Friday, February 28, 2025
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
University Theatre
The Monarch Short-Film Festival will have its third edition this 2024-2025 academic year. This annual event will showcase and highlight the work of ODU Film Students and Alumni*. The Festival is a competitive event where members of a jury will individually watch and assign points (1-10) to each of the movies submitted. It will end with an award ceremony-evening-event where the top scoring movies (as determined by the points assigned by the jury) will be screened to the audience, and the movie winners of the event will be announced and awarded. Best Student Film (overall) and Audience Favorite will be awarded during the event ceremony on February 28, 2025.
*ODU Alumni may only submit and compete in the Best Short-Alumni category. But, if the work to be submitted was created while the alumnus was enrolled as a student at ODU (before graduation), this work should be submitted in one of the three student categories--Best Short-Fiction, Best Short-Documentary or Best Short-Animation.
Submit Film
Dates and Deadlines
Opening for submissions: October 7, 2024
Deadlines for submissions: February 2, 2025
Notification of selections: February 17, 2025
Film Festival Event Evening: February 28, 2025
How to Submit a Film
Complete entry on FilmFreeway using the link: https://filmfreeway.com/MonarchShort-FilmFestival
* FilmFreeway allows you to submit a Secure Online Screener. Please log on to the website, set up an account or login into your existing account, and follow the instructions to submit your film to Monarch Short-Film festival directly via the website. From there, your submission will be processed and assigned to the Monarch Short-Film Festival organizers.
* Submissions must be uploaded and submitted no later than the deadline date (by 11:59 pm EST, February 2, 2025) to enter the festival.
Awards and Prizes
* Best Student Film (ODU enrolled students only)
* Best Short-Fiction (ODU enrolled students only)
* Best Short-Documentary (ODU enrolled students only)
* Best Short-Animation (ODU enrolled students only)
* Best Short-Alumni
* Audience Favorite (ODU enrolled students only)
Rules and Terms
- Date of Production: Films must have been completed between January 20, 2024 and February 2, 2025
- Duration: 20 minutes or less
- Categories for Submission:
- Short-Fiction (ODU enrolled students only)
- Short-Documentary (ODU enrolled students only)
- Short-Animation (ODU enrolled students only)
- Short-Film Alumni
Jury, Voting and Prize Awarding
The members of the jury view all short-films entered and mark all entries 10, 9, 8, 7, or 6 with the guidelines of 10 (excellent), 8 (good), 7 (fair) or 6 (poor). The movies receiving the highest number of points in each category (Short-Fiction, Short-Documentary, Short-Animation and Short-Film Alumni) are awarded the top prizes. The film with the highest number of points overall (between the Short-Fiction, Short-Documentary and Short-Animation categories) is awarded the Best Student Film Overall. The movies with the highest number of points in each category are screened during the Festival Award Ceremony, and the audience in attendance will vote on-site to award the Audience Favorite (Short-Film Alumni does not compete in this category).
Questions?
For questions or more information on this event, please contact filmshowcase@odu.edu.