You don’t have to be from NYC to submit to the Coney Island Film Festival, but it probably doesn’t hurt. The quirky fest by the sea has strong ties to carny culture and the multi-evening event is actually a fund raiser for the Coney Island USA non-profit arts organization. The main screening venue is at the historic Sideshows by the Seashore theater, which features America’s last authentic 10-in-1 sideshow. I’ve gone to see the show a couple of times and it’s a real hoot. Coney Island is a great place, which is why I love helping promote this fest.

This year’s festival will be held Sept. 28-30th, 2007 and here’s the deadlines:

Early Bird:
March 30, 2007 (Fee: $20)

Regular:
May 25, 2007 (Fee: $25)

Late:
July 3, 2007 (Fee: $ 30)

Extended Late:
July 10, 2007 (Fee: $40)

The festival doesn’t really have a mission statement of what they’re looking for that I can crib, but if you think your film would be good in a carnival sideshow, then it belongs here. They do take films in the following categories: Feature, Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Experimental, Animation and Music Video.

For more info, please visit the Coney Island Film Festival website or their Withoutabox profile page.

You can also relive last year’s opening night festivities in a series of YouTube videos. I was hoping to embed one, but they’ve strangely disabled the embedding option on all the videos. Go check ’em out, though.