2027 Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival

Overview

******* CALL FOR 2027 ENTRIES IS NOW OPEN ******* Southern Arizona Independent Film Festival is a family oriented festival designed to solicit entries from all levels of experience, age groups and genre interests ensuring that opportunities are broadly available to anyone creating visual stories. We screen G and PG rated short films (under 15 minutes). The festival is geared towards the Student and Advanced Student filmmaker along with fully embracing the work of Indie filmmakers. Our 2027 screenings will place on Saturday, May 15, 2027 at the Willcox Theater Arts Complex in Willcox, Arizona. ********** NEW A.I. CATEGORY SCREENINGS ********** We will be having a special A.I. Category opening up this season that will be judged separately from our regular film entries. These A.I. films must be narative, character driven stories (no experimental) and 100% A.I. with the exception of voice and music. All entries in this category must be between five and ten minutes long (NO EXCEPTIONS) and must adhere to G or PG ratings (no F words). These films will not be judged for prizes along with regular entries but the top ten scores will be screened separately for the public with the top scoring entry added to the screenings during the main festival session on Saturday afternoon. If you enter this category, you must declare it in your film description along with the tools or apps that were utilized in the production (Midjourney, Veo, Runway, Firefly, Nano Banana, Suno, Eleven Labs, etc.) and it must not violate any copyright laws regarding images or sounds. If it contains licensed materials, those licenses must be attached along with the film entry. Any violation of this policy or any other rules as listed below will result in disqualification. *** CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2026 SELECTIONS *** The following films were selected for screening and (awards) at our 2026 festival. "Never Alone" "Curse of Goat Creek" "Pulp" "Dreams" (Best Student Film) "The Shed" "Piano on the Prairie" "Letters to the Inventor" "Tom's Alien Space Adventure" (Best Advanced Student Film) "Swimming with Giants" "I'm Running For My Life" "The Legacy" "Yoga Girl" "A.I. Jesus" (Best Indie Film / Best of Fest) Technical Awards: Directing: Grahm Molloy ("Tom's Alien Space Adventure") Cinematography: Radomir Jordanovic ("Yoga Girl") Editing: Logan Billington, Fernando Galan, Ashley Billington ("A.I. Jesus") Sound Design: Tiffany Dew ("Pulp") Performance: Vince Cusimano ("A.I. Jesus") Story: Marshall Critchfiled, Ashley Billington ("A.I. Jesus") Please read our rules before entering so you meet the standards that have been put in place. Our 2026 screenings featured some great films and we look forward to see what all our talented entrants submit for judging and possible screening this season. Congratulations to our 2026 "Best of Fest" winner "A.I. Jesus" Directed by Ashley Billington of Boca Raton, Florida.

Last updated Sep 12, 2026

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FilmFreeway communityGold festival

• Filmmaker

  Nice relaxed venue with a high caliber of international films - honored to be selected and attend. Wilcox is a unique destination and the Sonoran desert is magical.

• Filmmaker

  We were thrilled to be included as an official selection for 2024. The lineup of films was top notch. Thank you for your support of filmmakers. We wish we were able to attend.

• Filmmaker

  Thank you so much for screening our film A Family Portrait and awarding it for best cinematography. You guys are terrific!

• Filmmaker

  WOW!! I can't believe how well my film 'Nix's Symphony' did at this film festival! What an amazing group of people. The communication was great, lots of information and kept me in the loop. Can't wait to enter my next film to the 2025 festival :D

• Filmmaker

  Good festival made by cinema lovers. Could improve the communication about the event.

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