Submissions: Submissions for the festival will open on March 15th and will close on April 12th. There is only one deadline and no films will be accepted after the 12th. LACHSA students from all grades and departments are welcome to apply. Films can be submitted via FilmFreeway, a link can be found for this on our website.
Award Eligibility: Please not that any students with failing grades, or on any form of probation at the time of submission will not be eligible to submit. There will be no exceptions. To be eligible for awards, you must submit a logline, trailer, poster, and screenplay for your film via FilmFreeway. Any films without these will not be eligible for any awards. Behind-the-scenes pictures are highly encouraged, but not required.
Screening: This year we are proud to announce that MoonDance will be held at Los Angeles Theater on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Please be advised that because there is only one screening, acceptance to the festival will be highly competitive
LENGTH OF FILMS: All films must be under 10 minutes.
HOW TO SUBMIT: All MoonDance submissions will be conducted through FilmFreeway. The DIRECTOR should submit each film. Please allow extra time to upload your film to FilmFreeway and to complete the online submission process (it is highly recommended that you create your account on FilmFreeway in advance of the deadline if you don’t already have an account).
FINAL FULL QUALITY SUBMISSION: All films must be H.264 1920x1080, 24p (23.98). Failure to submit the correct file type may result in disqualification from the festival.
CONTENT: This is a reminder that we have strict guidelines in terms of what we can show at MoonDance. The show is generally a lighter version of what is typically PG-13.
The following rules pertain to the content of student projects.
1. Profanity: The use of profanity in any student projects will be strongly discouraged and in some cases may prevent a film from being shown. We are after all... a public school, so
we have to operate like one, but... we are also a very creative group of people, so we can figure out other alternatives.
2. Violence: We would like to stay away from excessive violence. We fully support the
artistic vision of all genres, but there is a point where we have to ask ourselves... “Can we portray this in another way?”. We welcome these conversations.
3. Drug Use: Any explicit drug use will not be allowed in most cases. It really depends on the way it is being used and the overall content of the piece. Certainly the glorified use of drugs or alcohol will never be allowed.
4. Sex/Nudity: Any scenes regarding sex will need to be discussed in terms of how it will be portrayed and why it is needed. There should never be any nudity in a student film and an actor should never be naked on set, even if the view is blocked.
5. Overall: Whether it is written in a script or displayed on video it is the Department Chair that decides what material is acceptable. “Passion beats everything”... so if you have an idea that you are passionate about... let’s discuss it.