What 3,279 festival, contest and fund listings say about entry fees and deadlines, and what it means for your festival run.
The Page 4 Films Festival Calendar tracks the submission dates of 3,279 film festivals, screenplay contests and film funds, and every date is checked against the festival's own website. That makes it a useful snapshot of how the festival year actually works. Here is what the numbers show, and what they mean if you have a film or a script to send out.
+67%
Of the 158 listings that post a fee for more than one deadline on their own site, the fee rises a median of 67% from the first deadline to the last. For 44 of them, more than a quarter, the final fee is at least double the earliest one. If a festival is on your list, the cheapest time to enter is the week it opens, not the week it closes.
June 30
The single busiest day of the year is June 30, when 42 final deadlines land at once. July 31 is next with 38, then September 30, May 31, December 15 and August 31. July has more final deadlines than any other month, 178 of the 1,550 on file. If you are planning a festival run, summer is when you need entries ready, and the last day of any month is when you should check what is closing.
$19.95 vs. $3
The calendar lists 169 festivals that can qualify a short film for the Oscars and 111 that can qualify for the BAFTAs. Among those that post fees, the lowest entry fee at an Oscar qualifying festival has a median of $19.95. For other festivals it is $3. You are paying for the qualifying status, so it is worth knowing which category you would actually qualify in before you pay.
39% free
Of the 508 festivals that post a fee on their own site, 39% have a free tier, often the earliest deadline or a category for local or student filmmakers. Screenplay contests are a different story: only 9% are free, and the median entry fee is $49.
91 days
From the day a festival opens to its final deadline, the median window is 91 days. Miss the opening announcement and you can easily lose the cheapest month of that window.
22
Only 22 festivals on the calendar require a world premiere. Far more, 207, state no premiere rule at all, and most of the rest ask only for a national or regional premiere. If you are holding your film back for one big festival, it may be costing you entries elsewhere.
Many festivals post their fees only on submission platforms, not on their own websites. We count only what a festival publishes itself, so the fee findings come from the smaller group that posts fees publicly, 592 listings. The date findings use every listing with a confirmed deadline. All figures are as of October 30, 2026.
Every listing, with its fees, premiere rules and Oscar or BAFTA status, is on the free calendar at festivals.page4films.com. You can also get a free reminder a week before any deadline.