The 2027 Hayti Heritage Film Festival

February 25–28, 2027 | Durham, NC

The Hayti Heritage Film Festival is designed with comfort in mind, and Black films will serve as the vessel through which we return to what we know and deserve to feel: Closeness. Cultural reverence. Care.

This year, we're calling on the storytellers who arrive from unexpected places, in unexpected forms.  This year, the Hayti Heritage Film Festival theme is Disrupt the Notion, and we’re ready to accept submissions. Learn more below.

Call for submissions

Ready to Disrupt the Notion? Submit below.

For more than 30 years, Hayti Heritage Film Festival has been home for Black filmmakers, especially those from the American South. This year, we're looking for the films that challenge what we expect — of perspective, form, plot, style, and how a story finds the people who need it. We want work from across the American South, the Global South, and the wider diaspora that shows us something we haven't seen before. If that's your kind of work, keep reading.

Who can submit

• Feature-length films and shorts, all genres welcome.
• Films by Black filmmakers from the American South or the Global South, or by filmmakers with a personal connection to the American South. That connection belongs to the filmmaker — not the film's subject or setting.
• We define a "Black film" as one written and/or directed by a Black, African, or Afro-diasporic person, with a cast that is majority Black, African, or Afro-diasporic.
• Films completed after January 2024.
• Narrative features and documentaries: 120 minutes or under. Shorts: 40 minutes or under.
• Non-English language films need English subtitles at the time of submission — dialogue lists won't be accepted.
• We don't accept films with gratuitous violence or sexual content.

Preference (not a requirement) goes to films made in the American South, and to regional and Southern premieres.

How to submit

• Submissions are accepted through FilmFreeway only — no email or mail-in entries.
• Work-in-progress cuts are welcome. Just mark it clearly as "Work in Progress" or "Rough Cut" and note what's still changing (temp sound, missing animation, etc.).
• Submit as many films as you'd like — each one needs its own entry and its own fee.
• By submitting, you're confirming you hold the rights to everything in your film — music, footage, likeness — and you're granting the festival permission to use up to a two-minute excerpt and stills for promotion, social, and press.
• Entry fees are non-refundable, and submission doesn't guarantee a selection — all programming decisions sit with the festival team.
  

Deadlines & fees

• Submissions are accepted through FilmFreeway only — no email or mail-in entries.
• Work-in-progress cuts are welcome. Just mark it clearly as "Work in Progress" or "Rough Cut" and note what's still changing (temp sound, missing animation, etc.).
• Submit as many films as you'd like — each one needs its own entry and its own fee.
• By submitting, you're confirming you hold the rights to everything in your film — music, footage, likeness — and you're granting the festival permission to use up to a two-minute excerpt and stills for promotion, social, and press.
• Entry fees are non-refundable, and submission doesn't guarantee a selection — all programming decisions sit with the festival team.
  

Fee waivers

A limited number of fee waivers — 25 total — are available for filmmakers based in the American South. To request one, email film@hayti.org with your name, film title, and location. Waivers are granted first-come, while they last.

If your film is selected

Selected filmmakers provide a screener link and receive one free VIP ticket to the festival. We'll send screening file requirements and deadlines directly.

“What an amazing experience and equally amazing group of people! I cannot rave enough about how special this festival and its organizers are.”

— Akil W.

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Contact

Still have questions? Interested in sponsoring? Send us a message.

What to expect

Stay tuned for our lineup

Our full film lineup will be announced soon.