San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival (13)

Festival start: 26 October 2026      Festival end: 01 November 2026

The 13th San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival
To encourage New Filmmakers
www.sfnewfilms.com

Mission

San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival is a US government-approved 501(C) (3) tax-exempt non-profit organization.
Provide an international platform for all film lovers, professional filmmakers, and film/media students who love filmmaking to stand out.
Discover and select potential talents with new techniques & skills, who demonstrate the original concept and accelerate their development within the film industry.

Encourage new filmmakers, especially young and first-time filmmakers, for their new productions. Encourage and celebrate original and insightful screenwriting and new ideas in the film. Accept films in all categories and subject matter.

Make friends and enhance communication through films.

2026 Festival Schedule: The San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival will be the Virtual Film Festival. The schedule remains:

October 25, 2026------November 1, 2026

Awards category:

Best Feature Film Award
Best Documentary Award
Best Short Native Film Award
Best Short Documentary Award
Best Commercial Award
Best Music Video Award
Best Animation Award
Best Director Award
Best Screenwriting Award
Best Short Screenwriting Award
Best Cinematography Award
Best Editing Award
Best Sound Effect Award
Best Music Score Award
Best Action Design Award
Best Leading Actor Award
Best Leading Actress Award
Best Supporting Actor Award
Best Supporting Actress Award
Best Student Film Award
Best Student Talent Award
Most Popular Film Award (Audience Vote)

Excellent Awards in different categories.

Note： Each Winner receives a certificate & a trophy. The final decision is made by the Festival Committee

• Conditions of entry & fees:
* Please catch the Early Bird deadline:

1. Conditions

a.Originality
b.Theme: Optimistic Creative Proactive
c.Genre (Any language with english subtitle is required)

- Feature Film (TRT between 60 min to 120 min)
- Documentary (TRT between 60 min to 120 min)
- Animation(TRT 60 min to 120 min)
- Screenwriting For Feature(60 to 120 Pages,PDF format, english or Chinese)
- Short narrative movie (TRT under 59 min.)
- Short documentary (TRT under 59 min.)
- Screenwriting For Shorts(2 to 59 Pages,PDF format, english or Chinese)
- Short Animation (2D, 3D) (TRT under 60 min)
- Music Video (Maximum 5 min.)
- Commercial (Maximum 2 min.)

d.Format of Submission_ Digital Link
Application deadline: September 25th, 2025

We accept digital submissions only. Entry on the website: sfnewfilm.org or through Festhome.com.

Links of Vimeo, YouTube, or Youku for film entry are accepted.

• Channels of submission

1. Register at the festival’s official website: www.sfnewfilm.org.

2. Submit films online or through Festhome.com.

3. Recommendations by experts and film committee. Filmmakers still need to register online.

4. Register through related film schools, and submit films online.

• Contest system

1. The contest is organized and supervised by the film festival committee.

2. Committee divisions:
Website group, promotion group, works collecting group, accounting group, contest group, judge group.

• Film Evaluation

1. Preliminary evaluation

a.Submitted films are divided by categories and being viewed and graded by the primary Judge Group.

b.The optional online vote for the public audience for “Audience Award”.

c.Expert Judge Committee final review and grading.

d.Judges vote per quality of:

1)Story
2)Performance
3)Director’s Vision
4)Cinematography
5)Production Design
6)Sound Design
7)Editing

2. The system of evaluation

Online viewers’ grading (20%), Judge Committee’s grading (80%) to the final stage. The film committee will issue award certificates to the best and most popular films.

*Please note that trophies and certificates WILL NOT BE MAILED TO ABSENT WINNERS. They will only receive a digital version of the certificate.

3. The final stage (October25, 2026----November 1, 2026)

4. Selected films or trailers screening, workshop, celebration party, and award ceremony.