FLIFFShorts Extended Deadline Hits Tomorrow: Made in Broward Shorts Race to Savor Cinema

By Brian D’Antoni

Why tomorrow’s clock matters for Broward short filmmakers

If you cut a short in Broward — or you are still packing a hard drive for one — Wednesday, September 9, 2026 is the day before the gate closes. The Fort Lauderdale Film Festival festivals page and the live FilmFreeway FLIFFShorts listing both show the Extended Deadline as September 10, 2026, with notifications October 1, 2026, and the four-day fest itself set for November 5–8, 2026. The FLIFF40 wrap repeats the same submission window in plain language: submissions for FLIFFShorts are open March 1 through September 10, 2026 on FilmFreeway, with the festival at Savor Cinema in Fort Lauderdale.

This is not a “maybe next year” calendar. It is the last published fee rung before programmers lock selections for the third edition of FLIFFShorts (branded on FilmFreeway as the Savoir-Faire Shorts Film Festival, a program of the Broward County Film Society). For Made in Broward creators, sponsors who want a lane into the room, and hospitality operators near 503 SE 6th Street, the next 24 hours decide who is still in consideration for November — and who is already planning around February’s FLIFF41 early bird instead.

The deadline ladder (verify live — do not invent)

Primary sources agree on the submission ladder. Use this as your checklist, then re-check FilmFreeway at checkout because fees and category labels live there:

As of the live FilmFreeway page pull for this package, the Extended Deadline row is marked current. Earlybird, Regular, and Late rows are marked outdated. That matches the owner reality: you are buying the last published submission window, not an early-bird bargain.

FilmFreeway categories and verified Extended fees

Submit only through the official listing: https://filmfreeway.com/FLIFFShorts. Live categories and Extended-tier standard fees verified on that page:

Made In Broward — FilmFreeway states films must be at least 75% in Broward County. Extended fees: Standard $28, Student $28, Gold Members $25.20. Earlier rungs (now past on the live listing): Earlybird Standard/Student $15 (Gold $13.50); Regular $18 / $18 / Gold $16.20; Late $22.50 / $22.50 / Gold $20.25.

Short Film Narrative – US — Extended: Standard $35, Gold $31.50. Earlier (past): Earlybird $20 / Gold $18; Regular $22.50 / Gold $20.25; Late $30 / Gold $27.

Short Film Narrative – International — FilmFreeway note: live-action film made outside the US. Extended: Standard $35 (Gold tier listed on the same pattern as other narrative categories; confirm Gold at checkout). Earlier rungs match Narrative–US on the live sidebar ($20 / $18, $22.50 / $20.25, $30 / $27).

Short Film – Documentary and Short Film – Animation — FilmFreeway’s structured event data on the same listing shows Extended-tier offers at $35 standard and $31.50 Gold for both categories. Confirm the full Earlybird-through-Late ladder on the live category expanders before you pay; do not invent missing rungs.

Florida premiere rules matter for local owners: FilmFreeway’s rules block states that Florida premieres are strongly encouraged, and films produced in Florida are required to be South Florida Premieres at minimum. If your short already screened in Miami-Dade or Palm Beach as a “local premiere,” read the Rules & Terms on the listing carefully before you submit and risk a rejection on premiere status.

Where the films land: Savor Cinema, downtown Fort Lauderdale

Box office and venue coordinates published across FLIFF pages point to Savor Cinema, 503 SE 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, with 954-525-FILM and info@fliff.com. FilmFreeway maps the festival to Savor Cinema at that address. FLIFF’s home presentation of the theater describes a converted 1947 church space with stadium seating and a courtyard used for receptions — the physical room where Opening Night energy and Sunday local blocks meet sponsors, crews, and neighborhood hospitality.

For owners: a Made in Broward selection is not only a laurels line. It is a November night when your cast, your DP, your post house, and your clients can walk into a downtown Fort Lauderdale room that already draws FLIFF’s year-round audience. That is different from a remote online premiere. Plan transportation, parking (FLIFF historically points guests toward courthouse-area garage guidance in program materials — confirm live instructions closer to November), and a post-screening hospitality plan within walking distance of SE 6th Street.

Soft-flag: tickets, Sunday Made in Broward blocks, and the live /fliffshorts/ page

Conflict / soft-flag for editors and readers: A live fetch of https://fliff.com/fliffshorts/ presently returns the FLIFF Shorts sponsorship page (WordPress slug associated with sponsorship, contact Hal Axler at hal@fliff.org). Search-indexed festival copy historically associated with that same URL still lists ticket and schedule detail that is not visible on the current live sponsorship HTML.

Treat the following as indexed / previously published festival information pending FLIFF confirmation, not as inventable “confirmed live” ticket law:

• Opening Night Films & Party: $30 general / $20 FLIFF members
• Movie programs: $10 per program / FLIFF members FREE
• Sunday, November 8 schedule blocks labeled Made in Broward #1 (1:00 p.m.), Made in Broward #2 (6:45 p.m.), Made in Broward #3 (8:30 p.m.), with Sunshine Celluloid blocks between them on the indexed schedule
• Host hotel language naming Wyndham Garden Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port for the Savoir-Faire / FLIFFShorts travel section

Until FLIFF republishes a dedicated festival-info page or confirms those figures by email/phone, owners should verify tickets and Sunday block times with info@fliff.com or 954-525-FILM, and treat the festivals calendar plus FilmFreeway as the hard dates source for submissions and November 5–8.

What is firmly live on fliff.com/fliffshorts/ today is the sponsor ladder and the Hal Axler contact — covered below.

Made in Broward: what local creators should do before tomorrow’s cutoff

If your short was produced primarily in Broward, the Made In Broward category is the owner-aligned lane: lower Extended fee than Narrative–US ($28 vs $35), and a programming tradition FilmFreeway itself highlights as a local spotlight alongside international shorts. Practical moves before September 10:

1. Confirm the 75% Broward production claim with call sheets, location logs, or vendor invoices you can defend if asked.
2. Check South Florida premiere status against FilmFreeway’s Florida premiere rule.
3. Budget the Extended fee ($28 standard / student; $25.20 Gold) and submit early enough on September 10 for payment and upload latency — do not treat midnight as leisurely.
4. Prepare press materials now. FilmFreeway rules note that selected filmmakers will be asked for promotional materials from the category checklist, and that professionally categorized films receiving early acceptance had an August 15 press-materials date in the rules text — late acceptances still need assets ready for October notifications.
5. Map the November weekend against crew availability. Even if Sunday Made in Broward block times remain soft-flagged pending live republish, the festival dates themselves are hard: November 5–8 at Savor Cinema.

Stack this submission with Broward’s broader film toolkit without turning this piece into a second hub: the Gazette’s live Broward County film incentives / Film Lauderdale guide covers rebate and production-support posture; the Florida entertainment industry sales-tax exemption apply guide is the statewide exemption path for qualifying production spend. Those are parallel owner tools — not substitutes for a festival submission.

Calendar stack: Emerging Filmmakers Oct 1 and FLIFF41 early bird the same day

October 1, 2026 is a double date on the South Florida film calendar:

• FLIFFShorts notification date (festivals page; FilmFreeway)
• FLIFF41 Early Bird Deadline for the 41st Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, scheduled February 19–27, 2027 (festivals page)

FLIFF41’s published ladder on the same festivals page: Early Bird October 1, 2026; Regular November 1, 2026; Late December 1, 2026; Notification January 17, 2027.

Separately, Broward’s Emerging Filmmakers Grant readiness window is covered in the Gazette’s live package Broward Emerging Filmmakers Grant — October 2026. Owner instruction: put October 1 on one calendar card — FLIFFShorts results, FLIFF41 early bird if you have a feature or doc ready, and Emerging Filmmakers grant timing — without collapsing those three programs into one narrative. Each has its own primary rules, fees, and eligibility. This package does not re-hub the grant; it only flags the date collision so short filmmakers do not miss a second window while celebrating (or absorbing) Shorts notifications.

For statewide industry context around Film Florida’s September meetings and tourism-adjacent networking, see the Gazette’s live Film Florida Week / West Palm owners package. That piece is about association and conference logistics, not FLIFFShorts tickets.

Sponsor lanes (verified live): $150 / $500 / $1,500 and Hal Axler

The live FLIFF Shorts sponsorship page publishes contact and tiers. For more information about sponsoring FLIFF Shorts, contact Hal Axler at [hal@fliff.org](mailto:hal@fliff.org). Levels verified on that page:

Title Sponsor — $1,500
Listed as presenter (“FLIFFShorts: presented by …”); logo on printed documents; link and logo on website and email updates; onscreen acknowledgement before every program; free student tickets provided by the sponsor entity; additional marketing upon request; opportunity to greet the crowd before the opening night film; 20 Festival Passes good for Opening Night Reception and all films.

Program Sponsor — $500
Listed as presenter of the chosen program; logo on select printed documents; website/email presence; onscreen acknowledgement before the sponsored program; stage greeting before that program; 20 tickets to “your” program; 5 Festival Passes for Opening Night Reception and all films.

Reception Sponsor — $500 (equivalent donation)
Same structural perks framed around a reception: presenter listing, logo placements, onscreen acknowledgement, stage greeting at the program following the reception, 20 tickets to that following program, 5 Festival Passes.

Film Sponsor — $150
Listed as sponsor of the selected film; logo on select printed documents featuring that film; website/email presence; in-person acknowledgement before the program in which the film screens; 4 Festival Passes and 10 tickets to that program (page HTML also contains a stray “2 Festival Pass” fragment — soft-flag that line as messy markup and confirm pass counts with Hal Axler before invoicing).

FLIFF notes it can customize a sponsor level or advertising plan. A sponsorship deck download link is published on the same page (FLIFF sponsorship deck PDF via fliff.org). Owner takeaway for Fort Lauderdale businesses, post houses, camera houses, law firms, restaurants, and civic partners: a $150 film sponsor is a low-friction way to attach your brand to a specific short in front of the Savor Cinema audience; $500 buys a program or reception lane; $1,500 is the festival presenter position. Email hal@fliff.org rather than guessing inventory remaining this close to the Extended Deadline.

Host hotel and hospitality near Savor Cinema

Wyndham Garden Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port, 129 N Federal Hwy, Dania Beach, FL 33004, appears on FLIFF’s published travel materials as a hotel offering discounts to FLIFF guests, described as less than five miles south of Savor Cinema on US1, with free shuttle language toward FLL Airport (FLIFF40 travel page). Soft-flag: that travel page is titled for FLIFF40; search-indexed FLIFFShorts festival copy specifically called Wyndham the Host Hotel for the Savoir-Faire Shorts Film Festival. Confirm the current Shorts discount code and booking link with FLIFF (info@fliff.com) before you book crew rooms for November.

Other area hotels on the same travel page (useful for overflow when Wyndham is full): Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Downtown/Las Olas (30 S Federal Hwy — less than one mile from Savor on US1), plus Embassy Suites, Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, Riverside Hotel on Las Olas, Crowne Plaza, and Four Points by Sheraton — each with published approximate distances to Savor Cinema.

Hospitality owners near SE 6th Street, the courthouse district, and the short walk toward Las Olas: November 5–8 is a four-night corridor when short-film crowds, visiting filmmakers, and local Made in Broward teams need dinner reservations, late coffee, and bar tabs after programs. Soft-confirm Opening Night ticket demand with FLIFF; do not invent sell-out claims. The durable fact is the venue address and the festival dates on fliff.com/festivals/.

Owner playbook for the next 36 hours

Filmmakers / Made in Broward creators
Finish the FilmFreeway upload tonight or early tomorrow. Prefer Made In Broward if you clear the 75% threshold and premiere rules. Pay the Extended fee, save the confirmation email, and prep stills, synopsis, and runtime metadata for October 1 notifications.

Sponsors / brands
Email hal@fliff.org with preferred tier ($150 / $500 / $1,500), logo files, and whether you want a film, program, reception, or title lane. Ask what inventory remains for November 5–8 at Savor Cinema.

Hospitality / hotels
Hold Wyndham Garden Dania Beach and downtown overflow options for November 5–8. Ask FLIFF for the live Shorts rate code. Brief front desk and restaurant managers that short-film guests often arrive in clusters around evening programs.

Feature / doc teams looking past Shorts
Put October 1 on the calendar for FLIFF41 Early Bird (festivals page — February 19–27, 2027) and cross-check Emerging Filmmakers timing via the Gazette’s October 2026 Emerging Filmmakers package without mixing eligibility.

Sources to keep open while you submit

• Festivals calendar (FLIFFShorts + FLIFF41): https://fliff.com/festivals/
• FilmFreeway submissions: https://filmfreeway.com/FLIFFShorts
• Live sponsorship / Hal Axler: https://fliff.com/fliffshorts/ — hal@fliff.org
• Submission window + Savor Cinema confirmation in wrap copy: https://fliff.com/fliff40wrap/
• Hotel list (confirm Shorts code): https://fliff.com/fliff40travel-3/
• Box office: 503 SE 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 — 954-525-FILM — info@fliff.com

Tomorrow is September 10. The Extended Deadline is published. Broward shorts that stay on the hard drive overnight do not get a second Extended rung on these primaries.