Submissions for the 2026 Lake County Film Festival are officially open! Next year's festival is scheduled for March 5 - 16, 2016, which is a VERY shortened window for us. Please think about submitting EARLY.

Announcement of the film list, website launch and ticket links coming tomorrow morning!

Roxii, a queer hopeless romantic, just wants to be loved and treated the way boys do girls. A string of boys and men inform Roxii’s view of sex and identity in late aughts Las Cruces, New Mexico. 2024.lakecountyfilmfestival.org/378/2024-11-...

Fire Department, Inc follows a newly-elected mayor, and his battle to illegally eliminate fire department pension plans, a years long legal battle. Director and subject Q&A after the screening. CLC Grayslake: 11/2-8:50pm-Room D100 11/10-12:10pm-Room B222 bit.ly/LCFFFire

Fanti is a twisty thriller from Vietnam. Anh Duong is a social media star with a with a huge following, but when a rogue follower starts dropping cryptic DMs darker than her eyeliner, the truth threatens to explode. CLC Grayslake 11/2 - 4:30pm - Room B222 11/9 - 7:40pm - Room B204 bit.ly/LCFFFanti

Adam, a divorced, Jewish father, from Chicago, living in a small German town, attempts to open a Jewish deli, to establish a link to his upbringing and try to find comfort and connection in his town. CLC Grayslake 11/9-11:50am-Room D100 11/10-2:00pm-Room C105 bit.ly/LCFFKosher

Dawn Dusk follows Chicago-based leather bag designer and artist Chelli Look as she faces the grief of an inconceivable tragedy. Directors Jason & Blue are expected to attend the festival, and participate in Q&A sessions after their screenings.

Catching Bullets is a feature documentary about the gun violence epidemic in St. Louis, MO, in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. ​Catching Bullets chronicles different efforts to treat violence as a public health concern and endeavor to put a human face on the problem of community gun violence.

BORED GAMES: An absurdist comedy where six diehard board-gamers try to weather armageddon with nothing but a few games and an ever diminishing supply of rations to occupy their thoughts. At CLC Grayslake 11/3-11:40am-Room A011 11/9-1:40pm-Room D100 2024.lakecountyfilmfestival.org/351/2024-11-...

In Between The Lights, skeptical scientist Alice falls for reluctant medium Jay, she's taken on an odyssey of love, loss and discovery that will turn her world upside down. WINNER: Grand Jury Prize at Dances With Films. Screening at CLC Grayslake: 11/2-11:30-Room A011 11/9-11:40-Room D100

When AJ loses his favorite dog park, he must fight, fish, scrap, scrape, and sap to get it back. Screening at the College Of Lake County - Grayslake Campus: Saturday, November 9 - 4:20pm - Room C105 Sunday, November 10 - 2:10pm - Room D100

Like Francis McDormand in Nomadland, Rachel lives in her RV in the Northwest US. When she receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, filmmaker Martin Krafft decides to document her life until the end of her days Screening at the CLC Grayslake: 11/9-2:10pm-Room B204 11/10-8:15pm-Room D100 bit.ly/LC2024-02

In the romantic-drama A Time Apart, Alyssa returns to Paris to finalize her divorce but while spending the week with her soon-to-be ex-husband Luka, she starts to question whether she’s making the right decision. For more info and tickets: 2024.lakecountyfilmfestival.org/.../a-time-a...

Almost the entire slate of the 2024 Lake County Film Festival has been announced!

Announcing 2 pre-festival screenings, and our Opening Night screenings! 9/19 & 27: Out There: A National Parks Story 10/31: Lake County produced Room Six at BOTH College Of Lake County in Grayslake & The Gorton Center! Also, a collection of shorts made from filmmakers from Lake County at CLC.

This is it! Your last chance to submit a film to the Lake County Film Festival!

You're already late! Our next deadline is next Friday! filmfreeway.com/TheLakeCount...

Our regular deadline is this Friday. filmfreeway.com/TheLakeCount...

The Early Bird Deadline is this Friday! filmfreeway.com/TheLakeCount...

Yesterday, I updated the history page for The 2023 LFF with info on a couple movies available for streaming. bit.ly/2023LCFF Not two hours later, the director of Good Guy with a Gun messaged me to let me know that the film was hitting streaming platforms TODAY. bit.ly/ggwaglcff

Our Call For Entries is now open! filmfreeway.com/TheLakeCount...

Congrats to Ninety-Five Senses on their Academy Award nomination!

Last, but not least, the Audience Awards for Features! The Daniel Chapp Audience Award For Best Narrative Feature: Trapped Balloon by Hiroyuki Miyagawa Audience Award For Best Documentary Feature: Join or Die

The Jury Awards for Feature Films! Best Narrative Feature: Trapped Balloon Best Documentary Feature: With Peter Bradley Best Music Documentary Feature: Cover Your Ears Congrats to all the winners! bit.ly/2023LCFFJury...

Excited to announce the 2023 Lake County Film Festival Audience Winners for Best Short Film. The Edward Amet Audience Award for Best Short Film: The Food That Saves Us Best Animated Short Film: Island Best Documentary Short Film: Harvey See the Top 10: bit.ly/2023LCFFAudi...

Excited to announce the first batch of award winners, the Jury Awards for Short Films. Best Narrative Short: Demon Box Best Documentary Short: A Chocolate Lens Best Student Narrative Short: The End Of The World Best Student Documentary Short: The Search bit.ly/2023LCFFJury...

That's a wrap on the #2023LCFF!

With Peter Bradley is a celebration of art-making and the creative contributions of Black artists to American life. It puts a long-overdue lens on Bradley and shows his rightful place in the ongoing movement toward racial equity in the arts and our society. bit.ly/2023LCFFDF06

Sometimes you watch a movie, and just say, OMG! WTF! Did I just see that? This collection of 3 shorts will definitely have you shocked at what you've seen. I really don't want to say much more about any of them, it's better to go in not knowing anything! bit.ly/2023LCFFS09

The #Motherhood shorts program covers the ups and downs & the joy and pain of motherhood, including the difficulties in conceiving, and the decision of when to have children. Multi-alum @SarahMosh will be here presenting the short A Mother Is Born. bit.ly/2023LCFFS08

It may not be creatively named, but Horror Shorts is a fun ride this year. From the animated Zombie Meteor, which delivers on the promise of its title, to the hilarious meta Murder Camp. In between are Sleep Study & Nordo from multi-alum Kyle Taubken. bit.ly/2023LCFFS07

This collection of short films are all about animals, featuring the long short film (35min) Good Boy, about Doug Seus, who trained the 1500 pound grizzly bear featured in 1988's The Bear, Legends Of The Fall, and The Edge. bit.ly/2023LCFFS06

This film is about the estimated 16 million unpaid dementia family caregivers in the U.S. @WWDdocumentary is about how they keep themselves afloat emotionally, physically, financially. through the isolation,financial stress & emotional toll of caregiving bit.ly/2023LCFFDF05

LCFF alumni Hiroyuki Miyagawa brings us Trapped Balloon. Rinko (Tôko Miura) visits her ailing father on the island where he lives. She grapples with the loss of her mother, an impending career decision, and a blossoming romance with a local fisherman. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF13

This is National Wake traces the rise of a multiracial South African punk band, dubbed “the band that defied apartheid," whose members risked everything to taste freedom. bit.ly/2023LCFFMF05

A group of women organize their ordination to become Episcopal priests in 1974. A church welcomes them, but change is no small task. Meet the women who succeeded in transforming an age-old institution and challenged patriarchy within Christendom. bit.ly/2023LCFFDF04

WORLD PREMIERE! Filmmaker Elizabeth Lawrence takes an emotional, first-person detour inward. Oscillating through saneness and psychosis; debris and lucidity, the film stares at depression dead-on. With in-person Q&A! bit.ly/2023LCFFDF03

At 56 years old, Stuart Warren Dansby enters the kickboxing ring for the first time, and battles against opponents half his age in a quest for a championship. Meet Stuart & the filmmaking team at The Lake County Film Festival on Nov. 10 & 11! bit.ly/2023LCFFDF02

Negativland, makes art in an absurd and noisy multimedia world without boundaries, ownership or privacy. Their plunderphonic music poses both serious & silly questions about the nature of sound, media, technology, control, propaganda, power and perception. bit.ly/2023LCFFMF04

Stag is the story of an urban loner, Jenny, who must fight for a chance at redemption after she’s invited to her estranged BFF’s bachelorette party. It's the horror version of Mean Girls. Writer/Director Alexandra Spieth will be in attendance. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF12

Sam returns to her childhood home when her mother suddenly passes. In place of familiarity, she finds only uneasiness and confusion. Things are missing and the neighbor is suspiciously obtuse. Sam wrestles with her instincts to untangle the truth. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF11

Famous Faces collects all of the biggest actors in short films at the festival this year. Martin Starr, Alden Ehrenreich, Bella Ramsey, Beck Bennett, & Jessy Hodges. Lake County native & multi-alum Mac Eldridge will be there 11/10 with Photo Of The Day. bit.ly/2023LCFFSF04

Dance To The Music includes two music videos, two dance videos, and two longer short films centered around music. MKE filmmaker Ehson Rad will be attending with two of these shorts, and multi-alum Patrick Hogan will be there on 11/12. bit.ly/2023LCFFSF03

In Scrap, a single mom (Vivian Kerr) struggles to hide her homelessness from her estranged brother (Anthony Rapp) and his wife (Lana Parrilla) bit.ly/2023LCFFNF10

The love of Chris’s life walked out on him exactly one year ago. Unable to get over her, he’ll use a time machine to stop her from walking out. Director Scott Sawitz is a Lake County resident, and this screening is FREE. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF09

A man wrongfully convicted of murder is released from prison. The victim’s husband is obsessed with a documentary about the case and futilely tries to get the case reopened. Then the prosecutor is kidnapped in a desperate attempt to find the real killer. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF08

Ruby and David have been on-and-off for 8 years. Six months after Ruby last ran out on him, she has returned. But Ruby has more in store than just a reunion. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF7

In the future of Outrunners, a pandemic puts the world on lockdown, Emily's mom is having a medical emergency. Luckily, she and her friend Todd are already reality show stars, they must race the clock, competing in challenges to save mom's life. bit.ly/2023LCFFNF06

Well, this one doesn't need any introduction, or witty explanation, it's Animation Shorts! Even the tile doesn't need an explanation. Screening at the Lake County Film Festival. Screening times at the College of Lake County: November 4, 2:30pm - Room C105 November 12, 12:10pm - Room A011

Looking for some spicy films? We've got you covered! These shorts are all 18+ and involve adult behavior. The directors of Quiet! Mom's Working! & Unicorn Training are expected to participate in a Q&A after the screening. bit.ly/2023LCFFSF01