CHEHALIS, Wash. — The Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest is looking for Northwest filmmakers to submit their UFO themed short films, documentaries, animations or music videos.

The inaugural film festival is part of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party. This two-day celebration remembers pilot Kenneth Arnold’s historic flight from the Chehalis Airport on June 24, 1947, when he encountered a formation of UFOs in a cultural touchstone that gave birth to the term “flying saucer” — and kicked off modern UFOlogy.

The East Oregonian was the first newspaper to report on Arnold’s sighting.

This festival benefits the Lewis County Historical Museum. Filmmakers must be residents of Oregon, Washington or Idaho. Submissions must be 30 minutes or less and related to the UFO genre: science fiction, flying saucers/UFOs, extraterrestrials, men in black, alien invasion, etc.

“You can have a Bigfoot in your movie,” according to the film’s rules, “but he better be flying a spaceship.”

Submissions will be shown Sept. 22 at the McFiler’s Chehalis Theater in Chehalis, Washington.

Category awards are best film, best documentary, best animation, best music video and audience choice. Best fill carries a $200 cash prize, and audience choice — which all submissions are eligible for — has a $100 cash prize. Winners also receive a custom trophy and bragging rights, and the best film winner will be screened the following evening right before the classic flying saucer feature film during Day Two of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party.

Film producers, local personalities, UFO nerds and community members server on the film festival jury, whose decisions on official selections, award nominees and award winners are final. Filmmakers who the jury select receive a VIP pass to the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party.

For more information about the Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest, including submission requirements, visit tinyurl.com/9m797ekz.