The Nashville Film Festival, also known as NashFilm, was founded in 1969 and is one of the longest-running film festivals in the United States. Set in Music City, it gives music a central place in its programme, with competitions for music documentary features and music videos and panels that bring songwriters and musicians together with film professionals.
The seven-day festival presents about 150 films across 14 film competitions, among them New Directors features, Tennessee films, student work, episodic projects and the Graveyard Shift horror shorts, alongside screenwriting and pitch competitions and the Creators Conference. Winners of the narrative, animated and documentary short competitions qualify for the Academy Awards. The dates of the 57th edition are 24–30 September 2026.
Animation, Documentary, Feature, Music Video, Short, Student, Television, Screenplay
Awards and prizes
Juried awards with cash and in-kind prizes in all competition categories, including Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best New Directors Feature, Best Music Documentary Feature, Best Tennessee Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Animated Short, Best Graveyard Short, Best NextGen Student Short, Best Tennessee Short, Best Tennessee Student Short, Best Music Video and Best Episodic Pilot/Series, plus special awards. Winners of the narrative, animated and documentary short competitions qualify for Academy Award consideration. Audience awards without cash prizes. Separate screenwriting and pitch competitions.
Festival rules
Open to U.S. and international films. For the 2026 edition, films must not have premiered publicly, in person or online, before January 1, 2025, and must be at least Tennessee premieres. Films submitted in previous years cannot be resubmitted. Features run 40 minutes or longer; shorts are under 40 minutes. Accepted films are screened from DCP only. Non-English films must have English subtitles. Use of AI must be disclosed. NextGen: directors aged 25 or younger at completion, films under 25 minutes. Tennessee categories require proof of residence or that the film was shot predominantly in Tennessee. Works in progress are accepted but not encouraged. Entries are submitted through FilmFreeway.
