East Lansing Film Festival

About the Festival

The East Lansing Film Festival(ELFF) is a multi-pronged, year-round non-profit organization that was created in 1997 to bring independent films to mid-Michigan and to foster filmmaking in the region.  ELFF holds a world-class film festival each November that showcases dramas, comedies, documentaries and short films. In early winter, ELFF holds the Lake Michigan Film Festival (previously known as the Lake Michigan Film Competition) that awards cash prizes to films made in the four states that surround Lake Michigan – Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. ELFF also holds the Indie Film Series in partnership with the John Loeks theaters where 3 or 4 independent first-run films are shown for 4 weeks, 10 months of the year.

Another aspect of ELFF is partnering with non-profit organizations to raise awareness of their issues and help fundraise. For example, ELFF partnered with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra by screening the documentary, FOLLOWING THE NINTH, about the influence of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with political and social groups in the present day.

ELFF also works with filmmakers who need support to their films seen. One example of this support is when ELFF screened the documentary, YOUNG HEMINGWAY & HIS ENDURING EDEN, with the director, George A. Colburn to help raise funds to complete the film

The East Lansing Film Festival is the longest-running non-experimental film festival in Michigan.