MISSION STATEMENT

Nashville Film Festival is a cultural arts institution that inspires, educates and entertains through an annual celebration of the art of motion pictures, year-round events and community outreach.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Founded in 1969 as the Sinking Creek Film Celebration and one of the longest-running film festivals in the country, Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) is hosted by the Regal Green Hills Stadium 16 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since becoming the Nashville Independent Film Festival in 1998, and then the Nashville Film Festival in 2003, this annual mid-Tennessee film event attracts enthusiastic film lovers from the region and has been praised by filmgoers and filmmakers alike for its unique combination of big city film festival atmosphere and Southern hospitality. With over 215 films from 38 countries, numerous industry panels, music showcases, and great parties every night, the annual festival drew over 26,000 attendees. With films crossing all genres from drama, comedy, animation, and family to experimental, foreign, documentaries and short films, the Festival has something for every filmgoer to enjoy. Voted as one of "25 film festivals worth the entry fee" by MovieMaker Magazine and highlighted for "One of the Best Film Festival Prizes" by Film Festival Today, it is one of the most acclaimed film festivals in the South.

NOTABLE FILMS AND FESTIVAL PREMIERES

NaFF presents the best in World Cinema, American Indies, documentaries, and numerous short form programs by veteran masters, up-and-coming directors, and first-time filmmakers. NaFF has hosted numerous films that have won the highest honors in the film world, from major festival prizewinners to Academy Award winners to indie box office hits. Films screened in the past years include such hits as 13 Assassins, (500) Days of Summer, Cyrus, Terri, Buck, Nowhere Boy, Project Nim and Academy Award nominees, I Am Love, Ajami, and Dogtooth.

With Academy Award qualifying status and numerous, well-attended shorts programs, NaFF has screened many prize-winning narrative and animated shorts, including winners God of Love, West Bank Story, The Danish Poet, Ryan, For the Birds, Harvie Krumpet, and The Accountant, and nominees The Gruffalo, Na We We, French Roast, Instead of Abracadabra, and Kavi.

NaFF is also the place where many up-and-coming filmmakers get their first big breaks.  Craig Brewer (Footloose, Hustle & Flow, and Black Snake Moan) won his first award at NaFF.  Most recently, Clay Jeter received the Ground Zero Tennessee Spirit Award for Best Short Film and used the finishing funds to complete Jess + Moss, which would world premiere at Sundance and be accepted for competition in Berlin before returning the NaFF 2011.

MUSIC FILMS IN MUSIC CITY

Because it takes place in "Music City," it is only natural that part of the focus be on music in films. Some of the most memorable songs in films have been written and performed by Nashville's songwriters and artists. In addition to the many films about music and the Music Films in Music City awards, NaFF presents showcases, workshops, and other events where these songwriters and artists come together with film professionals from Hollywood and around the world to promote collaboration.

DISTINCTIVE AWARDS

With a strong commitment to independent and innovative filmmaking, NaFF offers some truly unique awards. Filmmakers compete for cash and prizes valued at more than $37,000, plus television broadcasting contracts. Winners of the Short Narrative and Animation competitions automatically qualify for Academy Award consideration. (Only 42 film festivals worldwide share this designation). Other special awards include prizes for the best LGBT film, best film by a black filmmaker, best Hispanic film, awards for Tennessee directors and more. Further, NaFF offers a series of Career Achievement Awards to talent both on-screen and behind the scenes.  Recipients of recent Career Achievement Awards include Patricia Neal, Hal Holbrook, Kris Kristofferson, Academy Award-winning composer Gustavo Santoallala, and Academy Award-nominated documentarian Steve James.

RENOWNED FESTIVAL ATTENDEES

Filmmakers from across the country and around the world attend the festival every year. Celebrity honorees and participants have included Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon, William Shatner, William H. Macy, Al Gore, Danny Glover, Vincent D'Onofrio, Joey Lauren Adams, Rob Thomas, Craig Brewer, Harmony Korine, Ashley Judd, Kiefer Sutherland, Joshua Jackson, Brad Paisley, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Peter Falk, Paul Reiser, Patrick Swayze, Rick Schroder, Christine Vachon, John Waters, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Redford, James Cromwell, Harry Belafonte, Barbara Kopple, Michael Moore, D.A. Pennebaker and director of the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man, Marc Webb.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

More than just a week of competition, workshops and entertainment, NaFF's yearlong efforts create programs for senior citizens, challenged teens, and high school and college-age filmmakers and embrace the diversity within its own community by partnering with various local cultural and ethnic groups.

EIGHT YEARS OF OUTREACH

Started in 2004 with the funds from the Tennessee Arts Commission and The Memorial Foundation, the MAKING OF A TEEN FILM project has become a highly anticipated annual event. With guidance from film professionals, teens share their ideas, create a story and transform it into a short film. Participating in all aspects of the process, they also cast, act, direct, learn make-up, create costumes, create props, and shadow the professional film crew. Once their short film is edited, it is passed to teen collaborators at the W.O. SMITH MUSIC SCHOOL who score it. The first time all participants see the completed film is at the annual Nashville Film Festival when they walk the red carpet, take group photos, watch their film on the big screen and participate in a question-and-answer session.

Help teens redefine themselves through the creative process. It changes their lives.

The Kids on Camera Workshop (KOC) is an intensive acting  3-day workshop that encompasses a wide variety of industry techniques for film and television and takes place in February. Aspiring actors rotate between different groups, participate in a variety of activities including a film-scene group on a real sound stage, commercial techniques, monologue work, on-screen combat skills, special effects make-up, a head-shot session, improv skills and acting coaching.

A red carpet screening of the students' work premieres at the festival in April. All participants and their families and special guests get an opportunity to walk the red carpet with special photo opportunities. The workshop is held every year prior to the festival and we plan to add more workshops in the future.