Show
Your
Films
Beyond
Borders

American Motion Pictures Festival champions independent films with a strong directorial voice, emotional depth, and cultural resonance. Through monthly recognition and an annual in-person showcase in Greater Atlanta, AMPF offers filmmakers a credible platform for visibility, artistic distinction, and meaningful festival presence.

Explore Past Sessions Learn About AMPF

Show Your Film Beyond Borders

A filmmaker-centered platform for independent cinema, offering monthly recognition and an annual in-person festival experience in Greater Atlanta.

Global

AMPF welcomes films from any country and in any language. We actively program international work and provide clear guidance on screeners, subtitles, and communication so your film can travel easily, wherever you are based.

Indie

AMPF is built for independent voices: emerging filmmakers, self-financed projects, micro‑budget features, and bold shorts. If your film was made outside the studio system and with a strong personal vision, this is a home for your work.

Atlanta

Our annual showcase in the Greater Atlanta area gives your film a concrete U.S. festival presence—real audiences in a real cinema, with the energy of a growing regional film community instead of a purely virtual ‘laurel only’ experience.

Clear

We publish our rules, categories, deadlines, and notification dates up front, with no hidden requirements or surprises. From submission format to screening expectations, you can see exactly how AMPF works before you decide to enter.

Why filmmakers submit to AMPF

Curated, not crowded

We are not looking for everything. We are looking for films with voice, craft, and intention. AMPF values originality over trend-following and emotional truth over formula.

Global in reach, personal in spirit

We welcome submissions from the United States and around the world. Films in any language are eligible, with English subtitles for non-English work.

A clear and professional process

Our submission path is straightforward. Categories, deadlines, and notification timelines are communicated clearly so filmmakers know what to expect before they enter.

More than a laurel

Selected films receive official recognition, public visibility, and consideration for AMPF’s annual in-person showcase in Greater Atlanta—offering a real festival context, not only an online listing.

A Festival Built for Distinct Cinematic Voices

AMPF is for filmmakers who make work with intention. We welcome narrative, documentary, animation, and experimental films that are daring, emotionally honest, and made with a clear point of view. We are especially drawn to films that feel personal, culturally rooted, formally confident, and made outside the logic of mass-market sameness. Whether you are an emerging filmmaker or an established independent artist, AMPF is designed to treat your work with seriousness, clarity, and respect.

What We Look for

We respond most strongly to films that bring together artistic clarity and a distinct human perspective.
  • Character-driven storytelling with cinematic confidence​
  • Documentary work with insight, intimacy, or urgency
  • Animation with visual imagination and emotional impact​
  • Experimental cinema that pushes form with purpose​
  • Stories rooted in place, culture, memory, identity, or transformation​
If your film is formally assured, emotionally honest, and unmistakably your own, it may be a strong fit for AMPF.

How AMPF Works

Submit on FilmFreeway

Enter your film through our official FilmFreeway page and choose the category that best fits your work.

Monthly festival sessions

Each month, eligible submissions are reviewed for artistic merit, craft, and fit with the festival’s curatorial vision.

Recognition and annual showcase

Selected films receive official AMPF recognition, and qualifying work may be considered for our annual in-person showcase in Greater Atlanta.
See What Participants Experience

Categories and where your film belongs

We keep our categories simple and filmmaker-friendly so you can quickly see where your work fits. Each category is open to both U.S.-based and international submissions and is judged with independent production realities in mind.

Narrative

shorts & features

For fiction films driven by character, story, and cinematic craft—whether intimate dramas, genre pieces, or hybrid narratives. This category is ideal for shorts and features that follow a largely narrative structure, regardless of budget size.

Documentary

shorts & features

For short and feature-length nonfiction that engages with real people, places, and ideas. We welcome observational, essayistic, and formally inventive documentaries that bring audiences closer to communities, issues, and perspectives they might not otherwise see.

Animation

Short-form animated cinema

For animated work in any technique—2D, 3D, stop-motion, mixed media, or experimental hybrids. We are especially interested in animation that uses the medium’s visual possibilities to tell distinctive, emotionally resonant stories.

Experimental

Boundary-pushing visual work

For films that push form, structure, or image beyond traditional narrative and documentary. This is the home for boundary‑pushing shorts and features that play with rhythm, abstraction, or unconventional storytelling and don’t sit comfortably in other categories.

Submission process and what to expect

Submit your film on FilmFreeway

Submit your short or feature through our official FilmFreeway page, using a secure online screener and completing the basic film details requested there. Non‑English work should include English subtitles. Choose the category that best fits your film; we carefully review every eligible submission.

Monthly review cycle

AMPF runs on monthly sessions. Submissions for each session close at the end of the month, and our programming team then reviews all films received in that period with a focus on independent voice, craft, and fit with our mission.

Notifications and recognition

After each session closes at the end of the month, filmmakers are notified within approximately 3–6 weeks via FilmFreeway and email, with a clear yes/no outcome and information on any awards or recognition received.

Deliverables for selected films

If your film is selected, we’ll send a concise deliverables list—final screening file specifications, stills, synopsis, and any press materials—along with deadlines, so you can prepare without last‑minute surprises.

FilmFreeway: our official submission platform

All entries are handled through FilmFreeway, giving you a familiar, secure submission process and an easy way to track your film’s status.

Deadlines at a glance

The submission deadline for each monthly session is the last day of the month. Fee tiers and submission policies are listed clearly on our FilmFreeway page so you can plan your strategy and budget in advance.

Rules in plain language

We summarize key eligibility points—production year, runtime limits, premiere considerations, subtitles, and rights/clearances—on FilmFreeway page, with full Rules & Terms available for detailed review.

Real humans behind the inbox

A dedicated programming contact for AMPF is listed on our site and on FilmFreeway, so you can reach out with questions about categories, technical formats, or accessibility before or after you submit.

Ready to submit your film?

If you’re making bold, independent work—whether from the U.S. or anywhere in the world—we’d love to see it at AMPF. Submit your film on FilmFreeway, choose the category that fits best, and your project will be considered in our next monthly session, with decisions sent within approximately 3–6 weeks after the end of the month.
Submit Your Film