Festivids

Guess the Festividder 2025

2026-01-31T20:01:31Z

Posted by: elipie

Here's where you can guess who made which Festivids! Of course, don't make a guess for a vid that you have insider info about, and if someone guesses correctly, do not confirm they are correct, but otherwise go wild. Last year's post is here if you want a general idea of how it goes. Happy Festivids!

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Festivids is live!

2026-01-31T10:40:54Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

We've got 128 vids in 85 fandoms!

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It's Festivids Eve

2026-01-30T14:28:12Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

It's Festivids Eve! We'll go live some time after 9 AM UTC tomorrow. (Check the deadline countdown to see what time that is for you.)

If you're close to the deadline and you have a treat that's still uploading or you hit a technical difficulty in posting, please email us at festivids@gmail.com to let us know!

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Pinch Hit #6

2026-01-18T17:29:52Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

This pinch hit has been claimed!

We're looking for a pinch hitter!

Instructions: Comments on this post are screened. If you wish to claim a pinch-hit - which means agreeing to create a vid for any one of the requests, without getting a vid in exchange - please leave your AO3 handle and email in the comment. You will be contacted via email if you successfully claim the pinch-hit.

Anyone may claim a pinch hit, even if they are not signed up for Festivids. This pinch hit is due Wednesday, January 28th.

Thank you!

( fandoms and letter for Pinch Hit #6 )

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Festivids Submission Deadline is Sunday, January 11th

2026-01-09T17:31:54Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Hello, Festividders! As the submission deadline draws near, some reminders:

Assignment vids are due on Sunday, January 11, 11:59 PM UTC. What time is that for me?

Note that if you claimed a pinch hit, it may have a different deadline noted in the original post or email.

You'll be able to make tweaks to your AO3 vid post between submitting it and the collection opening, but your vid should have a complete timeline when you submit, as well as any relevant tags or content notes. (In particular, we know that potential physical triggers are increasingly common in modern sources, so please do tag for physical triggers if your vid includes anything like strobe lights, bright lights, or "stuttery" cuts between 2-3 stills). If you're not sure, email us and we'll be happy to help.

Extensions:
If you are unable to finish your vid by the deadline, but you're 99% sure that you'll be able to finish it before the collection opens, you can request an extension. Email us at festivids at gmail dot com, comment on this post (comments are screened), or dm us on tumblr.

If you're not absolutely sure that you'll finish your vid by the time the collection opens, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can send your recipient out to pinch hit. You can still finish and post your vid, but that gives a possible pinch hitter as much time as possible to make a gift. And now there will be two vids for your recipient, which is awesome! It is okay to default at this point in the exchange - the only consequence is that you may have an earlier deadline next year.

Treats:
If you're interested in making treats, you can submit them any time before the collection opens, which won't be any earlier than Saturday, January 31, 9:00 AM UTC.

If you're looking for inspiration, you can browse this year's signups on the AO3 or on the AO3 exchange tool.

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Pinch Hit #5

2026-01-08T16:19:16Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

This pinch hit has been claimed!

We're looking for a pinch hitter!

Instructions: Comments on this post are screened. If you wish to claim a pinch-hit - which means agreeing to create a vid for any one of the requests, without getting a vid in exchange - please leave your AO3 handle and email in the comment. You will be contacted via email if you successfully claim the pinch-hit.

Anyone may claim a pinch hit, even if they are not signed up for Festivids. This pinch hit is due Saturday, January 24th.

Thank you!

( fandoms and letter for Pinch Hit #4 )

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Pinch Hit #4

2026-01-07T19:35:50Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

This pinch hit has been claimed!

We're looking for a pinch hitter!

Instructions: Comments on this post are screened. If you wish to claim a pinch-hit - which means agreeing to create a vid for any one of the requests, without getting a vid in exchange - please leave your AO3 handle and email in the comment. You will be contacted via email if you successfully claim the pinch-hit.

Anyone may claim a pinch hit, even if they are not signed up for Festivids. This pinch hit is due Saturday, January 24th.

Thank you!

( fandoms and letter for Pinch Hit #4 )

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Pinch Hit #3

2026-01-01T16:55:26Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

This pinch hit has been claimed!

We're looking for a pinch hitter!

Instructions: Comments on this post are screened. If you wish to claim a pinch-hit - which means agreeing to create a vid for any one of the requests, without getting a vid in exchange - please leave your AO3 handle and email in the comment. You will be contacted via email if you successfully claim the pinch-hit.

Anyone may claim a pinch hit, even if they are not signed up for Festivids. This pinch hit is due Sunday, January 18th, one week after regular assignments.

Thank you!

( fandoms and letter for Pinch Hit #3 )

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Pinch Hit #2

2025-12-31T00:56:25Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

This pinch hit has been claimed!

We're looking for a pinch hitter!

Instructions: Comments on this post are screened. If you wish to claim a pinch-hit - which means agreeing to create a vid for any one of the requests, without getting a vid in exchange - please leave your AO3 handle and email in the comment. You will be contacted via email if you successfully claim the pinch-hit.

Anyone may claim a pinch hit, even if they are not signed up for Festivids. This pinch hit is due Sunday, January 18th, a week after regular assignments.

Thank you!

( fandoms and letter for Pinch Hit #2 )

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Pinch Hit #1

2025-12-12T03:53:51Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

This pinch hit has been claimed!

We're looking for a pinch hitter!

Instructions: Comments on this post are screened. If you wish to claim a pinch-hit - which means agreeing to create a vid for any one of the requests, without getting a vid in exchange - please leave your AO3 handle and email in the comment. You will be contacted via email if you successfully claim the pinch-hit.

Anyone may claim a pinch hit, even if they are not signed up for Festivids. This pinch hit is due Sunday, January 11th, the same date as regular assignments.

Thank you!

( fandoms and letter for Pinch Hit #1 )

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Festivids Check-In Post

2025-11-30T06:20:23Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Check-In Post
If you are participating in Festivids 2025-2026, please comment and confirm that you are still in by Monday, December 8th. Comments are screened.

As a reminder of this year's key dates:
Monday, December 29: Default deadline
Sunday, January 11: Submissions deadline
Saturday, January 31: Vid go live!
Saturday, February 7: Reveals

Please let us know your AO3 username if it's different from your dreamwidth username or if you don't have a dreamwidth account. If you have trouble commenting here, you can also email us at festivids@gmail.com.

If you submit your finished assignment before the end of the check-in period (see instructions below), you don't need to also comment here!

Collection Open for Posting

The Festivids 2025 Collection is now open for posting! If you've completed your assignment or a treat, you can submit it now.

If you have questions about posting, see the FAQ here.

Festivids uses the following content notes:

Physical triggers: visual triggers (e.g. strobe lights, bright flashing lights, "stuttery" cuts between 2-3 stills) and auditory triggers (e.g. sudden changes of volume, gunshots, high pitched noises). If you would like examples of visual triggers, the BentoVid Vidding Photosenitivity Relay page contains examples.

Content notes: Animal Harm; Blackface/Brownface/Redface; Blood/Gore [significant amounts]; Depictions of Police; Holocaust and/or Nazi Imagery; Incest; Queerphobia [depictions of queerphobia/homophobia or queerphobic violence]; Racism [depictions of racism and/or racist violence]; Self-harm; Suicide; Transphobia [depictions of transphobia and/or transphobic violence].

If you’re not sure whether your vid needs one of these content notes, the mods can help - contact us at festivids@gmail.com or in comments here.

Vids will go through moderation before appearing (unrevealed and anonymous) in the collection. Don't be alarmed if your vid is waiting in the moderation queue for a few days or even longer! We always wait until there are several vids in the queue before approving any, to help with anonymity.

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Dear Festividder Letters

2025-10-08T23:26:22Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Assignments have been sent out! You should receive your assignment via email; if you do not, you can see it on the AO3 in "My Assignments" in the profile menu.

You can also now see a list of all participants and their requests on the AO3 or in the searchable AutoAO3App. You can also sign up for Festivids Buddies.

If you have a Dear Festividder letter, you can link it here so that your vidder or potential treat-makers can find it easily. We recommend that your comment include a list of the fandoms you requested as well as the username you used to sign up for Festivids on the AO3.

What's a Dear Festividder letter?

A Dear Festividder letter is an optional letter that you can post to your Dreamwidth / Tumblr / blog / website / google docs / etc. In the letter, you can list the sources you requested, and give your vidder some suggestions about themes, characters, pairings, music choices, and so on. Please note that vidders are not obligated to follow these suggestions; vidders are completely free to make any vid they want within the assigned fandom, regardless of the details in your letter. However, many giftvidders may appreciate having some guidance about your preferences.

Vidders, your assignment email may contain a link to your recipient's letter. If it does not, you may want to check this post or the tumblr crosspost for a letter from your recipient. Please remember that sometimes it takes people a while to write letters, so you should check back a couple of times if no letter appears right away.

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Festivids Signups Close in 10 Hours

2025-10-03T13:57:15Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Signup at the AO3

See a countdown clock

Festivids 2025 Fandoms on Google Docs | Festivids 2025 Fandoms on the AO3 | Festivids FAQ | In-Depth Guide to Signing Up

If you have any technical difficulties, let us know as soon as possible.

Already signed up? You can browse a list of what everyone else has asked for at the signup summary, which also lists fandoms that have requests but no offers.

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Signups Are Still Open / Learn About Festivids Buddies

2025-09-30T01:00:57Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Festivids Signups Are Still Open

Sign up at the AO3! Signups close Friday, October 3rd.

Festivids 2025 Fandoms on Google Docs | Festivids 2025 Fandoms on the AO3 | Festivids FAQ | In-Depth Guide to Signing Up

Learn About Festivids Buddies

Want to sign up for that rare fandom, but not sure if you can find the source? Considering signing up, but you don't know anyone else who is participating? New to vidding and looking for help with the process? Experienced at vidding but trying something new or switching software and looking for technical support? Consider signing up for Festivids Buddies!

Festivids Buddies is an optional part of Festivids; the signup form goes out after we send out assignments, because we need to know who everyone is vidding for first. The signup form has a lot of options for what you might want from a buddy and what you can offer:

Betaing: pretty straightforward!

Cheerleading: this might involve encouraging each other, looking at drafts and waving you-can-do-it pompoms, or just generally being enthusiastic. It's three and a half months between signups and the Festivids due date, which is a long time to go without some enthusiasm.

Source acquisition: you can ask or offer help for finding source.

Music help: why is finding the perfect music so hard? You can ask or offer help to track down the perfect song.

Technical support for new vidders: this is a new choice this year! If you're a newer vidder who might need a fair amount of technical support, you can ask for a buddy who has specifically volunteered to help newer vidders figure things out. And if you enjoy jumping on a zoom call to show someone how to use DaVinci Resolve or Sony Vegas, you can volunteer here.

Technical support (general): looking to do something new to you, like maybe trying motion masking for the first time? Or maybe you love helping someone handle complex frame rates? You can ask for or offer help for those specific kinds of technical challenges, with space to talk about specifics of software and add details.

You can sign up for Festivids Buddies at any time, so if you decide to make a treat or hit a sudden technical problem you can fill out the form partway through the challenge.

This is a great way to meet other vidders! It's also helpful for getting and offering support when the vidding gets tough.

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Festivids 2025 Signups Extension

2025-09-26T01:08:30Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Festivids 2025 Signups Are Open! Because of the AO3's scheduled downtime starting soon, we've decided to extend the signup period until Friday, October 3rd.

You can see the complete list of approved nominations at the AO3 or in a Google Doc. In the Google Doc, you can also write in comments to promote your fandoms; this is a great way to explain why your fandom is cool to people who may never have heard of it before.

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Festivids 2025 Signups Are Open!

2025-09-22T15:52:22Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Festivids 2025 Signups Are Open! Signups are open until September 30th.

You can see the complete list of approved nominations at the AO3 or in a Google Doc. In the Google Doc, you can also write in comments to promote your fandoms; this is a great way to explain why your fandom is cool to people who may never have heard of it before.

Some reminders:
+ Umbrella fandoms are marked with [UMBRELLA] - you can request up to two umbrella fandoms.
+ At least one of your requests must be a fandom marked [SAFETY].
+ If you'd like to offer more than 20 fandoms, you can use the AO3's Bucket Offer mechanism. See the In-Depth Guide below or follow the instructions in the sign-up form.

Find more information including how-to guides here: In-Depth Guide to Signing Up.

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Festivids Nominations Clarifications Post #4

2025-09-18T22:34:10Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

We have our (hopefully) last set of nominations clarifications! We're so close to sign ups.

You can see your nominations from the AO3's nominations page, which will show you if we have approved or rejected your nominations yet. If some of your nominations have not yet been approved or rejected, please check below to see if we still need information from you!

Dances Choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker: This feels like an Umbrella fandom to us: the dances were created for different companies over 40+ years. Is there any reason we should not add the Umbrella tag?

Lucy Worsley Documentaries [UMBRELLA]: Lucy Worsley is a writer and presenter, as well as making guest appearances on various documentaries. Is this nomination intended to include some subsection of her work (e.g. documentaries she writes or presents), or all of her appearances on documentaries?

Miracles (TV): There are four tv shows called Miracles.

Notre-Dame de Paris - Cocciante/Plamondon: Are you looking for a specific adaptation, or all productions of the musical?

Press Play (2022): There are two things called Press Play in 2022.

Rush (2013) [SAFETY]: There are three things called Rush in 2013.

The Paper (TV): There are two TV shows called The Paper.

Tiger & Bunny: Are you looking for the anime, manga, stage shows, etc, or the whole franchise?

二哈和他的白猫师尊 - 肉包不吃肉 | The Husky and His White Cat Shizun - Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat: Is this for the book or the manhua or an Umbrella? As far as we know the tv show isn't available yet - will it be coming out by October 10th?

最遊記外伝 | Saiyuki Gaiden (Anime & Manga): We need to disambiguate this nomination to either anime or manga or an Umbrella fandom. (Or, if there's a compelling reason to treat the anime and manga as one fandom, please let us know.)

極主夫道 | Gokushufudou | The Way of the House Husband (TV): This probably means the live action show and not the web anime, but we wanted to check!

Remaining questions from previous posts:

Akame ga Kill! (Anime & Manga): We need to disambiguate this nomination to either anime or manga or an Umbrella fandom. (Or, if there's a compelling reason to treat the anime and manga as one fandom, please let us know.)

Fate/Grand Order: Which part of this franchise are you looking for? Or should this be an Umbrella fandom?

R is for Rocket - Ray Bradbury: Are you looking for the short story by itself? Or for the collection of short stories that has the same name?

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - Stoppard: Are you looking for a specific performance, or all performances?

Sleep No More - Punchdrunk: Are you looking for a specific run or performance, or for an Umbrella fandom of all performances?

Soldier (1998): There are 2 1998 movies called Soldier. Which one are you looking for?

悪魔のリドル | Akuma no Riddle | Riddle Story of Devil: We need to disambiguate this nomination to either anime or manga or an Umbrella fandom. (Or, if there's a compelling reason to treat the anime and manga as one fandom, please let us know.)

And finally, what does it mean to nominate "a whole fandom" for these fandoms in particular:

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985): Wikipedia tells us that this is a a direct sequel to Caravan of Courage: The Ewok Adventure, which would make them one fandom. Is there any reason we should not consider them one fandom?

Films Directed by David Lynch [UMBRELLA]: Usually a films-directed-by Umbrella is very clear, but in this case this nomination cuts Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me away from the rest of Twin Peaks. Does that seem reasonable to do?

Hollow Knight: Silksong: Silksong is a direct sequel to Hollow Knight (and was originally going to be Hollow Knight DLC); it has the same studio, designers, artist, composer, and game engine as Hollow Knight. Does it stand alone as its own fandom or should it be combined with Hollow Knight?

Monument Valley 2 (Video Game): Is there a compelling reason to not include Monument Valley 1 as the same fandom?

Off Book: The Improvised Musical (Podcast) and the single episode of Off Book Every Place I Cry (Podcast): This fandom was nominated two different ways; looking at the fandom, it looks like this is an anthology show with a different plot every episode. Usually for an anthology show we would consider the way the fandom treats the show to decide whether the fandom is the whole show or individual episodes. Which model makes sense here? If the fandom is the whole show, asking for Every Place I Cry is an optional detail; if the fandom is Every Place I Cry, then Off Book is an Umbrella fandom request.

Peter Pan (Disney Animated Movies): Does this include the Tinkerbell movies?

The Marvels (Movie 2023): Is The Marvels (2023) a sufficiently distinct fandom from Captain Marvel? I would have called it a sequel (and so does Wikipedia). There are obviously new characters, but that's typically true for a Marvel sequel and I wouldn't call The Winter Soldier a different fandom than Captain America 1.

飯戲攻心 | Table for Six (2022) [SAFETY]: Is the sequel Table for Six 2 the same fandom?

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Festivids Nominations Questions Post #3

2025-09-15T15:27:58Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Thanks everyone for getting your nominations in! We have a 20% increase in total nominations over last year, so expect more questions posts like this (and don't worry if your nominations show up as unreviewed).

We have questions about:

Eternal Law: Are you looking for the British TV series or Chinese TV series?

Justified: There are many thing called Justified. Which one are you looking for?

Sleep No More - Punchdrunk: Are you looking for a specific run or performance, or for an Umbrella fandom of all performances?

Humans (TV): There are 4 TV series called "Humans." Which one are you looking for?

Soldier (1998): There are 2 1998 movies called Soldier. Which one are you looking for?

My Little Pony Generation 1 (Cartoon 1984): We've previously called this My Little Pony (Cartoon 1984-1987). Nominator, is that what you're looking for? Or did you mean just the first 22 minute 1984 cartoon?

Matthew Cremona - Home Renovation & Addition (YouTube Playlist) and Matthew Cremona (YouTube Channel): This was nominated two different and overlapping ways. If the playlist stands on its own as a fandom and is sufficiently distinct from other playlists, we might then call the youtube channel an Umbrella. If it doesn't stand on its own we would call the youtube channel the fandom, and a request for a specific playlist would go in option details. Which of these options makes sense to you, nominators?

We also have some Umbrella questions:

Hamlet - Adaptations [UMBRELLA]: We haven't searched yet, but given Disney fandom this is almost definitely disqualified by The Lion King. Nominator, if you want to reframe this it would probably work as Performances?

Penn and Teller Magic Performances [UMBRELLA]: Are you looking for their independent magic performances under their own names, that generally start with "Penn and Teller" in the title? Or for all performances of magic they've done, including as actors in e.g. Young Sheldon and Borderlands 3? If the first, can we come up with a phrase that encapsulates that? If the second, Borderlands 3 might disqualify it.

Half-Life mods [UMBRELLA]: Could you explain what you're looking for? People making the mods? The mods being used in-game? Something else?

And these questions are still outstanding from previous posts:

R is for Rocket - Ray Bradbury: Are you looking for the short story by itself? Or for the collection of short stories that has the same name?

Akame ga Kill! (Anime & Manga): Do you want the anime or manga? Or is there a compelling reason to say both are typically vidded together?

Fate/Grand Order: Which part of this franchise are you looking for? Or should this be an Umbrella fandom?

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - Stoppard: Are you looking for a specific performance, or all performances?

悪魔のリドル | Akuma no Riddle | Riddle Story of Devil: The anime is on the pre-disqualification list. Is the nominator looking for the manga?

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Festivids Nominations Close in Ten Hours

2025-09-12T14:23:46Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Nominations close in about ten hours! See the countdown

Nominate at the AO3

Helpful nominations documents: How to Nominate Your Fandom | Evaluating Rarity | Festivids 2025 Disqualifications

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Festivids Nominations Questions Post #2

2025-09-11T00:22:18Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Reminder: Festivids nominations close in about 48 hours: this Friday, September 12th, at 11:59 PM UTC.

Helpful nominations documents: How to Nominate Your Fandom | Evaluating Rarity | Festivids 2025 Disqualifications

In the meantime, we have some questions about existing nominations:

Anastasia (1997) [SAFETY]: Weirdly, there are three 1997 films called Anastasia. Which film are you looking for?

Industry (TV): Are you looking for the 2020 show or the 2024 show?

IT Crowd: Are you looking for The IT Crowd (UK TV), which is already approved, or for one of the other shows or movies with this name?

Nautilus (TV): Are you looking for the 1993 or 2024 TV series?

Peep Show: There are many things with this title. Which one are you looking for?

R is for Rocket - Ray Bradbury: Are you looking for the short story by itself? Or for the collection of short stories that has the same name?

The Guest (2014) [SAFETY]: Are you looking for the 2014 film called The Guest from the USA or from Chile?

The Middleman (TV): Are you looking for the tv show from the USA or from France?

Venom [UMBRELLA]: Are you looking for all appearances of the Marvel character Venom in all media? Or something else I'm not seeing immediately on wikipedia?

We also have a few questions outstanding from our last post:

Akame ga Kill! (Anime & Manga): Do you want the anime or manga? Or is there a compelling reason to say both are typically vidded together?

Fate/Grand Order: Which part of this franchise are you looking for? Or should this be an Umbrella fandom?

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - Stoppard: Are you looking for a specific performance, or all performances?

悪魔のリドル | Akuma no Riddle | Riddle Story of Devil: The anime is on the pre-disqualification list. Is the nominator looking for the manga?

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Festivids 2025 nominations close this Friday

2025-09-08T18:06:41Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Reminder: Festivids nominations close this Friday, September 12th.

Helpful nominations documents: How to Nominate Your Fandom | Evaluating Rarity | Festivids 2025 Disqualifications

You can nominate some sources you're sure about now, and then come back and fill the rest of your nomination slots later.

During signups, you must ask for at least one Safety fandom. You can ask for a maximum of two Umbrella fandoms. If you haven't nominated your Safety fandom, be sure to do it by 11:59 PM UTC on Friday!

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About Festivids

2025-09-07T20:07:30Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Current Festivids Stage

Assignments are out!

You can now see a list of all participants and their requests on the AO3 or in the searchable AutoAO3App. You can also sign up for Festivids Buddies.

What is Festivids?

Festivids is an annual vidding exchange for small, rare, and completely nonexistent vidding fandoms. Vidders sign up to make a vid for a rarely-vidded fandom to fulfill someone else's request, and in return receive a vid for one of their own requests. (Treats are also allowed—you don't need to sign up to participate!)

Festivids runs on the AO3's exchange platform; if you'd like to participate but you don't have an AO3 account, you can comment here or send us a message and we'll send you an invitation so you can make an account immediately without having to wait in the usual AO3 invitation queue.

What is a rare vidding fandom?

For Festivids this year, "rare vidding fandom" means a fandom that has less than 150 one-minute-or-longer vids made in the last ten years. Festivids volunteers go through the nominations and evaluate rarity of each fandom nominated! If you're not sure if your fandom is rare, you can check our guidelines to evaluating rarity.

We also have a list of fandoms that are already disqualified; this list isn't comprehensive as we'll be checking new nominations as they come in. This reflects fandoms evaluated so far, including those that were disqualified last year.

What kinds of things can I nominate?

Almost anything! If you can vid it, you can probably nominate it. Participants have nominated and vidded commercials, tv shows, movies, graphic novels, web comics, books, paintings, podcasts, music videos, celebrities, social media accounts, live performances, and just about anything else you can be fannish about. Festivids nominations rules help us to understand exactly what you're trying to nominate. (There are also some things that can't be nominated for Festivids; see the FAQ for more details.)

Because many Festividders write letters to describe their fandoms, and many Festividders watch every vid in the collection, this is also a great way to introduce your tiny fandom to a bunch of new people!

Want to see some of these vids? Check out last years' Festivids collection or every Festivids collection that's on the AO3.

What is the Festivids schedule?

Mon 1 Sept - Fri 12 Sept: Fandom nominations

Mon 22 Sept - Fri 3 Oct: Sign up for the exchange

Fri 28 Nov - Mon 8 Dec: Check in with the mods to confirm that you're still planning to participate in the exchange

Mon 29 Dec: Deadline to default on your assignment without a penalty. (The penalty is an earlier deadline the following year. See below for details.)

Sun 11 Jan: Deadline to turn in your gift vid

Sat 31 Jan: The collection goes live with a gift vid for everyone! There are also usually many treat vids made between the submissions deadline and go live, as well as some pinch hits.

Sat 7 Feb: Vidders' names are revealed!

I defaulted after the deadline in a previous year - can I still participate this year?

Yes, you can still participate. If you defaulted after the deadline in a previous year, the mods will reach out to you after you sign up to discuss an earlier deadline for your vid this year. (That is, you may need to turn in a complete draft by December 29th instead of January 11th.) If you turn your draft in on time this year, your record will be wiped clean and you'll be back to the regular schedule next year.

I want to sign up, but I think I'll need some support to help me as I make my vid.

Festivids also has an optional Festivids Buddies system. You can sign up for Festivids Buddies and be assigned a fellow participant in the exchange to cheerlead your vid, make music recs, beta your vid, help you find source, or provide technical help. You can ask for exactly what you want in the Festivids Buddies signup and we'll do our best to assign you a Festivids Buddy who knows your software system, shares your fannish interests, or is really excited to offer the kind of help that you want. (If you're new to the exchange, this is also a great way to meet people and find a beta who will keep your secret vid secret!)

Where else can I find Festivids?

Discord | Bluesky | Tumblr | Google Group

More questions? Check out our complete guide to Festivids 2025.

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Nomination Questions Post #1

2025-09-06T16:54:29Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Hi all! We have some questions about nominations, starting with some very specific questions for specific nominators and moving into questions for everyone.

If you're the nominator of these fandoms, please let us know your intention with the nomination:

Akame ga Kill! (Anime & Manga): Do you want the anime or manga? Or is there a compelling reason to say both are typically vidded together?

Fate/Grand Order: Which part of this franchise are you looking for? Or should this be an Umbrella fandom?

Hadestown - Mitchell: Are you looking for a specific performance, or all performances?

Hustle: Which source named Hustle are you looking for? We see a lot of exact title matches.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - Stoppard: Are you looking for a specific performance, or all performances?

悪魔のリドル | Akuma no Riddle | Riddle Story of Devil: The anime is on the pre-disqualification list. Is the nominator looking for the manga?

Some questions about the definition of fandoms:

A classic Marvel question: Is The Marvels (2023) a sufficiently distinct fandom from Captain Marvel? I would have called it a sequel (and so does Wikipedia). There are obviously new characters, but that's typically true for a Marvel sequel and I wouldn't call The Winter Soldier a different fandom than Captain America 1.

A same-fandom-with-two-nominations question: We've had this fandom nominated two different ways: Off Book: The Improvised Musical (Podcast) and a single episode of this podcast Every Place I Cry (Podcast). Looking at the fandom, it looks like this is an anthology show with a different plot every episode. Usually for an anthology show we would consider the way the fandom treats the show to decide whether the fandom is the whole show or individual episodes. Which model makes sense here?

The two options are:
Every Place I Cry (Podcast) and therefore Off Book: The Improvised Musical (Podcast) [UMBRELLA]

OR

Off Book: The Improvised Musical (Podcast) and the nominator who wants the single episode notes that in optional details.

And a terminology question for everyone: Does a fandom nominated as "films starring ACTOR" make sense as a fandom? Would you interpret that to mean "all of that actor's roles" or "some of that actor's roles"? If your answer is "some," how would you determine which roles counted?

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Festivids 2025 NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN!

2025-09-01T19:15:21Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Nominate your rare fandoms for Festivids 2025 at the Festivids 2025 Nominations Page. Nominations are open through Friday, September 12th.

Before you nominate, check out:
The list of fandoms already disqualified from Festivids: 2025 Fandom Disqualifications. This document will be updated as we evaluate fandoms this year.

The guide to nominating fandoms: How to Nominate Your Fandom. Contains the rules for Umbrellas, Safeties, fandom scope, titles, and rarity. Also contains a list of how to nominate specific types of sources, including the updates we made for this year.

The guide to evaluating rarity using youtube: Evaluating Rarity. Contains the explanation of how Festivids finds and counts vids to evaluate whether a fandom is rare. This is also where to find a list of extensions and userscripts that Festividders might find helpful.

These fandoms were borderline last year and are now ineligible: Blue Eye Samurai (Cartoon), Megamind (2010), Severance (Apple TV), Subnautica (Video Games), Totally Spies, What We Do in the Shadows (TV), ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon (Anime 2024)

These fandoms were ineligible last year but are now eligible: Avatar the Last Airbender (Live Action 2024), Constantine (TV 2014), Fables: The Wolf Among Us (Video Game), Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, 대박부동산 | Sell Your Haunted House (TV)

And finally, we've added two new communication channels this year!

If you use Discord, you can join us on the Festivids Discord, which has social spaces in addition to reminders and updates. Thanks so much to the Discord volunteers for getting this going so quickly this year!

Or if you'd prefer to get emails about important updates, you can join the Festivids Email List to get automatic updates when we post important news. Only the Festivids mods can post to this group—it's not a social space, just for updates.

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Festivids Rules Updates for 2025

2025-09-01T18:44:59Z

Posted by: festivids_mod

Thanks everyone for your feedback on our rules questions! We really appreciate hearing your perspective.

We've made a few rulings on these topics for this year:

Complex "Adaptations of ..." Umbrella fandoms

If a list of adaptations or "in popular culture" is messy, we'll be using a quick checklist to differentiate adaptations from references. This is intended to make the identification of adaptations vs references straightforward.

Are there characters or analogs from the original canon in this piece of media? (For example, for Moby Dick the presence of a Moby Dick, a Moby Richard, a Fishmael, or a whaling captain who is pursuing his nemesis white whale would all count as characters or analogs.)

AND

Are there plot points or plot analogs from the original canon in this piece of media? (For example, for Moby Dick you might have Ahab drowning or flying into space, Fishmael alone in the ocean at the end, and a promise of a doubloon or an IOU note.)

If those two features aren't present, the canon is a reference. (For example, an Assassin's Creed DLC has a white whale in a whale hunting scene, but no characters or plot points in common. Star Trek First Contact contains a Moby Dick quote, but there are no other plot points in common. These are references; they could be used as outside footage in a vid about Moby Dick adaptations, but they are not in themselves adaptations. Also, because they are brief references, neither of them could be vidded alone to make a Moby Dick vid.)

Individual episodes of larger shows can disqualify an "Adaptations of …" Umbrella.

Actual Plays

For Actual Plays, we took everyone's feedback and have tried to balance different fan perspectives on what makes an Actual Play fandom.

We're trying something new this year, which is adding a level of a fandom for "Actual Play Series: $Universe Name." This means that you can now nominate an individual universe from within an Actual Play series by itself. So, using Dimension 20 as an example:

Dimension 20: UNIVERSE NAME: A vid about the cast or characters from a specific universe, covering animatics, actor footage, and mixed media. For example, D20: Dungeons and Drag Queens would be its own universe. D20: Fantasy High Universe would be its own universe.

Dimension 20 [UMBRELLA]: An Umbrella fandom covering all D20 campaigns, specials, etc, which could use animatics, fanart, actor footage, or otherwise use mixed media to vid multiple D20 universes together.

Dimension 20: UNIVERSE NAME RPF: A vid about the people who make that specific universe within Dimension 20, which could use footage from their lives / social media / etc

Dimension 20 RPF [UMBRELLA]: A vid about the people who make Dimension 20, which could use footage from their lives / social media / etc

We know that this makes more sense for some Actual Play anthology fandoms than others, but we're trying to set a consistent standard that balances the different Actual Play fandoms while still making it possible for nominations reviewers to screen the fandoms.

If you have any questions, please let us know. If your Actual Play fandom is somewhat confusing and you'd like to talk through it, please drop us a line before you nominate and we can walk through it. This will be especially helpful if your fandom doesn't list universes on their wiki, since nominations screeners are often totally unfamiliar with the fandoms they are screening.

Animatics

We're going to continue to treat vid-like animatics as vids this year (but not include scene-like animatics).

As always, if you have rules questions or ideas please let us know—we're always open to adjusting things in the future.

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