BERKSHIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 20 YEARS AND INVITES UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO SUBMIT THEIR FILMS TO BIFF’S SECOND ANNUAL “nexGEN FILM COMPETITION!”
October 1, 2025 – Great Barrington: Calling all undergraduate college and university student filmmakers! After a successful inaugural year, the Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) and Love Today Productions (LTP) opens submissions to the second annual competition supporting emerging filmmakers. The “nexGen Film Competition” is open to undergraduate students across the U.S to encourage the work of the next generation of talented young filmmakers. The competition aims to discover emerging student filmmakers and provide them a platform at an international film festival. BIFF and LTP aim to highlight students’ talents at a festival setting and provide them with mentoring and potential job opportunities in a tough industry. Three filmmakers will be chosen from the submissions and will each receive a cash prize of $2500, mentoring from an acclaimed filmmaker, and an invitation to attend the BIFF as our guest at the end of May 2026.
BIFF and LTP aim to help students use their film as their calling card for a career in the independent film industry. We also want to provide them a platform not only to showcase their talents, but also attend our Filmmaker Summit to meet and network with professionals in the film business prior to the film festival.
We encourage experimentation and diverse storytelling approaches, welcoming not only fiction but also documentary and poetry. We’re particularly interested in unique visual languages and fresh ways of engaging audiences. We’re eager to discover students who are curious about the medium, willing to play with it, and ready to challenge the boundaries of film.
The competition is open NOW until March 10 to all film undergraduate students CURRENTLY in a U.S. university or college. Submissions are free of entry fees through FilmFreeway – nexGen Student Film Competition
BIFF will present the three award winners with a cash prize of $2500. The award-winning films will be presented at the 2026 film festival held May 28 – 31 along with the filmmakers in attendance. The competition is generously sponsored by Love Today Productions.
Films requirements for submission:
MUST be an UNDERGRADUATE college or university student in the USA at time of submission
MUST not be longer than 12 minutes, without credits
MUST be completed by March 31, 2026
MUST be produced and directed by a student who is CURRENTLY attending an undergraduate college or university
A valid college ID WILL BE required to validate undergraduate student status for the finalists
MUST own or have cleared all rights of the submitted materials, including music
Submit now via FilmFreeway – click here
For more information, contact the BIFF Office – kelley@biffma.org, anne@biffma.org, lauren@biffma.org
