The inaugural First State Film Festival wants your shorts

Do you have a short film that deserves to be on the big screen? Delaware Film Syndicate (DFS — formerly Wilmington Film Mob) would like a word.

There’s still time to submit shorts for the very first First State Film Festival, to be held on Oct. 17 at Theatre N in Wilmington. And it doesn’t have to be a new film made for the competition: With no limit on how long ago it was made, that short film you made in college may finally shine.

“Many of us [members of the DFS] had participated in the past in the Wilmington Fringe Fest film fest and missed the challenge,” said Gail Wagner, filmmaker and executive committee member of the DFS, which will be formally incorporating this month. “We also know how Delaware filmmakers can be overlooked in film festivals so we thought this inaugural one would be short films with a Delaware connection in some way.”

Eligible films are 30 minutes or less, with a solid Delaware connection — made by a filmmaker from Delaware, shot in Delaware or about a famous Delawarean — and no copyright infringement such as a soundtrack that includes popular songs.

“We have some submissions but could use more,” Wagner told Technical.ly. “We really want to showcase what Delaware filmmakers can do. The selected films will be shown on the big screen and there will be trophies for the winners.”

The executive committee of the DFS includes local filmmakers, actors, and writers. In addition to Wagner, it includes Gina Olkowski, Christy Wall, Ryan Hunter, Win Heckert, JD Dillard, Joe Pukatsch and Jacob Hunter.

Filmmakers, cast and crew will also have opportunities to win trophies in nine categories:

• Best Director
• Best Actress
• Best Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Cinematography
• Best Editing
• Best Screenplay
• Best Picture

Submit films here. Students get 50% off the submission fee with the code FSFFSTUDENT50; other filmmakers take a 20% discount with code FSFFDE20.