Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival

Sebastopol, California, United States, North America

24 - 27 Mar, 2022

Academy Award ® Qualifying

Keywords

sonoma, sdff, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Academy Qualifying Festival, mini doc

Category

Feature, Short

Genre

Documentary

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival logo
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival

Sebastopol, California, United States, North America

Is this your festival?

Is this your festival?

General Information

edition

16th

organizers

Jane Winslow

Festival Manager, Co-Director

Jean McGlothlin

Co-Director, Programmer

Cynthi Stefenoni

Co-Director, Producer

Corella DiFede

Associate Director

Jeffrey Zankel & Lori Solomon

Submissions Coordinators

Contact details

282 S. High St Sebastopol, CA 95472 United States

95472

Submissions@sebastopolfilm.org

707-829-4797

Web & social

Audience

6000 people

About the festival

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is a bridge for independent non-fiction filmmakers from anywhere in the world to reach their audience. Since our beginning in 2007, each film programmed for SDFF is a signature of excellence in craft, character and storytelling. We are driven by an immense curiosity to learn and understand the lives of others, lives different from our own.

After two virtual years, we are all looking forward to celebrating our 15th gathering together in town around film, friends and food. SDFF 2022 will continue to offer streamed content: films, interviews, conversations and meet-ups. It was great fun to enable people from all over the world to participate and lifted everyone’s spirits.

Within its overall programming SDFF encourages Environmentalism, Journalism, Arts, LGBTQI+ and Social Justice topics.

SDFF is an Academy Award® qualifying festival for the Documentary Short Subject category.

Throughout our history we have programmed Oscar® nominees, Peabody and Pulitzer Prize recipients, Jury Award winners, premieres and audience favorites from the festival circuit. Over 90% of films programmed enter through this open Call for Entries.

SDFF has become known for programming work to a discerning audience that enjoys being challenged as well as entertained. Take some time to see if this is the Festival that fits your film. The documentary film community knows us. Ask around.

Sebastopol is in Sonoma County, California. On a good traffic day, we’re only an hour north of San Francisco. We are a mix of small-town folk, organic farmers, prize-winning vintners, musicians, environmentalists, old hippies and more artists per acre than we can count. We’re curious, engaged, opinionated and welcoming to all. Come join us in continuing the ageless tradition of storytelling circles.

Mission

The mission of the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is to bring the best independent documentary films in the world, and their filmmakers, to Sonoma County audiences.

About

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is a bridge for independent non-fiction filmmakers from anywhere in the world to reach their audience. Since our beginning in 2007, each film programmed for SDFF is a signature of excellence in craft, character and storytelling. We are driven by an immense curiosity to learn and understand the lives of others, lives different from our own.

After two virtual years, we are all looking forward to celebrating our 15th gathering together in town around film, friends and food. SDFF 2022 will continue to offer streamed content: films, interviews, conversations and meet-ups. It was great fun to enable people from all over the world to participate and lifted everyone’s spirits.

Within its overall programming SDFF encourages Environmentalism, Journalism, Arts, LGBTQI+ and Social Justice topics.

SDFF is an Academy Award® qualifying festival for the Documentary Short Subject category.

Throughout our history we have programmed Oscar® nominees, Peabody and Pulitzer Prize recipients, Jury Award winners, premieres and audience favorites from the festival circuit. Over 90% of films programmed enter through this open Call for Entries.

SDFF has become known for programming work to a discerning audience that enjoys being challenged as well as entertained. Take some time to see if this is the Festival that fits your film. The documentary film community knows us. Ask around.

Sebastopol is in Sonoma County, California. On a good traffic day, we’re only an hour north of San Francisco. We are a mix of small-town folk, organic farmers, prize-winning vintners, musicians, environmentalists, old hippies and more artists per acre than we can count. We’re curious, engaged, opinionated and welcoming to all. Come join us in continuing the ageless tradition of storytelling circles.

Mission

The mission of the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is to bring the best independent documentary films in the world, and their filmmakers, to Sonoma County audiences.

Awards & Winners

There are no winners yet for this festival

Terms and rules

If accepted for the program, your film will screen March 24 – 27, 2022 at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival.

Films of any completion date are eligible for submission. However, accepted films must not have been shown commercially anywhere in Northern California*within 60 days prior to the festival.

*Excludes films curated for special programs 

 

Films Must be submitted via Film Freeway and its video player.
Submission fees are non-refundable. We are sensitive to this issue and keep our fees low. They offset a portion of our administrative costs in bringing you and your audience together.

Passwords must not be changed until submissions have closed and notification of program films is announced.

We do not accept rough cuts, subsequent cuts or more complete versions of submitted films, therefore changing or updating the originally submitted link is not permitted.

Each accepted film may be screened more than once during the Festival. Programming is at the discretion of SDFF.

 

Exhibition Formats:
SDFF has multiple screening venues. Some require DCP; others do not.

You will be informed of the required screening format when the program is locked.

Acceptable exhibition formats are QuickTime or ProRes files which can be delivered as a download link or mailed to SDFF on a SD card, flash drive or hard drive.

Foreign language films must be made available with English subtitles.

By entering your film, you agree to provide compatible exhibition format(s) at least 30 days before the start date of the festival to give SDFF print traffic manager time to QC your doc.
Before sending your media, please verify that your film plays correctly. Do not include menus, trailers and other special features.

SDFF will not pay shipping costs to or from the festival. If you want your materials returned or shipped on to another address, please provide postage with your addressed shipping container. Put the title of your film on all shipping materials.

All films selected for SDFF 2022 are considered eligible for competition except those titles curated and invited for special programs.

 

Communication:
Each entry needs to include the following contact information:

  • Director: Full name, email address, phone number, postal mailing address
  • Rights Holder [if different]: Company name; Contact name, email address, phone number, postal mailing address
  • Distributor Contact: Company name, Contact Name, email address, department, phone number, postal mailing address.

You are responsible for updating SDFF directly regarding any change to your contact information and ensuring that emails from programming@sebastopolfilm.org are not blocked by spam filters.

 

Additional Terms of Entry:
By submitting this documentary, I understand that I am agreeing to the following:

I own or control the copyright and am duly authorized to submit this film to Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2022. Should ownership or rights to my film change, this agreement to screen at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2022, will be honored, upheld and not be infringed.

If accepted, I will not withdraw my film from SDFF 2022. Upon selection for screening at SDFF 2022 up to two minutes of footage from the film and materials accompanying my entry may be used for promotional purposes.

 

Deadlines:
All entry deadlines are postmark deadlines. Entries postmarked after the final deadline might not be considered.

Ratings & Reviews

Categories and fees

Documentary Feature
Early Bird (13th August, 2021) $40
Regular (10th September, 2021) $50
Late (8th October, 2021) $60
Runtime 40 - minutes
Age restriction No age restriction
Country Any country
Director's age No restriction
Director's gender Any gender
Student films No
First films No
Prize Yes

Feature documentary films 40 minutes and over

Documentary Short
Early Bird (13th August, 2021) $35
Regular (10th September, 2021) $40
Late (8th October, 2021) $50
Runtime 10 - 39 minutes
Age restriction No age restriction
Country Any country
Director's age No restriction
Director's gender Any gender
Student films No
First films No
Prize Yes

Documentary films 10-39 minutes

Mini- Doc
Early Bird (13th August, 2021) $25
Regular (10th September, 2021) $30
Late (8th October, 2021) $40
Runtime 0 - 10 minutes
Age restriction No age restriction
Country Any country
Director's age No restriction
Director's gender Any gender
Student films No
First films No
Prize Yes

Mini- Doc: films under 10 min.

Matchmaking

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