The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is excited to announce that applications are open for the 2027 Bethesda Film Fest. Short (5 – 30 minutes) documentary films by filmmakers from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. are eligible. All topics are eligible. Submissions will be judged by a panel comprised of filmmakers, film professors and professionals in the film industry. The deadline to apply is January 6, 2027.
The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District invites filmmakers to submit recent short documentary films to the Bethesda Film Fest. The deadline to apply is January 6, 2027.
Eligibility
Up to five films will be selected to be shown. A film by a young filmmaker, under the age of 18, may also be chosen. Filmmakers whose films are selected will receive an honorarium of $1,000. Young filmmakers will receive a $250 honorarium. Short (5-30 minutes), documentary films by filmmakers in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. will be considered. Films must have been completed within the last two years. All topics are eligible. Filmmakers chosen for the 2026 festival are not eligible and may submit again for the 2028 festival.
Filmmakers are required to attend the film festival screening and speak about their work.
Deadline
All entries must be submitted by Friday, January 6, 2027. Notification of the selection panel’s decision will be sent in mid February. The selection panel will choose up to five documentaries to screen at the Bethesda Film Fest.
Submission Guidelines
Filmmakers must be current residents of Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia.
Films must be between 5 and 30 minutes in length.
Films must have been completed within the last two years.
Filmmakers may only submit one film for consideration
Filmmakers chosen for the 2026 festival are not eligible
Films with non-English dialogue must be submitted with English subtitles.
Deadline
All entries must be received by January 6, 2027.
There is a $25 entry fee. Filmmakers under the age of 18 do not have an entry fee.
Entries may be submitted online.
Rights
The Bethesda Film Fest will not be held responsible if copyrighted materials or unauthorized materials are included in the film. It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to secure proper permission from the copyright holder of music, stock footage, or any other material which could violate another entity’s copyright or exclusive use of the material.
Jury
Brigid Maher
Brigid Maher is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and tenured professor in the Film and Media Arts Division of American University’s School of Communication. She is founder and creative director of the Anacostia Youth Media Festival, connecting young creators, community partners, and university students through screenings, workshops and mentorship. The festival amplifies young voices, particularly from Washington’s Wards 7 and 8, and expands access to media arts education. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Radio/Television/Film from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and International Affairs, with a minor in Cinema Studies, from The Colorado College. In 2005, she was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Lebanon.
Daniel Marcus
Daniel Marcus is Professor of Communication and Media Studies within the Center for Art and Media at Goucher College. He teaches courses in media and politics, television studies, and documentary film and video, as well as courses in video production and screenwriting. He received a doctorate in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after working in alternative media production with groups such as Paper Tiger Television and Deep Dish TV. He has also taught as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. Marcus’s research is currently focused on media coverage of politics and economics, and on documentary and video activism. He has also served on the consulting panel on documentary for the national Peabody Awards.
Akosua Adoma Owusu
Akosua Adoma Owusu is an award-winning Ghanaian-American filmmaker and educator exploring diasporic identity and collective memory through the lens of triple consciousness. Her films have screened at Berlinale, Locarno, Toronto, NYFF and the Venice Biennale, and are held in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, Fowler Museum and the Centre Pompidou. She is the recipient of the Africa Movie Academy Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Creative Capital Award. Owusu is founder of Obibini Pictures and an Assistant Professor of Film at Howard University. Owusu is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Capital award and the Film at Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. In 2021–2022, she was the Robert Gardner Fellow at Harvard University’s Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts.
2026 Selected Films
A Score in Absence
Film by Max Rykov • 28 minutes
At 17 years old, Ukrainian pianist Khrystyna has already fled war twice: first from Crimea, and then from Irpin as Russia’s invasion advanced. With her brother still in Ukraine under martial law, she turns to music to find agency in exile.
Director Biography
Max Rykov is a Ukrainian-born documentary filmmaker, journalist, and multimedia artist who grew up in Potomac, MD. His award-winning short documentary Hindsight has been screened at festivals across Europe and North America, including Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Indy Shorts and DC/DOX. Previously, he worked as Head Video Producer at ARTECHOUSE, collaborating with world-renowned digital artists and creating work featured by the United Nations Foundation, Pantone Color Institute, Forbes, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Bay to Baltimore
Film by Camila De Ilhéus & Samantha Mitchell • 27 minutes
Ultramarathon open water swimmer and painter Katie Pumphrey hopes to become the first person to swim 24 miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Baltimore’s newly swimmable Inner Harbor. As she trains for and promotes this difficult swim, Pumphrey must face a public who thinks she’s crazy to swim in the historically polluted waters.
Director Biography
Camila De Ilhéus is a sound mixer born and raised in Ilhéus, Brazil. While studying communications for her bachelor’s degree, she found a passion for recording and editing sound through podcasts and shortly after transitioned into film. Camila’s work has appeared on Netflix and EPIX, as well as independent projects in the United States and Brazil. Recently, Camila became a member of the ABC, the Brazilian Association of Cinematography as a sound editor. Samantha Mitchell is a film producer, cinematographer, editor, writer, and curator living and working in Baltimore. Samantha has worked on projects ranging from music videos to feature docs to corporate to microbudget indie features.
Jacob Kainen: The Last Expression
Film by Jon Gann • 25 minutes
From his immigrant upbringing to his rebellious artistic journey in New York City, his leftist ideologies and eventual impact on the Washington, D.C. art scene, Jacob Kainen’s story is one of perseverance and passion. Despite facing challenges like McCarthyism and career limitations, he found solace in his art, especially with the support of his second wife, Ruth. His legacy as an artist’s artist and influential mentor endures, shaping generations of artists to come.
Director Biography
Jon Gann is a film producer and director, creating award-winning commercial, documentary, and narrative films since 2000. His most recent award-winning productions include the feature documentary Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection, exploring the singer’s career and struggle with an eating disorder through her friends and never-heard recordings, and the short documentary, Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color, detailing the incredible life of the D.C.-based Black Woman abstractionist painter. Jon is the Founder of DC Shorts, a non-profit organization championing short filmmaking, and the creator of the DC Shorts Film Festival, one of the country’s premier short film showcases.
Kil and the Kids
Film by Ethan Baker • 11 minutes
In Southeast Washington, D.C., a mentor named Kil supports youth through Horton’s Kids while coping with the loss of one to gun violence. When another teen is robbed at gunpoint, Kil helps him process the trauma through art and expression, revealing how showing up can transform pain into resilience.
Director Biography
Ethan Baker is a Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker and editor whose passion for visual storytelling began at age nine when he launched a YouTube channel. He serves as Assistant Director of Advancement Communications at American University, leading video production and post-production initiatives, and previously worked as Festival and Documentary Program Manager at Anacostia Youth Media. Ethan specializes in biographical and special-interest stories that explore the intersections of race, class, art, and pop culture, creating documentaries, news features, promotional content, and music videos that inform, inspire and mobilize communities.
The Danger of Disclosure
Film by Carolyn McCulley • 21 minutes
Seeking to protect future victims, Jennifer Lyell discloses her sexual abuse—only to discover that the act of telling her truth carries its own devastating cost.
Director Biography
Carolyn McCulley is a filmmaker and storyteller whose work explores the human and systemic cost of truth, trauma, and institutional power. She is an award-winning author and filmmaker with three books, 200+ branded content films, and dozens of podcast episodes to her credit. Her last independent film was The Rage of Evil: Thoughts from a Former School Shooter. Because of this film project, she also launched the Safe to Speak Initiative, which works to remove the legal barriers that silence survivors of sexual assault and abuse.
Tickets
The 15th annual Bethesda Film Fest will feature five short documentaries by regional filmmakers. The screenings will be held at Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema located at 7235 Woodmont Avenue in downtown Bethesda. All films will shown at both screenings, and are followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. Tickets are $15. All ticket sales are final. There are no refunds. Parking is available adjacent to the theatre.
Tickets Coming Soon
Sponsors
We also thank our community sponsors for their support:
