ORBIT FILM FESTIVAL
Satellite Collective ORBIT Film Festival May 14 - 15, 2027
May 14 – 15, 2027 / Tribeca NYC
We’re screening the world’s best short films. It doesn’t have to be your latest, but we want your best. Satellite Collective exists to incubate artists and that means we open our doors to filmmakers who have a body of work that hasn’t been celebrated enough because it’s been filtered out by commercial pressure or the tyranny of recency.
Designed to be a pacesetter as the first short film festival of the calendar year in the greater New York City area, Satellite Collective will deploy its renowned crossmedia curation to host a two-day, Springtime festival featuring public screening blocks, filmmaker panels, an immersive opening night production, awards ceremony, and one helluva party.
WHO WE ARE
We’re Satellite Collective, a nationally-recognized arts nonprofit celebrated for building sustainable creative, financial, and collaborative models that generate new visions of artistic excellence. We believe in artists collaborating as equals, globally and virtually. We incubate performances, arts exchanges, and crossmedia production that allow artists to work together because we believe that is the future. We grow artists.
We believe empowered artists make empowering art. Filmmakers in particular need more green lights, not more red tape. That’s why we created Satellite ORBIT, our innovative artist fellowship that reimagines fiscal sponsorship as a boutique, cost-effective alternative to catch-all programs from large institutions that charge exorbitant fees and lack a human touch. Through our time-tested, artist-first approach, Satellite ORBIT proudly nurtures an exciting group of filmmakers as they create, fund, and share their projects.
The inaugural Satellite Collective ORBIT Film Festival is our next step in screening, awarding, and supporting the excellence fueling the independent film revolution. Join us.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
The Satellite Collective Short Film Festival (SCOFF) offers cash awards and recognition to celebrate excellence in independent filmmaking and support artist career development:
- Grand Prize (Best of Fest): $2,500 cash prize awarded to the standout short film across all categories.
- ORBIT Launch Mentorship Award: $1,000 cash prize plus individual mentorship with Satellite Collective core artists awarded to a standout filmmaker to assist in their journey developing a short film into a feature-length project.
- Made in NY Prize: $500 cash prize awarded to the standout short film made and produced in the greater New York City area.
- Juried Awards: Additional awards and honors awarded at the discretion of the official festival jury. All selected films will be featured on the festival website and Satellite’s Sad Blimp™ TV channel.
RULES & TERMS
SCOFF will feature three film categories:
- Narrative Shorts (up to 40 minutes in length)
- Documentary Shorts (up to 40 minutes in length)
- Short Shorts (up to 5 minutes in length, including dance films, music videos, etc)
ELIGIBILITY
SCOFF is open to filmmakers worldwide. For films in languages other than English we ask you to include English subtitles. Films must be original creations, and the Submitter must be the copyright holder of the submitted film. The Submitter affirms that they or their team own all necessary rights to the film and all its content (including music, scripts, and visuals). No AI-generated content permitted!
Films will be judged based on creativity, story, technical execution, and overall artistic merit. There are no budgetary nor premiere-status restrictions. Send us your best.
SUBMISSION AND ACCEPTANCE
Upon acceptance into SCOFF, the Submitter grants the festival permission to publicly screen the film during the live events in New York City and virtually after the festival for the term of one year. Submitter also grants the festival permission to use, promote, and display footage, stills, or other promotional material from the film on its website, social media, and in any other format, before, during, and after the event.
The festival reserves the right to disqualify any film that does not meet the required criteria or is found to infringe upon any copyright or legal restrictions.
The Submitter retains full copyright ownership of the film. However, by submitting to SCOFF, the submitter grants the festival organizers, sponsors, and partners a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, display, and promote clips (up to 5 minutes) or the entirety of the film for promotional and marketing purposes related to the festival.
SCOFF reserves the right to disqualify or terminate any entry or participation at any time if these terms and conditions are violated or if the submitter engages in any illegal activity, fraudulent behavior, or unethical conduct. A full list of terms and conditions can be found on the SCOFF festival website.
