2024 DUMBO FILM FESTIVAL
The Dumbo Film Festival (DFF) is an annual live event in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It is one of the most quality film festivals in the neighborhood, showcasing the best of independent films worldwide. The Dumbo Film Festival attracts thousands of attendees and submissions yearly. We are proud to say that we have received over 13,000 submissions from over 100 countries in the past years,
Throughout the year until the live screening, we hold preselection competitions to select a number of entries for each category. Our jury Committees for our live screening are made up of BAFTA and Academy award-winning filmmakers.
CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR THE 2024 EVENT OPEN!
The official selection for the 2023 event has already been chosen, but you can find information (deadlines and fees) about the current preselection cycle on FilmFreeway, qualifying for next year’s event (October 2024).
The 6th Dumbo Film Festival live event (2024 DFF) will occur in October, 2024, once the preselection cycle is closed and the whole lineup to screen is chosen (June 2024).

All the officially selected films will be screened in Brooklyn, New York, during the live screening event and a final ceremony will be held to award projects that have been judged the best over the past year. This structure allows the festival to collect funds for the organization of the annual live event.
This structure also ensures that everyone gets a fair chance throughout the year. The festival also aims to highlight both established and emerging filmmakers by creating a network and launching promising artists into the world film stage.
As a nonprofit organization, the Dumbo Film Festival is totally independent, and the budget for each year’s live event is built out of the submission fees and donations. Click here if you wish to donate to the Dumbo Film Festival.
By the end of the Seventies, a prosperous renewal has brought the district of Dumbo to a new life. The neighborhood has consequently become one of New York’s most glamorous districts alongside a thriving destination for artists.
On this background of revival, the DFF is establishing itself among the most important independent festivals in the world. Our annual event is a perfect opportunity for Producers and directors from around the world to meet and share new ideas. Likewise, filmmakers and other creatives can leverage the exposure our festival offers to start their journey towards achieving their prestigious goals. In fact, the DFF can be your stepping stone to go the distance (literally 2797 miles!) to the Oscars night.

Many of our award-winning films are official selections or winners from
Cannes, Berlinale, Raindance, Sundance, Tribeca, the Goya Awards, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the American Academy Awards (Oscar®)
and so on.
At least one film in our yearly lineup always makes it to the Oscars shortlist.
Many have been distributed on major televisions and international platforms such as:
HBO, Netflix, Amazon, PBS, BBC.
The official selection for the 2023 event has already been chosen out of a series of non-screening preselection competitions, and will represent the following six categories:
Feature Narrative; Short Narrative; Feature Documentary;
Short Documentary; Experimental; Animation.
The selected films will screen in Brooklyn and compete for the
Best in Category award and Grand Bridge Award (Best film in category and best film of the year).