 15 at the Roxie and the Vogue, with opening night at Alamo Drafthouse) has compiled a colorful scrapbook of genuine characters in contrast to the current events survey, educational seminar or social-issue forum that defines many documentary series… There are one or two people in Off the Charts you won’t soon forget, which could be said about nearly every film in DocFest. That’s one of the pleasures of scrapbooks.” – also Michael Fox, KQED

ABOUT SF INDIEFEST
Comments about SF DocFest parent organization SF IndieFest:

"Festivals bring unexpected benefits. Festivals are essential for brand creation. Premiering at Tribeca was enough to convince people to at least listen to me, but surprisingly it was the San Francisco Indie Fest that was just as crucial for our theatrical release. Our press from this festival in February ‘08 helped convince the Red Vic to book us in April (I thank the amazing S.F. publicist Karen Larsen for convincing me of this in advance). We also incorporated festivals into our broader theatrical release, and while we did not claim them as cities in our 17-city count, they helped give us something to crow about."

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/fall2008/bomb_it.php

"I've got to tell you that Indiefest was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I tell all filmmakers - and festival organizer friends of mine - how you run your fest and how you run each film twice. Every single time people look at me with shocked disbelief. Truly, Bonnie and I loved being a part of the event.
Thanks again for including us. SF Indiefest really made me feel that making YEAR was worth the whole effort.
Best-
MIKE CARROLL"

Audience Awards and Jury Prizes

Gallery

Awards & Winners

There are no winners yet for this festival

Terms and rules

LEGAL STUFF: Submitters understand that submission of their work authorizes the Festival to use the work for exhibition, education and/or publicity purposes related to the festival; that the Festival will handle the prints and drives with a maximum of care but cannot be held liable for any damage or loss during shipping, preview, or screening; and that the Festival is also not responsible for any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, or royalty infringement related to the work. Submitters may receive future correspondence from the Festival. The festival will never publish your film online under any circumstances.

Ratings & Reviews

Categories and fees

Feature Doc
Early Bird (19th December, 2020) $45
Regular (20th March, 2021) $55
Late (10th April, 2021) $65
Age restriction No age restriction
Country Any country
Director's age No restriction
Director's gender Any gender
Student films No
First films No

Over 45 minutes.

Mid-Length Doc
Early Bird (28th September, 2020) $40
Regular (20th March, 2021) $50
Late (10th April, 2021) $60

20-45 min

Short Doc
Early Bird (28th September, 2020) $35
Regular (20th March, 2021) $45
Late (10th April, 2021) $55

Under 20 minutes.

Bay Area Feature Doc
Early Bird (28th September, 2020) $35
Regular (20th March, 2021) $45
Late (10th April, 2021) $55

Over 45 minutes. Submissions of films from San Francisco Bay Area based filmmakers. Non Bay Area submissions entered in this category will be disqualified. The Bay Area is defined as extending from Sonoma County to Monterey County and out to Sacramento County. In your cover letter please include how your film qualifies as a Bay Area submission.

Bay Area Mid-Length Doc
Early Bird (28th September, 2020) $30
Regular (20th March, 2021) $40
Late (10th April, 2021) $50

Between 20-45 minutes. Submissions of films from San Francisco Bay Area based filmmakers. Non Bay Area submissions entered in this category will be disqualified. The Bay Area is defined as extending from Sonoma County to Monterey County and out to Sacramento County. In your cover letter please include how your film qualifies as a Bay Area submission.

Bay Area Short Doc
Early Bird (28th September, 2020) $25
Regular (20th March, 2021) $35
Late (10th April, 2021) $45

Under 20 minutes. Submissions of films from San Francisco Bay Area based filmmakers. Non Bay Area submissions entered in this category will be disqualified. The Bay Area is defined as extending from Sonoma County to Monterey County and out to Sacramento County. In your cover letter please include how your film qualifies as a Bay Area submission.

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