Festival dossier
Rutherford, United States · Est. 2023 · Multiple structural red flags — exercise caution before submitting
The Rutherford Film Festival is a new, artist-run festival held at the Williams Center in Rutherford, New Jersey, notable for using multiple historic screens, including the 101-year-old Rivoli Theater, and for combining film screenings with lectures and celebrations. It focuses on emerging filmmakers from around the world and presents awards across features, shorts, documentaries, animation, student work, and craft categories, giving it a profile as a platform for up-and-coming talent rather than an established major-market event.
This overview may contradict our structured venue and screening data. Prefer the Legitimacy Analysis section and structured fields below for social posts or citations.
Last updated Aug 27, 2026
Founded
2023
Live web research is off to control API cost. This shows cached scheduled research when available, plus analysis from our database.
Hard research (cheap model + thorough prompt) runs on a cron for suspicious festivals; a biweekly job refreshes others. No live API calls from the site.
Scores are calculated from structural indicators: accreditations, physical screenings, award category count, submission frequency, and acceptance rate. Higher scores reflect more verifiable legitimacy signals.
No community reviews yet. If you submitted here, your experience helps others avoid award mills.
Report a problem with this festivalGet notified when Rutherford Film Festival's tier changes or new reports are filed.