Founded 2017 · Inaugural Season 2028
Founded in 2017 to celebrate film, music, and storytelling across the San Francisco Bay Area — now preparing for its inaugural season in 2028.
A celebration of short film, music, and storytelling across the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area Film Festival is in development toward its inaugural season in 2028 — and we’re seeking collaborators and investment partners to help bring it to life.
The Vision
Founded in 2017, the Bay Area Film Festival has spent the years since shaping its concept, building up our affiliated music labels — which bring decades of experience in world music and cinematic film scoring — and designing a complete, ready-to-launch festival: brand, categories, and submission and judging systems. We’re now preparing for our inaugural season in 2028, and we’re looking for the right collaborators and investment partners to help carry it forward. If you’d like to be part of building something lasting for film and music in the Bay Area, .
Looking Ahead
We're building for the long term. In the years to come we plan to grow well beyond this first season — deepening our support for up-and-coming filmmakers, adding new competition categories, and partnering with Bay Area film and music production companies, from independent studios to larger industry names, to create a local conduit for showcasing their work and to connect emerging artists with established ones. Rooted in our own background in music, we also intend to bring cinematic and world-music production into the heart of the festival, championing the bond between film and music — and the musicians and filmmakers who live at that intersection. These are our plans for the future; this year, the films come first.
Help Us Build It
We’re looking for the right partners for this next chapter — investors, sponsors, venues, and creative collaborators who want to help build a lasting home for film and music in the Bay Area. If that’s you, .
At a Glance
We’re seeking collaborators and investment partners to bring the festival to life.
Find out about our organization, mission, and vision.
Support the festival through sponsorship, partnership, volunteering, or participation.
Founded in 2017, the Bay Area Film Festival celebrates short film, music, and storytelling across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Now in development toward its inaugural season in 2028 — online and in the San Francisco Bay Area.
To celebrate short film, music, and storytelling while connecting filmmakers, artists, composers, audiences, and the Bay Area's creative community — beginning with our festival, and growing over time into a broader platform for the region's artists.
The San Francisco Bay Area has long been one of the country's most important centers of creative and entrepreneurial energy. Over the past several decades it has grown into a vibrant home for art, film, technology, music, and innovation.
Home to world-renowned studios, independent filmmakers, composers, and music producers, the region continues to inspire creative work enjoyed around the world. Today it is home to many of the companies shaping the future of film, animation, and visual effects — from Pixar and Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic to Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and Dolby.
The vision for the Bay Area Film Festival was first established in 2017, when the concept was developed to create a festival dedicated to celebrating the region's role in film, arts, music, and creative innovation.
In the years since, we've shaped that concept, built up our affiliated music labels — which bring decades of experience in world music and cinematic film scoring — and gathered the volunteers and supporters needed to bring the first festival to life. That long-running groundwork is what arrives, at last, as our inaugural season.
The region's cultural influence keeps growing, reinforcing the need for a dedicated platform that showcases its creative community. Enthusiasm around film-related events and creative programming continues to demonstrate the strong interest that exists for film, storytelling, music, and the arts.
This year, the films come first — but we're building for the long term. In the years to come we plan to grow well beyond a single annual event: adding new competition categories, deepening our support for up-and-coming filmmakers, partnering with Bay Area film and music production companies to showcase their work locally and connect emerging artists with established ones, and supporting film, music, education, and creative collaboration throughout the year. The long-term goal is a broader platform that strengthens the Bay Area's position as a leading center for creativity and artistic expression.
Alongside film exhibition, the organization is exploring initiatives that support original film music, soundtrack development, creative collaboration, and educational opportunities for emerging artists, filmmakers, and musicians alike.
Every film is watched and reviewed by our screening committee, which selects the official lineup and category nominees. A jury of film and music professionals then chooses the award winners, including our Best Original Score. Judges and full details will be announced as the festival takes shape.
The Bay Area Film Festival was founded in 2017 as part of a long-term vision to create a festival celebrating the region's creative community and growing cultural influence. The years since have gone into building the concept, getting our affiliated music labels up and running, and gathering the people to lift it off the ground — work that now culminates in our first public festival.
The Bay Area Film Festival is preparing for its inaugural season in 2028, and we’re seeking the partners to help bring it to life.
We’d love to hear from investors, sponsors, venues, and creative partners — along with Bay Area film and music production companies, businesses, educational institutions, and community organizations — who share our commitment to building a lasting home for film and music in the Bay Area. Use our contact page to tell us how you’d like to be involved.
The Bay Area Film Festival is supported by a growing network of creative organizations dedicated to music, arts, culture, and community engagement.
Interested in collaborating with or investing in the Bay Area Film Festival? We’d love to discuss sponsorship, partnership, and investment opportunities.
Announcements from the Bay Area Film Festival team.
We’re taking the time to build the Bay Area Film Festival right. Our inaugural season is now planned for 2028, with the full concept — brand, categories, and submission and judging systems — designed and ready to launch.
We’re currently seeking collaborators and investment partners to bring the festival to life. If you’d like to be part of it, .
After years of sketches, refinements, and false starts, our logo is finally done — and you'll now find it across the site. At its heart sits a vintage film camera, framed by a laurel wreath in the spirit of cinema's great traditions — a mark of craftsmanship, of stories worth celebrating, and of the creative community we exist to bring together. It's a nod to where film has been and an invitation to where we're taking it, right here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We couldn't be prouder to finally call it ours.
Every festival starts with the people who believe in it first. Three independent Bay Area record labels signed on as our founding partners — and it's fitting they come from music, because the bond between film and sound sits at the heart of what we're building.
From global and traditional sounds to rock, Americana, and cinematic metal, these labels span exactly the kind of range and ambition we want the festival to celebrate. Their early backing helps us turn an idea into real opportunities for filmmakers, composers, musicians, and audiences across the region.
We're only getting started, and there's room for more. Organizations interested in joining them can visit our page.
The Bay Area is one of the fastest-growing and most creative regions in the world. As its population, industries, and global influence keep expanding, so does its appetite for film, music, and art — and for the places where people gather to share it.
Yet for all the talent concentrated here, from world-class studios and composers to independent filmmakers and students, the region still has room for more arts organizations, venues, and events that match its scale. Its cultural life hasn't always kept pace with its growth.
That gap is why we set out to build the Bay Area Film Festival: to create a dedicated home for film and storytelling, to champion the people and companies making it here, and to give a fast-growing creative community more ways to connect, collaborate, and be seen.
On this day we officially registered the Bay Area Film Festival website. Keep an eye out over the coming months for steady updates from our team as we continue to shape our program.
Be part of the Bay Area Film Festival — preparing for its inaugural season in 2028.
The Bay Area Film Festival is in development toward its inaugural season in 2028 — a celebration of short film, music, and storytelling across the San Francisco Bay Area.
The festival is fully designed and ready to launch: a complete brand, a defined set of competition categories, and submission and judging systems built end to end. What it’s ready for now are the right people to help carry it forward.
The festival is built around short films under 40 minutes, across these categories. Feature-length films are planned for future years.
A special Best Original Score award is planned across all entries — honoring the bond between film and music at the heart of the festival.
Submissions aren’t open at this time. As we prepare for our inaugural season in 2028, we’re seeking collaborators and investment partners to help bring the festival to life — investors, sponsors, venues, and creative partners who believe in building a lasting home for film and music in the Bay Area.
If that’s you, we’d love to hear from you.
We'd love to hear from filmmakers, artists, musicians, sponsors, volunteers, and community partners interested in the Bay Area Film Festival.
Contact Us Below
Last updated: June 2026
Bay Area Film Festival, a division of X DOT 25 Music LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”), operates the website bayareafilmfestival.com. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit the site, submit a film, join our mailing list, or pay an entry fee, and how we use and protect it.
We collect the information you voluntarily provide through our forms, which may include:
When you pay an entry fee, your payment is processed by Stripe. We do not collect or store your full card details — Stripe handles that directly. We receive a confirmation that includes your name, email, the amount paid, and the film title.
Our own website does not use cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics. Stripe's secure checkout pages, which open on Stripe's own website, operate under Stripe's privacy policy.
We use your information to evaluate your film submission, communicate with you about your entry, process and confirm your payment, run and administer the festival, and respond to partnership, sponsorship, and general inquiries. Submission details and screeners may be shared with our programmers and jurors for the sole purpose of evaluating your film. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we will not share it except as needed to operate the festival or as required by law.
We rely on a few trusted services that have their own privacy practices, which we encourage you to review:
You provide a link to your film hosted on a third-party platform such as Vimeo or YouTube; we recommend using an unlisted or password-protected link. We access it only to evaluate your submission, and how your film is stored and protected on that platform is governed by that platform's own terms.
We retain submission and inquiry information only as long as necessary to evaluate your entry, administer the festival, meet our record-keeping and tax obligations, or until you request removal. You may request deletion of your information at any time using the contact form, subject to records we are required to keep.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you. California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), including the right to know what we collect and to request deletion; we do not sell personal information. To exercise any of these rights, please use the contact form on this website.
Entrants must be at least 18 years old at the time of submission. Our website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us information, please contact us so we can remove it.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please use the contact form on this website.
Last updated: July 2026
Welcome to bayareafilmfestival.com. By accessing or using this website, or by submitting a film, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, please do not use this website or enter the festival.
This website is operated by Bay Area Film Festival, a division of X DOT 25 Music LLC, a California limited liability company (hereinafter “Company”). Its content is provided for informational purposes about the festival, its program, partners, and activities. You may browse and use this website for personal, non-commercial purposes only.
All content on this website, including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, images, and the overall design, is the property of the Bay Area Film Festival or its respective partners and content creators, and is protected by applicable copyright and intellectual property laws. “BAY AREA FILM FESTIVAL” is the subject of a pending trademark application (U.S. Serial No. 99900693) on the Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The festival’s logo and other brand elements are protected under applicable copyright and trademark law. You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from any content on this site without prior written permission.
To enter, your film and your submission must meet all of the following:
We have no premiere requirement; films that have screened elsewhere, online, or at other festivals remain eligible. If your film is selected for screening, you may be asked to provide a high-quality digital master, and films chosen for the live event may be asked to provide a specific delivery format, which we will provide to you.
By submitting a film or other materials, you confirm and warrant that:
If asked, you agree to promptly provide written proof that you have cleared all rights in your film, including music, footage, and images. If a dispute is raised about your film, you must provide this proof on request within 10 days, and we may suspend or remove any film whose rights cannot be confirmed.
You keep your copyright. You retain full ownership of your film. Submitting it does not transfer any ownership to us.
By entering, you grant the Bay Area Film Festival a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to view and evaluate your film for selection. If your film is selected, you additionally grant us the non-exclusive, royalty-free right to screen and exhibit it as part of the festival, and to use its title, your name, still images, short excerpts of up to 60 seconds each, the trailer, and the poster to promote the festival across any media. No screening fee or other payment will be owed to you for participation. Selected films may be subject to a separate screening agreement. If your film is selected, you also agree to identify it as an official selection of the Bay Area Film Festival and to display the festival laurel we provide in your film’s promotional materials.
Entry fees are charged per film and are processed securely by Stripe; Stripe's terms apply to the transaction. All entry fees are non-refundable — including if your film is not selected, is withdrawn, is found ineligible, or is disqualified. Paying an entry fee does not guarantee selection, screening, or a response. As a US-based organization, we cannot accept entries or payments from individuals or entities in countries or regions subject to US sanctions or trade restrictions, and payments are processed subject to applicable US law.
Every entry must disclose its level of AI use. Work made with generative AI is welcome in the appropriate category, but must not infringe any copyright or simulate a real person without their consent. Inaccurate disclosure or non-compliant AI content may result in disqualification without refund.
All decisions about eligibility, selection, and removal rest with the Bay Area Film Festival alone. Our decisions are final and binding, and we are not required to give reasons for them. We are under no obligation to screen, respond to, provide feedback on, or retain any submission. Paying an entry fee does not guarantee selection, screening, or a response.
We may decline or remove any film, at our discretion and without refund, that we consider ineligible, in violation of these terms, inaccurate in its information, or inconsistent with the festival’s standards and values — including content we regard as infringing, unlawful, hateful, or otherwise harmful. We make this judgment on our own behalf, as to what we are willing to associate with the festival, and we are not required to establish that any law has been broken.
Once a film is selected and announced, it may not be withdrawn except with our agreement, and entry fees remain non-refundable. We may remove a selected film from the program in exceptional circumstances, and we may decide any situation these terms do not directly address. Festival dates, venue, format, and schedule may change at our discretion without liability to you.
You agree that any decision to select, decline, or remove a film is made at our discretion, and you release the Bay Area Film Festival from any claim arising from such a decision.
Official selections, nominees, and award winners are determined by the festival’s screening committee and jury at their sole discretion, and all such decisions are final. Where the festival offers an Audience Award or other audience vote, voting is limited to verified viewers, with one vote per film, and votes may be cast only after a film’s screening window has opened. We may disqualify or void any votes we believe to be fraudulent, automated, duplicated, or otherwise manipulated, and we may modify, suspend, or withdraw any award or voting process at our discretion.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Bay Area Film Festival, its organizers, partners, and staff, successors, assigns and the officers, shareholders, agents and employees of Company from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs) arising from your submission or your breach of these terms, including any claim that your film infringes a third party's rights.
The indemnifying party shall reimburse the indemnified party on demand for any payment made by the indemnified party at any time after the date hereof in respect of any loss or damage to which the foregoing indemnity applies.
Notice shall be given to the indemnifying party of any breach, claim, demand, or action to which such indemnity relates and such party shall have the right, at their expense, to participate in the defense thereof.
This website is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. The Bay Area Film Festival does not warrant that the website will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Bay Area Film Festival shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of this website, your submission, or your inability to access the site.
This website may contain links to third-party websites, services, and social media platforms, including Stripe and the platforms that host your screener. These links are provided for convenience only, and we assume no responsibility for the content or practices of any third-party service.
These Terms of Service shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California and the United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.
We reserve the right to modify these Terms of Service at any time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. Your continued use of the website or participation in the festival constitutes acceptance of any updated terms.
If you have any questions about these Terms of Service, please use the contact form on this website.