Submission Deadline for Garden State Film Festival is November 1st

Published by New Jersey Stage
originally published: 10/29/2026

The Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) has announced its call for entries for the 2027 festival closes Sunday, November 1. Creators from around the world are invited to submit features, shorts, documentaries, screenplays, student work and original movie music through FilmFreeway. Submitters can use the code merrygoround to receive $20 off their entry.

As GSFF approaches its 25th anniversary, the festival is inviting businesses, organizations and individuals to help reach its fundraising goal by becoming a supporter or taking out an ad in the festival's full-color program book.

Beyond the screen, the festival's Screenplay Competition and Movie Music category recognize the writers and composers who shape a film long before and long after the cameras roll. The festival's Home Grown categories spotlight films shot in the Garden State, with at least 75% of production completed in New Jersey. All appear alongside international selections from creators around the globe.

Now in its 25th year, GSFF has been a driving force in the state's independent film community since before New Jersey introduced a film tax incentive and before major studios arrived.

"The Garden State Film Festival didn't join New Jersey's film economy. We helped create the ground it now stands on," said Lauren Concar Sheehy, Executive Director of GSFF. "Twenty-five years later, we're still looking for the next great story, and the next great score. We'd love to see yours."

Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info

Each year, the festival welcomes more than 22,000 attendees and screens over 200 films from more than 23 countries. Visiting filmmakers, industry professionals and film fans fill the state's hotels, restaurants and downtowns, and the festival's reach generates more than 41 million media impressions annually. Year-round, GSFF's educational programming reaches students in more than 95 New Jersey schools, and festival alumni have reached the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival.

At GSFF, student filmmakers share the screen with professional and international work, programmed as true peers in the lineup. That student work also reaches statewide education leaders. At the annual New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) Workshop, GSFF presents high school films in an annual Student Film Showcase. Audiences include students, TV teachers, high school administrators, Board of Education members and other education officials from across the state.

GSFF presents in South Jersey and brings programming to the region year-round, in partnership with the South Jersey Film Office Cooperative and the Camden County Commissioners. For its 25th anniversary in March 2027, GSFF will present programming across New Jersey during festival week and will bring the annual festival itself to South Jersey for the first time, with screenings in Collingswood.

The Garden State Film Festival is a nonprofit independent film festival celebrating 25 years of championing filmmakers, screenwriters and composers, supporting emerging talent through year-round education programs and showcasing work from around the world. GSFF is a 2026 NJBIZ Empowering Women Honoree. For more information, visit gsff.org.