Back in 2017, CineManiacs was twelve short films projected in a borrowed East Austin room for a crowd that mostly knew each other. This summer, we'll do it for the fifth time — five days, roughly seventy films, and a room full of strangers who came because they love this stuff as much as we do. Submissions for the 5th edition are open now on FilmFreeway.
The format hasn't changed, because the format was never the problem. Shorts under forty minutes, any genre, from anywhere in the world. We watch every single one. The best of them get a big screen, a packed house, and a filmmaker in the room to talk about it afterward.
What's new this time
A few things. We've extended our student category with a dedicated jury, because some of the boldest work we see every year comes from filmmakers who are still in school and shouldn't have to compete against people with years more experience behind them. We're expanding the schedule to give each block more breathing room for Q&As — the conversations were getting cut short, and the conversations are half the point. And the Golden Reel, our grand jury prize, gets a bump this year.
Here's the shape of the categories:
- Best Narrative, Documentary, Animated, and Experimental — trophy and cash in each.
- Best Student — for currently enrolled filmmakers.
- The Audience Award — voted on by the people in the seats.
- The Golden Reel — best in show, chosen across every category.
The deadlines that matter
Submissions open July 27, 2026, and the earliest deadline — our lowest fee — lands August 6, 2026. Earlybird pricing runs through late October, then steps up through the regular tiers to the late deadline on February 26, 2027. Notifications go out April 26, 2027, to everyone, selected or not, because being left wondering is the worst part of submitting anywhere. The festival itself runs June 28 – July 2, 2027 in Austin.
Entry fees vary by category and deadline and are listed on our FilmFreeway page. The math is simple: the earlier you submit, the less it costs, and the more of our attention your film gets before the pile grows.
Send us the weird one
If there's one thing years of programming has taught us, it's that the films people almost don't submit — the odd, personal, hard-to-categorize ones — are the films that win. Don't send us the safe cut you think a festival wants. Send us the one you actually made. That's the one we're waiting for.
Still obsessed, all these years later. Come be obsessed with us. Submit on FilmFreeway.
CineManiacs is an independent short film festival in Austin, Texas. Submissions for the 5th edition are open now on FilmFreeway.