About Grief Fest: The Grief Film Festival - Films About Love, Loss and Healing Thru the Lens
Physical film festival in Texas, United States with submission categories including Student Film and Poetry Readings Videos.
Grief is one of the most universal human experiences—and one of the most powerful stories a filmmaker can tell. The Grief Film Festival (“Grief Fest™”) is a new international film festival dedicated to films that explore grief in all its forms: love, loss, remembrance, transformation, resilience, and healing.
This is not Cannes—and we are proud of that. While many outstanding festivals focus on innovation, technical perfection, and industry prestige, Grief Fest is a community-powered festival.
Our films are not judged by red carpets or elite panels alone, but by the soul of the community. We celebrate how effectively a filmmaker connects with real people—how the story lands, resonates, opens dialogue, and creates shared understanding around grief.
What Makes Grief Fest - The Grief Film Festival Different Honoring: Grief Fest honors the many talented filmmakers worldwide whose work has been inspired and/or impacted by grief; including the many who are no longer with us today. One of the inspirations for the creation of Grief Fest: The Grief Fest Film Festival came from one very talented filmmaker out of Boston, Massachusetts whose work and life were deeply impacted by grief - Enrique Oliver ().
Community-Centered Storytelling: Our focus is on impact, emotional truth, and connection—not just production value. Street-Level Audience Insight: Filmmakers, distributors, and investors gain real-world audience perception and reactions to films addressing one of humanity’s most shared experiences.
Inclusive & Accessible: All filmmakers are welcome—students, independents, collectives, nonprofits, and studios of all sizes. Grief Fest welcomes all films, and the festival is an all-inclusive, non-religious, LGBTQ+ friendly, and all-welcoming film festival.
Global Perspective: Grief transcends culture, language, and borders—and so do the stories we seek. The community screenings will take place during the Thanksgiving (November 25 - 29), and Christmas/New Year's (December 24 - January
The hybrid festival format expands reach beyond the in-person screening thru the Grief Fest Screening Room in the Film Festival Plus Platform ( This hybrid experience provides filmmakers with valuable insight into how their work resonates across different communities and platforms—information that is meaningful for future distribution, development, and investment conversations. The 2026 Grief Fest Films Every film selected for the 2026 Grief Fest is, in our eyes, already a film of distinction.