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2023 PBS Short Film Festival Call for Entries

Posted on Jan 23, 2023


Texas filmmakers! Send us your short films!

Films submitted may be nominated for inclusion in the twelfth annual PBS Short Film Festival, a showcase for powerful and engaging stories from filmmakers across the country. The festival is a popular annual online event, attracting millions of video views over the years, as well as nominations in the Webby Awards.

Since its launch in 2012, the PBS Online Film Festival has featured diverse films from PBS member stations, Independent Television Service (ITVS) and POV, and other public television producers including the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, Black Public Media, Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), and Vision Maker Media.

Submissions should be 3-15 minutes in length and can be fiction or non-fiction. We prefer surprising stories that only public media can tell! There are no requirements about the short films having premiered elsewhere, though they should not have been created before 2022. PBS also requires non-exclusive rights to stream the films on all PBS platforms, including social media platforms.

PBS also requires the full disclosure of program funders and underwriters and must approve the funder list to make sure there has been no editorial influence or connection to program content. This includes listing your crowdsourcing funders (if any). If you are unable or unwilling to provide this information upon request, please do not submit your short.

Edits might be required to meet PBS Standards & Practices (bleeping offensive language, for example), and in particular your credits roll (PBS is very particular about how credits are listed, so assume you will need to do this).

Texas filmmakers, to have your short films considered, submit via the following form by Thursday, February 16th. https://forms.gle/HL5xve3T85EZdoqYA

Information you will need to provide:

  • Official Film Title (up to 60 characters including spaces)
  • Short description (up to 90 characters including spaces)
  • Long description (up to 400 characters including spaces)
  • Online screener link
  • Suggested keywords/topics/genres
  • Flags/Time-code for any suggestive language or scenes (we are PBS, remember!)
  • Summarized information about the filmmaker(s) (up to 1000 characters including spaces)
  • Contact information
  • A link to a Word or Google doc (not a .pdf) of your Production Credits

If selected as an Austin PBS submission, we will ask you for additional information at that time.

Filmmakers in other states should contact their local PBS affiliate.

The 2023 PBS Short Film Festival will take place in mid-July (dates TBD). The festival will be available for streaming via PBS and Austin PBS digital platforms, including PBS.org, YouTube and PBS social media channels. The films will also be available via the PBS App on iOS, Android and a wide range of OTT devices.