Screen Dallas (Dallas): Dates, Deadlines and History

Screen Dallas

Screen Dallas is a filmmaker-support award from the Dallas Film Commission. Each year it picks one feature-length documentary that has screened at a Dallas-area festival and gives it a fully sponsored, week-long theatrical run in a Dallas venue, enough to meet the Academy's qualifying-run rules, along with a free compliance consultation from The Film Festival Doctor and a red-carpet premiere with a filmmaker Q&A. There is no separate application: documentaries shown at local festivals are considered automatically, and an advisory board that includes DIFF's and the Oak Cliff Film Festival's leaders helps choose. The first Grand Prize went to SHUFFLE in 2025, and the 2026 winner is The Last Critic. Screening dates for the 2026 run were not posted on the page.

Awards · Dallas · Since 2025 · Active

One documentary a year receives a fully sponsored week-long four-wall theatrical run in a Dallas venue (an Academy-qualifying run), a free Academy-compliance consultation from The Film Festival Doctor and a red-carpet premiere with filmmaker Q&A.


First Grand Prize winner (2025): SHUFFLE; 2026 winner: The Last Critic, a documentary about critic Robert Christgau	↗︎
Any documentary that screens at a Dallas-area festival is automatically considered; the advisory board includes leaders of DIFF and the Oak Cliff Film Festival	↗︎

First Grand Prize winner (2025): SHUFFLE; 2026 winner: The Last Critic, a documentary about critic Robert Christgau

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Any documentary that screens at a Dallas-area festival is automatically considered; the advisory board includes leaders of DIFF and the Oak Cliff Film Festival

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Screen Dallas

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