Festival Data:

• Established: 1992
• Genre: Documentary (click to see)
• Attendance: 30000
• Media Attendance: 10
• Accredited Industry Attendance: 75
• Total Number of Films Submitted: 1000
• Total Number of Films Screened: 90
• Total Screenings: 190
• # of Shorts Screened: 37
• # of Features Screened: 64

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute strives to provide cultural opportunities, entertainment, and cinematic education to increasingly wider audiences through quality documentaries on a variety of topics and themes. It is also a goal of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute to provide a venue for new and established documentarians from across the nation and abroad; and to provide support for other community and cultural organizations through film programming and other educational outreach efforts.

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival began in 1992, launched by a small group of arts activists in Hot Springs. That year, 10 Academy Award nominated documentary films were screened to the public free of charge. Veteran actor James Whitmore lent his presence to this first event and spoke of a bright future: "This (Hot Springs) could be the documentary capital of the world."

Encouraged by the enthusiastic response to the fledgling effort, the festival grew in 1993 to screen a total of 44 films. A gala fundraising event featured actor James Earl Jones, who proclaimed, "I see the 1990's as holding the promise of an unparalleled era of popularity for nonfiction film and video, with the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival as one of the genre's most important venues."

An audience of more than 5,000 attended the 1994 Festival. Fourteen documentary filmmakers attended with dozens of films screening. The filmmakers met with audiences and participated in post-film discussions, a rare occurrence at most other festivals but one that has helped establish a tradition of filmmaker participation in the Festival. This tradition is what makes HSDFF a unique venue, one that returning audiences and filmmakers cite in praising the Festival.

Each year the festival has enjoyed growth and support from the community and organizing and funding bodies, with substantial grants from the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Arkansas Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. The growth of Festival audiences, educational initiatives, prestige, and the acquisition of the Malco Theatre has led to the broadening of the Festival into an internationally acclaimed year-round Institute that attracts over 30,000+ audience members and filmmakers.

Film Submissions:

• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.hsdfi.org/ pdf/ hsdfientryform.pdf