Lots of people find December stressful. Santa’s busy elves, for one. Not to mention retail employees, reindeer, and mistletoe farmers. But also filmmakers. Why? Simple—the official deadline for LA Film Festival submissions is December 14!

Look, no one wants to pull you away from those all-important editing sessions, ADR recordings or last-minute appeals to the wealthy dentists in your life for finishing funds. We just want a quick moment of your time to share some important LA Film Festival statistics.

The numbers don’t lie. The LA Film Festival is an amazing platform for the next generation of diverse, innovative filmmakers—the perfect venue for you to share your work with an enthusiastic audience of film lovers and industry professionals.

So forget how many yards your fantasy quarterback threw last Sunday. These are the numbers to remember. All stats taken from last June’s 21st LA Film Festival…

45 World Premieres

Wherever you’re from, we want your submissions. Last year, over 35 countries were represented in the program. You’ll be in great company, as we welcome filmmakers from across the globe and give them the opportunity to show off their work on an elite stage.

88,000 Visitors

Just think: that’s a lot of eyeballs, many of which could be hungrily ingesting your movie. In fact, the 2015 LA Film Festival had a five-year record high in ticket sales (a 47% increase), and we only expect those numbers to increase for 2016.

81 Feature Narrative Films and Documentaries, 87 Shorts, and 12 Web Series

We want to showcase as many different kinds of filmmaking as possible. You don’t need a feature to be part of the fun! We want to see your shorts, music videos and, of course, your web series.

Of our 81 features, 40% were directed by women & 30% by people of color; Of 87 Shorts, 50% were directed by women & 50% by people of color

Diversity is one of our core values. We want to discover new perspectives, unique visions, and innovative approaches to telling a story. We want to shine a light on everyone’s story. That includes you.

30% of features in competition were acquired for distribution

We want the LA Film Festival to be the beginning or your film’s journey, not the end. And in 2015, the Festival asserted itself as fertile hunting ground for distributors including Sony, ABC, Focus, Netflix, Showtime and many more.

Learn more about our amazing 2015 alumi and check out these LA Muse success stories from 2015, showcasing homegrown filmmaking with movies by and about the LA experience… 

Or you can enjoys some Festival highlights from 2015…

Weren’t those fun? Don’t you want to be one of the smiling, excited faces in next year’s videos? Of course you do. Make it happen.

We’re looking for all kinds of stories!

…feature films inspired by Los Angeles (for our LA Muse section)

…horror film (for our Nightfall section)

…documentaries about social issues

…episodic online content

…and more!

Learn more about the upcoming 22nd LA Film Festival by clicking here. If you can’t make the official deadline, we still got you! There’s still one more. The late deadline is January 15.

Matt Warren / Film Independent Digital Content Manager