Screening the 9th Season is on for July 2021. Enter today!
Our Mission
We are the best little boutique film festival on an international platform. We seek and screen the most diverse and interesting films limited to the challenging 3-minutes of creativity! Screening on-line in July 2021.
Accepting for selection: Narratives, Animation, Experimental, and Documentary. Enter above on FilmFreeway.
Our Festival
- Now in its 9th Season, the 3-Minute Film Festival usually screens in a physical space in Santa Barbara, California, with receptions and mingling with other filmmakers, actors, producers, judges and staff. It has always been free with a donation only. We screen outside or in a art-gallery studio. However, now we are on-line in 2021. We hope that in 2022 we may screen festivals with a blend of physical and on-line. Time will tell. No ending credits yet!
Our Programs
- Our festival focuses on filmmakers, whether on-line or in person. Professionals, first-timers and students are judged together. Being selected here carries more cache, especially against the backdrop of Santa Barbara, California, where many film stars, filmmakers, producers and cinephiles live, tie the knot, visit for a weekend, or lumber up from Hollywood to sip a Margarita at Brophy Brothers overlooking the Harbor. A screening in Santa Barbara, with the golden laurel on your film offers exceptional standing and class.
Keep Film Festivals alive!
Your tax-deductible donation will help fund our mission. We tell stories and share emotions through film. Screening films is essential for filmmakers. Support them; support us. Give generously.
8th Season Winners
Video
8th Season Film Festival Screening of the entire Official Selections, with an introduction by Lynn M. Holley, the festival's Founding Director, and the judges.
REVIEWS
Some of our Filmmakers most welcomed reviews. Thank you all.
Dasha Khritankova. Great festival! Great communication, friendly team. I have a very positive with this festival!December 2020
Derlis Alvarenga. Great for meeting and greeting, I had a wonderful time watching the works of fellow filmmakers and animators while attending the festival in Santa Barbara.January 2019
Tyler Cole. I was unable to attend this year, but so honored to be selected. The communication was also wonderful!! August 2018
John Maslowski. I really enjoyed this festival. Lynn is so nice. The screening was outdoors which in Santa Barbara is a beautiful thing.August 2018
Keith Cantrell. Just now getting around to writing this 5-star review, but the 3 Minute Film Festival was so much fun!!! I had never been to Santa Barbara before, so I enjoyed taking a road trip up from Los Angeles when my short film Paddleball Hole screened at the festival. Definitely arrive early so you can explore the beautiful city. I met some wonderful filmmakers at this event, and the festival director Lynn is well-organized and keeps everything running smoothly. Would love to participate again in the future. Thanks for a wonderful festival!
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