Nashville Film Festival

Overview

The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm) is one of the longest-running film festivals in the United States and the first in the American South. Founded in 1969 as the Sinking Creek Film Celebration, the festival screens approximately 150 films across 14 competitive categories each September in Nashville, Tennessee. The 57th edition runs September 24 to 30, 2026, across multiple arts venues in the city (Nashville Film Festival, 2026 entries page).

NashFilm holds Academy Award qualifying status in three short film categories: Narrative Short, Documentary Short, and Animated Short. Winning any of these three categories qualifies a film for Academy Award consideration without the standard theatrical run. The festival has been named to MovieMaker Magazine's "50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" list and the Graveyard Shift Shorts horror sidebar was named to Dread Central's "90 Best Genre Film Festivals on Earth" in 2026.

In 2024, the festival received more than 3,800 submissions from over 100 countries and programmed 183 films. Attendance has grown to nearly 15,000. The festival is a 501(c)(3) arts advocacy organisation that runs year-round programming including film education screenings for Metro Nashville Public Schools students, a summer film camp for high schoolers, and free outdoor screenings.

Submission Details

Submissions are handled through FilmFreeway. The festival accepts both short films (under 40 minutes) and feature films (40 minutes and over).

2026 Film Competition deadlines:

• Open for entries: January 1, 2026
• Early-bird deadline: March 9, 2026
• Regular deadline: May 11, 2026
• Late deadline: June 1, 2026
• Extended (final) deadline: June 15, 2026
• Notification date: August 10, 2026

2026 Screenwriting Competition deadlines:

• Open for entries: December 5, 2025
• Early-bird deadline: January 11, 2026
• Regular deadline: March 15, 2026
• Late deadline: April 26, 2026
• Extended (final) deadline: May 10, 2026

Submission fees (based on 2025 pricing, 2026 fees expected to be similar):

Eligibility requirements:

• Films must not have premiered to the public (in-person or virtually) before January 1, 2025
• Films must be at least a Tennessee premiere
• Films submitted in previous years are not eligible for resubmission
• Films not in English must be subtitled in English
• Works-in-progress are accepted but not encouraged; re-edited submissions cannot be guaranteed review
• Multiple entries allowed with separate entry form and fee for each

Key Sections

• Narrative Feature Competition - fiction features from US and international filmmakers
• Documentary Feature Competition - nonfiction features
• New Directors Feature - debut and emerging filmmaker features
• Narrative Short Competition - Academy Award-qualifying
• Documentary Short Competition - Academy Award-qualifying
• Animated Short Competition - Academy Award-qualifying
• Graveyard Shift Shorts - horror and genre short films, named to Dread Central's 90 Best Genre Film Festivals in 2026
• Music Video - music video competition
• Tennessee Films - films by Tennessee filmmakers or about Tennessee
• Student Films - films by emerging and student filmmakers
• Episodic - pilot episodes and series work
• Screenwriting Competition - 7 categories including feature screenplay, short screenplay, 30-minute pilot, 60-minute pilot, and Tennessee writer
• Pitch Competition - live pitch event

What Filmmakers Should Know

The Academy Award qualifying status in three short film categories is the most strategically valuable element of NashFilm for short filmmakers. Winners of the Narrative Short, Documentary Short, and Animated Short jury awards become eligible for Academy Award consideration without the standard theatrical run, provided the films otherwise comply with Academy rules. Past winners include Denis Villeneuve, who won Best Narrative Short in 2009, and Cary Fukunaga, who won Best College Student Short in 2005.

The festival's music-focused programming creates genuine opportunities for filmmakers working in music documentary, concert films, or narratives involving music. Nashville's identity as a music industry capital produces natural crossover audiences between film and music. The festival also offers a dedicated Music Video competition category.

The Screenwriting Competition is a separate track with its own submission portal at filmfreeway.com/NashFilmFestScreenwriting. It has distributed nearly $50,000 in prizes across its history. The Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature-Length Screenplay is $3,000. Category winners receive $750 to $1,000 depending on the category. The Tennessee Competition category awards $750 specifically for writers based in Tennessee.

Cash and prizes across all festival competitions are valued at more than $100,000. The festival offers 14 film competition categories and 7 screenwriting competition categories, making it one of the more granular programming structures at a festival of its size.

Nashville's growing creative economy, with entertainment companies, streaming platforms, and production companies increasingly establishing southeastern operations, makes the festival a useful networking platform in a market outside the traditional film industry centres of Los Angeles and New York.

Major Awards

• Best Narrative Feature - jury prize
• Best Documentary Feature - jury prize
• Best Narrative Short - Academy Award-qualifying
• Best Documentary Short - Academy Award-qualifying
• Best Animated Short - Academy Award-qualifying
• Best Music Video
• Best Tennessee Film
• Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature-Length Screenplay - $3,000 cash
• Best Short Screenplay - $1,000 cash
• Best 60-Minute Teleplay - $1,000 cash
• Best 30-Minute Teleplay - $750 cash
• Tennessee Screenwriting Competition - $750 cash
• Audience Awards - across multiple categories

Festival History

The Nashville Film Festival was founded in 1969 as the Sinking Creek Film Celebration, making it one of the oldest film festivals in the United States and the first in the American South. The festival has evolved through numerous phases and organisational changes while maintaining its connection to Nashville's cultural identity as a music city with serious cinematic ambitions.

The festival is a 501(c)(3) arts advocacy organisation that runs programming throughout the year, including film education screenings for Metro Nashville Public Schools students at the Frist Art Museum, a summer film camp for high schoolers, and free outdoor film screenings open to the general public. Membership in NashFilm provides early ticket access, advance screening invitations, and networking opportunities beyond the September festival.

The Screenwriting Competition was added in 2014 and has since championed scripts that have gone on to be produced, selected for top film festivals, and recognised in NashFilm's own film competition. The Graveyard Shift Shorts horror sidebar has grown into a recognised genre program in its own right.

See Also

To calculate the return on your festival submission spending, use the Festival ROI Calculator. To estimate your probability of acceptance based on festival tier and film characteristics, use the Festival Acceptance Odds Estimator. For music and film intersections, see Audio Post Production. For festival strategy, see Film Festival Strategy.