The Rochester International Film Festival, the world’s oldest continuously-held short film festival, has been produced each year since 1959 by Movies on a Shoestring, Inc. Each festival includes a wide variety of narrative films, documentaries, and animations submitted by independent filmmakers from all parts of the world.

All filmmakers are invited to submit entries for consideration. Each film selected for the festival is awarded our distinctive Shoestring Trophy. Since films are made to be seen, we offer appreciative, movie-wise audiences to view your work at the Dryden Theatre, George Eastman House International Museum of Film and Photography in Rochester, NY.

If your entry is selected for screening at the festival, we might also contact you about including it in our permanent traveling collection, The Best of the Fest, which includes the most popular films from previous festivals, based on audience surveys taken at each show. Films from this collection may be borrowed for non commercial use.

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