Film Submission Info

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Submit to the 2026 MOFF

The Maine Outdoor Film Festival (MOFF) is an international film festival featuring outdoor adventure and environmental documentary films which relate to topics and experiences surrounding the beauty, vastness, interactivity and volatility of our planet; and how its power influences human experience.

MOFF’s signature event is the annual flagship festival each July in Portland, Maine. Filmmakers, outdoor aficionados, environmentalists and lovers of art and storytelling converge for outdoor adventure and conservation film in Maine’s cultural hub. Each day, the festival features a panoply of programming including indoor daytime screenings, industry panels, and artist networking events. And each night an outdoor theater is erected: a 20’ inflatable screen with a modern audio and projector system.

After the Portland flagship festival, MOFF produces a late-summer/fall tour of northeast venues (called MOFF Selects Tour), connecting community and the outdoors through film.

MOFF also produces off-season film screenings, like our winter film event: SNOW DAY DREAMS, and our International Women’s Day celebration: WOMEN IN THE WILD.  

WHAT WE VALUE
An unwavering focus on top-notch storytelling and its profound potential to strengthen communities and relationships to the natural world.
The opportunity to celebrate and to think, to inspire and be inspired, to educate and to learn, to move  and to be still.
The festival is proud to elevate Maine-made and Maine-themed films, while also connecting our audience with films from across the world. MOFF invites and encourages work from new, emerging, and veteran filmmakers working in short and feature length.
Accessibility is a core value at MOFF and in the 2026 MOFF we endeavor to use captions for all films.

Film Requirements:

Must be an outdoor film. Films can be from anywhere in the world.
See length-requirements under categories below.
Please use FilmFreeway to submit a 4K or HD (720p minimum) .mov or .mp4 file delivered via vimeo or dropbox or google drive.
You must have legal rights and/or permission to use all music. No exceptions.
Please read and understand all terms and conditions at the bottom of this page before submitting.

Categories:

Feature (50 minutes or more)
Short Feature (16:00 to 49:59)
Short (0:00 to 15:59)

Awards:

Best Feature (50 minutes or longer)
Best Short Feature
Best Short
Best Maine Film
Best Maine Student Film
Emerging Filmmaker
Conservation Award Short
Conservation Award Feature
Inspiration Award


MOFF reserves the right to add more awards at its own discretion

Prizes

Every award comes with a fancy certificate and a prize from one of our sponsors.

Where Your Film Will Be Shown if Accepted:

During the 2026 Maine Outdoor Film Festival Flagship event in Portland, July 22 to July 26, 2026.

It will also potentially be shown during the MOFF Selects Tour which travels the state of Maine with specially curated 90-minute screenings in late summer/fall, with a schedule of 12 to 16 screenings.

To Submit

How much to enter? What are the deadlines?

Depends on the category and when you submit.

 

Feature (50 minutes or more)

Early Bird – February 1, 2026 – Fee 55.00
Regular – March 1, 2026 – Fee 65.00
Late – March 21, 2026 – Fee 75.00

Must be an outdoor film. Film must have been completed within two years of July 1, 2026. See length requirements under categories above. Films and filmmakers DO NOT have to be from Maine. Please submit an HD (720p minimum) .mov or .mp4 file delivered via Vimeo or dropbox or DVD. You must have legal rights and/or permission to use all music. No exceptions. If your film is selected, we will ask for an SRT caption file.

Short Feature (16:00 to 49:59)

Early Bird – February 1, 2026 – Fee 40.00
Regular – March 1, 2026 – Fee 50.00
Late – March 21, 2026 – Fee 60.00

Must be an outdoor film. Film must have been completed within two years of July 1, 2026. See length-requirements under categories above. Films and filmmakers DO NOT have to be from Maine. Please submit an HD (720p minimum) .mov or .mp4 file delivered via Vimeo or dropbox or DVD. You must have legal rights and/or permission to use all music. No exceptions. If your film is selected, we will ask for an SRT caption file to include subtitles for your film.

Short (0:00 to 15:59)

Early Bird – February 1, 2026 – Fee 25.00
Regular – March 1, 2026 – Fee 30.00
Late – March 21, 2026 – Fee 35.00

Must be an outdoor film. Film must have been completed within two years of July 1, 2026. See length-requirements under categories above. Films and filmmakers DO NOT have to be from Maine. Please submit an HD (720p minimum) .mov or .mp4 file delivered via vimeo or dropbox or DVD. You must have legal rights and/or permission to use all music. No exceptions.  If your film is selected, we will ask for an SRT caption file.

The festival reserves the right to accept films after the deadline.

Notification Date for all categories is approximately June 1, 2026.

Terms you agree to by submitting a film

Term and Conditions: Important, please read closely.

No Umbrella Media LLC (a Portland, Maine video agency) owns Maine Outdoor Film Festival LLC, so the agreement is between you (the filmmaker) and No Umbrella Media LLC.

  1. If your film is accepted to the 2026 Maine Outdoor Film Festival, you agree to give No Umbrella Media/MOFF a nonexclusive license to use, publicly perform, publicly display, copy, distribute, and create derivative works of your submission in connection with the “Maine Outdoor Film Festival”. Here is where your film will/could be shown:
    1 to 2 times in-person at MOFF’s Portland Flagship Festival 2026 (July 22 to July 26, 2026) held at various venues in Portland, Maine
    0 to 7 times in-person on the MOFF Selects Tour 2026 (mid-August to December 31, 2026), a tour of small venues across Maine.
  2. If preference or previous agreements exist and you wish to opt-out or discuss the arrangement of any of these screenings, please do so in writing/email prior to submitting your film.
  3. You agree that no screening fees will be paid to the filmmaker. MOFF does reserve the right to pay filmmakers a stipend. We agree that No Umbrella will give all credits that we practicably can, given case-by-case circumstances.
  4. You warrant that all copyrighted material–music, pictures, web content, videos, art, graphic design, etc. (this is not an exhaustive list, rather it is exemplary)—is either owned by you, or that you have express written permission to use any copyrighted material found in your submission. No exceptions.
  5. You agree, that in the event that the previous bullet point turns out to be not true (you have infringed someone else’s copyrights), to indemnify and hold harmless No Umbrella Media/MOFF for any claims or threat of claim against the same, and that you will pay for (first), or reimburse (last resort), all costs associated with defending any such claims against No Umbrella Media/MOFF for violation of another’s copyright as a result of your submission.
  6. You warrant that you have full consent and permission from all people who appear in any identifiable manner in your submission to use their persona in your submission, their knowing and understanding that their image or likeness may be used commercially.
  7. You agree to hereby release, indemnify, and hold harmless No Umbrella Media/MOFF from any and all claims, including, without limitation, claims for damages for libel, infringement of rights of publicity, invasion of privacy, portrayal in a false light, or any other claim from any person based on use of your submission. 

Contact The Festival:

Moff @ maineoutdoorfilmfestival [dot] com