With the festival set for downtown Mobile on November 5-7, 2010, the South Alabama Film Festival gave filmmakers extra time: the deadline for shorts, music videos and student films moved to September 15, while the feature-film deadline stayed at September 1.
What the Festival Wanted
Organizers were looking to program eight to sixteen feature-length films and twelve to twenty shorts, each screened multiple times across the three-day weekend. Both fiction and nonfiction were welcome, with special consideration for films made in or around Mobile, elsewhere in Alabama, or in the American South. Entries had to have been completed after December 1, 2007, and could not have been publicly screened in Mobile or Baldwin counties before the festival dates.
The fee schedule ran $30 for features, $20 for shorts, and $10 for student films and music videos, with a $5 discount for Alabama filmmakers showing current identification.
The Fine Print
Selections were to be announced around September 20. Accepted films required two additional DVD copies for jury screenings and the archive, plus a press kit and an exhibition copy. Filmmakers were encouraged to attend and take part in post-screening Q&A sessions, and every accepted film received free industry passes.
Submissions went by mail to the festival’s Post Office box in Mobile, with a labeled DVD, one-page description and application fee. Organizers noted many entries had already arrived — but they wanted to see more.