We offer cash awards in Documentary, Narrative, Experimental, Animation, Audience Choice, and Best of the Fest, as well as awards for immigrant stories, dismantling systems of oppression, and more. Watch our blog for more details!
Professional Affiliations
Humboldt State University
Humboldt Film Fest's Interests
General
The Humboldt Film Fest is the oldest student-run film festival in the world, showcasing innovative cinema since 1967, the Summer of Love.
At the Humboldt Film Festival, we celebrate films that test cinematic boundaries. Films that show heart and purpose hold a greater value to this festival than attributes related to production value. The Humboldt Film Fest exists so that excellent independent films are seen and filmmakers are supported in their art, so as to perpetuate the creation of more exceptional films.
Nestled in the north coast redwoods of California, the city of Arcata has proven to be a magical setting for filmmakers and film enthusiasts to gather for our annual spring festival. Named by UTNE Reader as California's Most Enlightened Town, Arcata offers the best in organic meals, walkable streets, and temperate rain forest hikes.
Movies
Short films made by independent or student filmmakers, under 30 minutes. Experimental, Documentary, Narrative, Animation, and everything inbetween.
1967. The Vietnam War was in its eighth year with no end in sight, protests had reached a crescendo, race riots had flared up in major cities across the U.S., and our space race with the Soviet Union had become a powerful symbol of the Cold War.
Amidst all of this chaos, the arts were thriving and expanding in new ways. A San Francisco Be-In launched the Summer of Love, and the first live, international satellite television program featured The Beatles singing "All You Need is Love."
The year in film was exemplary and experimental. A TIME cover story at the time stated, "The most important fact about the screen in 1967 is that Hollywood has at long last become part of what the French film journal Cahiers du Cinema calls ’the furious springtime of world cinema,’ and is producing a new kind of movie."
Movie theatres were graced with modern classics like The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Belle de Jour, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Wait Until Dark, To Sir with Love, and Andy Warhol’s The Chelsea Girls.
In a year known for its heavy student involvement in activism and the arts, it was the perfect time for a group of undergraduates in northern California to launch the first film festival run entirely by students. This tradition continues at Humboldt State University today, with different student co-directors bringing their unique vision to the festival each year.
Subscribe to our blog for updates on this year’s deadlines, judges, awards, and ongoing events, and check our website for more details!
Who I'd like to meet: Independent filmmakers and film lovers from all over the world.
Thanks for the add. Got 2 minutes? If you haven't checked out my trailer yet, please feel free to do so! If you already have, thanks for your attention.
