Online Submissions Open for 2026 SouthSide Film Festival
Early-bird deadline is November 1, 2025
Bethlehem, PA: Filmmakers worldwide are officially invited to submit their films for jury selection for the 22nd Annual SouthSide Film Festival (SSFF), scheduled for June 10–13, 2026.
All films must be submitted online at https://southsidefilmfestival.com/submityourfilm/.
Early-bird submissions are due November 1, 2025, with a reduced entry fee of $35 or $25 for students. The regular deadline is February 1, 2026, with an entry fee of $45 or $35 for students.
Works may be submitted in the following categories: General (all genres), Student Film, Children’s Film, Narrative Feature, Narrative Short, Comedy Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Animated Short, Late Night Short, and Late Night Features.
Launched in 2004, SSFF showcases original films that tell a compelling cinematic story regardless of subject matter, length, genre, or production date. Directors whose works are selected for the festival receive two all-access SSFF passes, free housing at the “Filmmaker Village” during the festival, an opportunity to participate in moderated Q&A and audience feedback sessions, opportunities to sell their films and merchandise at screenings, access to festival parties, and an entry-fee waiver for the 2027 festival.
Quintin Fernandez, whose film Pushing Ahead: The Next Generation premiered at SSFF 2025, reflected on attending the event that “the Southside Film Festival were accommodating to the filmmakers every step of the way.” On the festival’s audience and programming, The Take Away director Susan Carol Davis noted that “audience members engaged with filmmakers in meaningful conversations. . . . The 2025 film program was diversified and carefully curated.”
Screening venues for SSFF 2026 will be Touchstone Theater, PBS39, and the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, all located in Southside Bethlehem.
Visit http://www.ssff.org for details on the jury selection process, festival updates, and information on volunteer and sponsorship opportunities.
About the SouthSide Film Festival: The SouthSide Film Festival is an annual five-day event featuring international films, guest filmmakers, juried selections, locally produced films, seminars, and networking opportunities for filmmakers and fans of independent film. The SouthSide Film Festival is a program of The SouthSide Film Institute, a not-for-profit volunteer-run organization promoting the art of the independent filmmaker. www.ssff.org.
Information provided to TVL by:
Emily Dings
