Overview
The Omaha Film Festival (OFF) is a week-long independent film festival held annually at Aksarben Cinema in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 2005 by three local filmmakers, OFF screens an average of 100 films selected from close to 1,000 annual submissions. The 22nd annual edition is scheduled for March 9-14, 2027.
The festival programs narrative features, documentaries, short films, animated shorts, and a dedicated Nebraska-made film section. It also runs a screenplay competition with separate categories for feature screenplays, teleplays, and short screenplays. Named one of MovieMaker Magazine's "50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" for 2026, OFF is a nonprofit operation funded through ticket sales, sponsorships, and grants.
Submission Details
All submissions go through FilmFreeway. Submission fees for the 2027 edition (22nd annual):
Feature and Documentary Films: Early (July 6, 2026): $40 | Regular (September 7, 2026): $50 | Late (November 9, 2026): $60
Short Films: Early: $30 | Regular: $40 | Late: $50
Feature Screenplays and Teleplays: Early: $35 | Regular: $45 | Late: $55
Short Screenplays: Early: $25 | Regular: $35 | Late: $45
Filmmakers are notified of acceptance by approximately early February. Student shorts require a copy of a current student ID at the time of entry.
Key Sections
- Narrative Features - independent American and international narrative feature films
- Documentary Features - nonfiction feature films
- Short Films - competitive short film programs (max 25 minutes including credits)
- Animated Shorts - competitive animated short film programs
- Nebraska-Made Films - films by Nebraska residents or productions shot primarily in Nebraska, with separate narrative, documentary, and animated subcategories
- Screenplay Competition - feature screenplays, teleplays, and short screenplays judged in a separate competition track
Awards
The festival presents jury awards and audience choice awards across feature, documentary, short film, animated short, and Nebraska-made categories, plus a screenplay competition with separate awards for feature screenplays, teleplays, and short screenplays. The festival does not publish specific cash prize amounts as of July 2026. Filmmakers should check the official festival website for current prize information.
Eligibility and Rules
Key submission rules based on the official entry form:
- Films cannot have had a public screening in Nebraska prior to the festival (collegiate and touring Academy screenings excepted)
- Films cannot be viewable in their entirety online before the festival screening; trailers and clips are acceptable
- All non-English films must have English language subtitles
- Short films must be 25 minutes or less, including credits
- Films must have been completed after August 1 of the year two prior to the festival
- Exhibition format: DCP
- Nebraska Short Film eligibility: filmmaker must be a Nebraska resident or the film must have been shot primarily in Nebraska
Festival History
OFF was founded in 2005 by Marc Longbrake, Jeremy Decker, and Jason Levering after a trip to a regional film festival in Kearney, Nebraska. At the time, Omaha had virtually no independent cinema infrastructure. The festival bounced around venues before landing at Aksarben Cinema as its partner venue in 2019. After Levering and Decker stepped away in 2020, Longbrake continued as program director and carried the festival forward. The organization has finished in the black every year since its inaugural loss, operating as a true nonprofit with funding from ticket sales, sponsorships, and grants.
Venue Information
All festival screenings take place at Aksarben Cinema (2110 S 67th St, Omaha, NE 68106), a multiplex in the Aksarben Village development with restaurants and parking within walking distance.
What Filmmakers Should Know
Submission volume and acceptance rate: The festival receives close to 1,000 annual submissions and screens approximately 100 films, roughly a 10% acceptance rate.
Travel and lodging: The festival does not pay travel or lodging expenses for selected filmmakers. Omaha's cost of living is below the national average, with hotel rates typically lower than comparable coastal cities.
Past Winners
The Omaha Film Festival has run 22 editions (2005-2027). The top juried prize is Best Feature Film, with additional categories for documentary, short film, animated short, and Nebraska-made films. The festival also runs a screenplay competition with separate awards.
2026 (22nd Edition):
- Best Feature Film: Bonding (dir. Victoria Trofimenko).
- Best Documentary: Uvalde Mom (dir. Anayansi Prado).
- Best Short Film: Ado (dir. Sam Henderson).
- Best Animated Short: 113 Words for You Today (dir. Bo Qing Tang, Xiao Lan Zeng).
- Best Nebraska Short Film - Narrative: Patina (dir. Jake Hull).
- Audience Choice Narrative Feature: Magic Hour (dir. Jacqueline Christy).
2025 (21st Edition):
- Best Feature Film: Sheepdog (dir. Steven Grayhm). Also won Audience Choice Narrative Feature.
- Best Documentary: Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue (dir. Jill Campbell).
- Best Short Film: ow. (dir. Laura Delhauer and Jack Merline).
- Best Animated Short: Christo the Civilized Barbarian (dir. Shaddy Safadi).
2024 (20th Edition):
- Best Feature Film: Brave the Dark (dir. Damian Harris). Also won Audience Choice Feature Film.
- Best Documentary: Chasing Chasing Amy (dir. Sav Rodgers).
- Best Short Film: Somewhere In Between (dir. Kyle Vorbach).
2023 (19th Edition):
- Best Feature Film: La Corriente (Ibiza Blue) (dir. Jesus Lloveras).
- Best Documentary: Path of the Panther (dir. Eric Bendick).
- Best Short Film: Skin & Bone (dir. Eli Powers).
- Best Animated Short: Yellowstone 88 by Song of Fire (dir. Jerry van de Beek, Betsy De Fries).
Notable Alumni Films
Several OFF winners and selections achieved significant downstream success after screening at the festival:
- World of Tomorrow (2016) - won Best Animated Short at OFF. Directed by Don Hertzfeldt. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards. Distributed online through Vimeo and Blu-ray. Widely regarded as one of the best animated shorts of the decade.
- Path of the Panther (2023) - won Best Documentary at OFF. Directed by Eric Bendick. Distributed by National Geographic. Streamed on Disney+ and Hulu. Executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. The film inspired passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act.
- Sheepdog (2025) - won Best Feature Film and Audience Choice at OFF. Directed by Steven Grayhm. Distributed by Angel Studios. Released in theaters nationwide January 2025. The film also won Jury Awards at the Wyoming International Film Festival.
- Brave the Dark (2024) - won Best Feature Film and Audience Choice at OFF. Directed by Damian Harris. Distributed by Angel Studios. Released in theaters January 2025. Stars Jared Harris. Based on a true story from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Submission Tips
OFF has a roughly 10% acceptance rate from close to 1,000 annual submissions. These tips reflect the festival's actual curatorial preferences:
- Character-driven narratives perform best. Recent Best Feature winners (Sheepdog, Brave the Dark, Bonding) all center on personal relationships and emotional stakes. Pure genre films without character depth have not won the top prize.
- The screenplay competition is a real opportunity. OFF runs a full screenplay competition alongside its film program at $25-$55 across deadlines. This is one of the more affordable screenplay competitions at a festival that also screens films. If you are a writer without a finished film, this track offers recognition and networking.
- Nebraska residency or production opens a separate category. The Nebraska-Made Film section has three subcategories (narrative, documentary, animated) sponsored by UNO College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media. More Nebraska films get programmed than would in a single catch-all category.
- No Nebraska prior screening rule. Films cannot have had a public screening in Nebraska before the festival. Films that have played at other festivals outside Nebraska remain eligible. This means you can build your festival run before submitting to OFF.
- Short films must be 25 minutes or less, including credits. The festival enforces this strictly. Films exceeding the limit will not be considered.
- Animated shorts get their own category and award. OFF separates animated shorts from live-action shorts, giving animation filmmakers a dedicated competition track.
Industry Reputation Notes
OFF has built a reputation as a well-run regional festival that respects filmmakers. MovieMaker Magazine named it to the "50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" list multiple times, including for 2026. The festival screens approximately 100 films from close to 1,000 submissions, making it moderately competitive.
The festival is not a market festival. Filmmakers should not expect sales agents or distribution executives in regular attendance. However, OFF has an unusual track record with Angel Studios: both Sheepdog (2025 winner) and Brave the Dark (2024 winner) secured distribution through Angel Studios after their OFF screenings. This does not mean OFF functions as a distribution pipeline, but the pattern suggests the festival attracts films that align with Angel Studios' audience-first distribution model.
Compared to peer festivals in the Midwest, OFF is more established than the Kansas City FilmFest (which runs a similar scale) and more filmmaker-friendly than the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis. Heartland draws larger audiences and offers larger cash prizes, but OFF's screenplay competition and Nebraska-made categories give it a broader submission base. OFF is also more accessible to first-time filmmakers than the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, which programs at a higher tier but does not run an open submission process.
The organization's financial stability means the festival is likely to continue operating, unlike some regional festivals that have gone on hiatus. Longbrake continues as program director, providing institutional continuity since 2005.
OFF is not Academy Award qualifying. Filmmakers pursuing Oscar qualification should verify qualifying status on the Academy's official list. However, the festival's consistent appearance on MovieMaker's "50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" list signals that industry publications consider it a legitimate submission target.
See Also
For Midwest festivals, see Film Festival Strategy. For festival submission budgeting, use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator. For independent filmmaking, see Independent Filmmaking Strategies. For screenplay development, see Screenwriting Tools.
