TFF-2014-submissions-open-224x186In thirteen short years, the Tribeca Film Festival, started by Robert De Niro, among others, has built itself into one of those few film festivals with serious name-brand recognition: it's the red-carpet NYC festival that your non-film friends have actually heard of! It's also insanely competitive, with Tribeca having received nearly 9,000 submissions in 2013. If you're interested, read up on the guidelines below because the Tribeca Film Festival submissions have begun!

Who wouldn't love to add the Tribeca laurel front-and-center on the cover of your film? This festival has introduced many wonderful films over the years, and the esteem and industry presence can be a huge launching point for a film. (Catch up on No Film School interviews with filmmakers whose work premiered at the 2013 TFF, like underdog hit Hide Your Smiling Faces or spy thriller documentary Alias Ruby Blade, to get a taste of the excitement of getting in to this fest.)


The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival is now accepting narratives, documentaries, shorts, and for the second year ever, transmedia projects. Here is a quick reference of the festival sections and programs your film could make it in to:

  • In Competition: world narrative features, world documentary features, shorts (narrative and documentary)
  • Out of Competition: Gala; Special Screenings, Spotlight, Viewpoints, Midnight
  • Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival
  • Tribeca (Online) Film Festival

Here is a little information about the budding transmedia program called Tribeca Storyscapes from Tribeca's website that will also be a part of TFF 2014:

This program, which includes an award and is sponsored by BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® Gin, celebrates new trends in digital media and recognize transmedia creators who employ an innovative, interactive, web-based or multi-platform approach to story creation.

If you are considering entering a transmedia project, check out the Transmedia Submissions page for a full list of rules and regulations. Otherwise, if you are planning to submit a narrative or documentary, check out the breakdown including submission guidelines and eligibility on the Film Submissions page.

Once you're ready, make sure you submit to TFF 2014 with your eye on these important submission dates:

  • September 16, 2013: Submissions Open
  • October 18, 2013: Deadline for early submissions of completed features, shorts and transmedia projects
  • November 29, 2013: Official deadline for all features, shorts and transmedia projects
  • December 27, 2013: Late deadline, available only to feature-length films completed after the official deadline.

While you can submit up to the last minute in time for the late deadlines, remember that by December 27th, a given programmer may have already watched a thousand films before yours! If you can, submit early.

Anyone have any other tips on successfully submitting to Tribeca?

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