Nashville Film Festival

About the Nashville Film Festival

Founded in 1969, the Nashville Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals in the United States and the oldest in the American South. Its longevity reflects something genuine about Nashville's creative culture: this is a city that has always understood the relationship between storytelling and sound, and the festival has grown from a regional showcase into a globally recognized event that draws filmmakers, screenwriters, and music industry professionals from around the world.

The festival takes place each fall, typically in late September, at a rotating selection of Nashville's most celebrated arts venues. What separates NashFilm from comparable events is its dual identity. It functions simultaneously as a film festival and as a music-in-film festival, a distinction that shapes everything from its competition categories to its audience. Nashville is Music City, and the festival has leaned into that identity rather than away from it. No other major American film festival places the intersection of music and cinema at the center of its programming in the way NashFilm does.

The festival is run by NashFilm, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts advocacy organization that operates year-round. Alongside the annual festival, NashFilm runs educational initiatives for Nashville public school students, summer film camps for high school participants, and free outdoor community screenings. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has granted the festival Academy Award qualifying status in multiple short film categories, meaning that short films earning awards at NashFilm become eligible for Oscar consideration. Prizes across the festival's competitions total more than $100,000.

Competition Sections

NashFilm runs a full slate of competitive categories covering features, shorts, music video, and screenwriting. Each reflects the festival's commitment to both cinematic craft and the music-cinema intersection that defines Nashville's cultural identity.

• Feature Narrative Competition — Recognizes the best narrative feature films submitted to the festival, with prizes awarded by a jury of film professionals. Eligible films must meet premiere requirements and have not been commercially released in the United States.
• Feature Documentary Competition — A dedicated competition for documentary features, which has historically skewed toward films dealing with music, musicians, and the creative process. Given Nashville's audience, music documentaries tend to resonate strongly here, though the competition is open to all subjects.
• Music Documentary Feature Competition — A standalone category specifically for documentary features centered on music, musicians, or the music industry. This is one of the few major American film festivals with a dedicated competition category for music documentary at the feature length.
• Short Film Competition — Academy Award qualifying in the narrative, documentary, and animated categories. Short films that win in these categories become eligible for Oscar consideration, which makes NashFilm a meaningful stop on the short film circuit.
• Music Video Competition — A genuine competitive category that reflects Nashville's unique position in American music culture. Few major film festivals run a competitive music video section; NashFilm has built one that draws submissions from major label artists and independent creators alike. Judging focuses on the quality of the film as a film, not on the commercial success of the artist.
• Screenwriting Competition — A national competition open to unproduced feature and short screenplays, with a dedicated Tennessee creator category. Winners receive cash prizes, industry exposure, and inclusion in festival programming. The competition is judged by working writers and development executives.

Nashville and Music in Film

The Nashville Film Festival exists in a city where the creative economy runs through music at every level. The audience at NashFilm is not a conventional film festival audience. It includes songwriters who have written the scores of major motion pictures, producers who move between album sessions and film sets, music video directors who are building toward narrative features, and industry professionals who care deeply about how music is licensed, placed, and used in film. This is the context in which the festival operates.

That context shapes programming in concrete ways. Films where music is central to the narrative, whether a concert film, a musician biography, a documentary about the recording process, or a narrative where the soundtrack is integral to the story, find a natural home at NashFilm. The programming team has developed a genuine expertise in evaluating this specific type of film, and it shows in the quality of what gets selected.

The relationship between Nashville's creative economy and its film community has grown significantly over the past decade. Tennessee's film tax incentive program has attracted major productions to the state, and Nashville's infrastructure for music production, sound design, and scoring has made it a legitimate hub for film post-production work. The festival exists at the intersection of all of this: a place where the people who make films and the people who make music can find common ground around what each craft means to the other.

What Programmers Look For

NashFilm has built a track record in discovering films that other festivals overlook, particularly in the music documentary and music-narrative space. The programming team evaluates submissions looking for work that has something specific to say, films where the filmmaking choices are intentional and the subject matter is handled with depth rather than surface familiarity.

For the Short Film Competition, the Academy Award qualifying status means that programmers are looking for films with the craft and intention to compete at the highest level. Short films that have screened in competition at NashFilm have gone on to Oscar nominations, and the selection committee takes that track record seriously. Strong performances, precise editing, and a clear point of view matter more than production scale.

The Music Video Competition is judged primarily as filmmaking. The question programmers ask is not whether the artist is well known, but whether the video works as a film: whether the direction makes choices that serve the music without simply illustrating it, whether the cinematography and editing have a point of view. This makes the competition genuinely open to emerging directors working with independent artists.

For filmmakers deciding between NashFilm and other music-adjacent festivals, the comparison to SXSW is the most common one. SXSW is a much larger event with a broader cultural footprint, and its film programming exists alongside a massive music industry conference. NashFilm is a smaller, more focused event where film is the primary subject and music is the lens through which much of that film is understood. Films that deal seriously with music as subject matter, or that emerged from the music world, often find a more attentive audience at NashFilm than they would in Austin's larger, noisier environment.

Submission Guide

Submissions to the Nashville Film Festival are accepted through FilmFreeway at filmfreeway.com/NashvilleFilmFestival and through the festival's official website at nashvillefilmfestival.org. The festival runs on a late September schedule, and submission deadlines typically open in the fall of the preceding year, with early deadlines in November and December, regular deadlines in January and February, and a final late deadline in spring.

Submission fees vary by category and deadline tier, with early deadlines offering reduced fees. Tennessee-based filmmakers and student filmmakers should check the specific categories designed for their work, as NashFilm runs dedicated Tennessee creator and student categories across several competition tracks.

• Feature Narrative and Documentary: Submit via FilmFreeway. Premiere requirements apply to the main competition categories; check current guidelines for whether US or world premieres are required, as these can vary by year.
• Music Documentary Feature: A standalone category; submit separately from the general documentary competition if your film centers on music or musicians.
• Short Films (Academy Award Qualifying): Narrative, documentary, and animated short categories all carry Oscar qualifying status. Films must be under a specific runtime (typically 40 minutes or fewer) and must not have been commercially distributed in the United States prior to the festival.
• Music Video Competition: Open to music videos of any genre. The director submits the film; the artist does not need to submit directly. No premiere requirements apply to the Music Video Competition.
• Screenwriting Competition: Submit completed, unproduced feature or short screenplays. Tennessee creator and student categories are available. Scripts are evaluated on craft and commercial viability, not on attachment to production.

For the most current deadlines, fees, and eligibility rules, verify directly at nashvillefilmfestival.org or the festival's FilmFreeway page, as these details are updated each cycle.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes the Nashville Film Festival different from other Southern film festivals?

NashFilm's founding in 1969 makes it one of the oldest film festivals in the country, but its most distinguishing characteristic is its relationship to music. No other major Southern film festival has built its identity around the intersection of film and music the way NashFilm has. The Music Documentary Feature Competition and the Music Video Competition are both genuine competitive categories with prizes, not sideshows. The audience includes music industry professionals who bring a different kind of attention to how music functions in film. This combination of longevity, Academy Award qualifying status, and a genuine music-film focus makes NashFilm a distinct proposition within the Southern festival landscape.

Is the festival only for music-themed films?

No. NashFilm accepts and competes films across all genres and subjects, and the Feature Narrative Competition, Feature Documentary Competition, and Short Film Competition are all open to films regardless of subject matter. Music-themed films and music documentaries have a natural home here and tend to find a particularly engaged audience, but the festival programs work across the full spectrum of documentary and narrative filmmaking. The Screenwriting Competition is similarly open to all genres.

Which short film categories are Academy Award qualifying?

NashFilm holds Academy Award qualifying status in three short film categories: narrative shorts, documentary shorts, and animated shorts. Short films that win in these categories become eligible for Oscar consideration in the corresponding Academy Award categories. The festival's qualifying status is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the selection committee applies the same standards used to evaluate short films at other qualifying festivals.

What is the Music Video Competition and who can enter?

The Music Video Competition is a standalone competitive category open to music videos of any genre, from any country. It is one of the few formal competitive music video categories at a major American film festival. The competition is open to directors rather than artists, meaning that a filmmaker can submit a video they directed regardless of whether the recording artist is submitting separately. Judging focuses on the quality of the filmmaking: direction, cinematography, editing, and how the visual language serves or interprets the music. There are no premiere requirements for the Music Video Competition.

How does Nashville compare to SXSW for music-adjacent films?

SXSW is a much larger event where film programming is one component of a sprawling music, technology, and culture conference. The audience is enormous and varied, and a film can achieve significant visibility there, but the festival environment is loud and competitive for attention. NashFilm is smaller and more focused: film is the primary subject, and the audience skews toward people who are actively engaged in both the film and music industries. Music-adjacent films, particularly music documentaries and narrative films centered on musicians or the recording world, often find a more concentrated and knowledgeable audience at NashFilm. The two festivals are not in direct competition; many films screen at both.

What premiere requirements apply to the feature competitions?

Premiere requirements vary by competition category and can change from year to year. The Feature Narrative and Feature Documentary competitions typically require that films have not had prior commercial theatrical release in the United States, but specific world premiere or US premiere requirements should be confirmed directly with NashFilm before submitting. The Music Documentary Feature Competition and Music Video Competition have historically had more relaxed premiere requirements. Check the current submission guidelines at nashvillefilmfestival.org or the festival's FilmFreeway page for the most accurate information.

Submit Your Film

The Nashville Film Festival is one of the few places in American film culture where the worlds of cinema and music overlap as a matter of institutional identity, not just programming taste. Whether you're a narrative filmmaker, a documentary director, a music video director building toward longer work, or a screenwriter looking for recognition in a market that understands the creative economy of the South, NashFilm offers a genuine competitive context and an audience that brings both film knowledge and music industry fluency to what they watch.

Submit through FilmFreeway at filmfreeway.com/NashvilleFilmFestival or directly at nashvillefilmfestival.org. Review current deadlines and category requirements before submitting, and check whether your short film qualifies for the Academy Award qualifying categories.