Big batch of festivals open for submissions:

Lausanne Underground Film Festival

The Lausanne Underground Film Festival is one of the most epic underground fests on the planet, taking place every year in Switzerland and featuring an enormous mix of avant-garde, experimental and outlandish films from all over the world.

This year mark’s LUFF’s 10th anniversary and promises to be a real doozy. It will take place on Oct. 15-23 and, as always, it’s completely free for filmmakers to enter. They’re looking for short films and features in the categories of documentary, animation and experimental and a brief explanation of what they’re actually looking for is as follows:

LUFF focuses on all independent film or video creations, on innovative small budgets, on offbeat, daring, surprising and shocking visions. We look for films that have something to show and to say.There is no constraint, no censorship, and no limit beside the legal one.

You can also check out last year’s lineup to see if this festival is right for your film. If you decide to enter, there is one deadline date:

Final Deadline:
June 30

Please visit the official LUFF website for guidelines and their online submission form.

Antimatter Film Festival

Another massive underground fest is the Antimatter Film Festival, which is held in Victoria BC, Canada. As opposed to many other festivals, Antimatter skews heavily towards short films, although they do seem to screen more features every year. This year’s edition will take place on Oct. 14-22.

Antimatter leans heavily towards the experimental side of filmmaking, so your film should lean towards that direction if you’re thinking of submitting. For example, last year they screened work by Martha Colburn, Todd Verow, Dionysos Andronis, Tony Gault, Jaimz Asmundson and more.

Also, the Antimatter manifesto says:

Antimatter exists to provide a public platform for underground productions of fi lm and video — imaginative, volatile, entertaining and critical works that exist outside of the mainstream. It is a forum for innovative and radical ideas overlooked or marginalized by contemporary culture.

The early deadline is in just two days, but the late deadline is still a few months away. And there are entry fees:

Early Deadline
April 29
$15

Late Deadline
June 17
$25

Please visit the official Antimatter website for their entry guidelines and submission form.

Oakland Underground Film Festival

The Oakland Underground Film Festival is still a fairly new festival. This year marks their 3rd annual edition, which will run on Sept. 22-25.

This fest likes to place a special emphasis on films on “social justice, urban life, the environment and works of fiction and non-fiction that thrive outside of classic narrative filmmaking.” For example, last year’s edition focused a lot on films about the impact of music on people’s lives and documentaries in general. Although, that’s not to say this year they’re looking for music docs again, but I’d say they lean heavily on the social justice and urban life angles.

As for deadlines, I’m unfortunately posting this up late and I missed the earlier, cheaper deadlines. But, there are still two deadlines coming up that have relatively low entry fees:

Regular Deadline
May 1
$20

Late Deadline
June 1
$30

Please visit the official OAKUFF website for guidelines and entry form.

Polly Staffle Grindhouse Fest

New to being listed on the Underground Film Journal is PollyGrind, a grindhouse-flavored film festival. This fest is based in Las Vegas, NV. This will be the fest’s 2nd year in operation, but it sounds like a ton of fun. It’ll take place on Oct. 7-16.

I particularly like the competitive categories you can submit your feature length films to. They are: Blood-o-Rama, Frontiers Anew, Area-X, Weirdville and CrimeTime. Plus, PollyGrind is also looking for short films, music videos and real/fake movie trailers.

If you have a grindhouse-style film, then this is the event to submit to. There are a few deadlines::

Regular Deadline
May 13
Standard: $25
Student: $15

Late Deadline
June 13
Standard: $35
Student: $25

Last Minute Deadline
July 13
Standard: $45
Student: $35

Please visit the official PollyGrind website for submission guidelines and entry info.

Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival

Last, but not least, is Bay City, Michigan’s eclectic Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival. This is a fun indie film specializing festival, with a slight touch of an underground flavor. Last year, they screened two Underground Film Journal favorites: Blondes in the Jungle and El Monstro De Mar!.

Hell’s Half Mile will run this year Sept. 29 to Oct. 2. And while I didn’t put their lineup on the Underground Film Journal last year, you can check that out on their own website to see if your film fits in.

Again, I missed two earlier, cheaper deadlines. But, there are still two deadlines coming up:

Late Deadline
May 23, 2011
Standard: $35
Student: $15

WAB Extended Deadline
June 15, 2011
Standard: $45
Student: $20

Please visit the official Hell’s Half Mile website for more submission info.