San Francisco’s ATA Film and Video Festival is gearing up for its fifth raucous year to be held sometime in October. This is one of the greatest experimental short film festivals in the world, so if you’ve got a groundbreaking, generally unclassifiable, absolutely unique vision, either on celluloid or video, now’s the time to get your work in.

There is only one deadline you need to worry about:

Final Deadline:
June 1
$10

If you’re interested in submitting, but you’re not too sure what “experimental” means, you can get a good vibe for what the fest is looking for by reading my own reviews of the films at the past several editions. Here’s reviews for the 2009 festival, the 2008 festival and the 2007 festival.

Also, here’s their own brief mission statement:

We are looking for experimental film and video, including but not limited to, animation, documentary, narrative, abstract and found footage. The ATA Film and Video Festival is committed to showcasing short films and videos that use an unconventional stylistic and technical approach and bring up subjects or concepts that not only entertain, but also provoke, our diverse audience.

To enter, you can visit the official ATA Festival website. There’s one “rule” to observe: Your film does have to be 20 minutes or shorter. Nothing over 20 minutes will be accepted. For the rest of the submission info, just go to their site.

One last thing, again, to get a feel for what the festival screens, check out last year’s groovy festival trailer: