Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is now accepting entries for the 2006 event. Filmmakers and distributors can enter via www.withoutabox.com using the button below or directly from our www site. If you prefer to enter from our site, please print either the pdf or jpg version of the entry form below and send it in with your materials.

You may send a check/money order with your entry or pay using a credit card on-line using the links below. International credit card entries MUST enter via www.withoutabox.com

All other international orders must send an international money order (not a bank check) with their entry materials.

Early Deadline Fees (September 1, 2005):

Final Deadline Fees (November 1, 2005):

[Note: Click "base shipping" on checkout to get the proper total charge
for entry]

If you have difficulty downloading either of these forms, send an email to bigsky@highplainsfilms.org and we will send the pdf form as an attachment or mail you a form, whichever you specify.

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival includes three separate competitions.  The three categories are Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, and the Big Sky Award.

Best Documentary Feature competition
The award for Best Feature Documentary will be given to one film 60 minutes or longer in length, released since September 1, 2004. 

Best Documentary Short competition
The award for Best Documentary Short will be given to one film under 60 minutes in length, released since September 1, 2004.

Big Sky Award competition
The Big Sky Award will be given to one film concerning the American West.

The festival received nearly 800 entries in all categories for the 2006 festival.  The official selections for this year's festival were selected from all of those entries.  Any entered film released after September 1, 2004 is considered "in-competition" for one or more of the three festival awards.

In choosing the official selections for the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the festival programmers are privileged to view many hundreds of great films that the festival is ultimately un-able to screen. The films screened in-competition represent the best of their category from literally hundreds of other films.

Judges in each category will watch all of the finalists in their category at the official screening for each film at the Wilma Theater during the week of the festival.  Winners will be announced at the Awards Celebration, February 23, 2006 at the Wilma Theater.  The reception will be followed by second screenings of the three films.  All attending filmmakers, judges and honored guests will be in attendance. 

Out of Competition:  In addition to the three competitive sections, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival also includes retrospectives highlighting the work of important filmmakers & earlier classics in the genre.