Started in 2007 by Tamsen Merrill and Harry Keramidas, The Ashfield Film Festival began as a fun community event to honor local town hero and famous showman, Cecil B. DeMille. Each year the town comes together to watch feature films and competitive shorts. The winner is awarded the famed Baby Cecil Trophy. The Ashfield Film Festival is a completely volunteer run event and is fiscally sponsored under the West County Arts and Culture 501(c)3.

The FilmFest has now screened some 150 films, most of which were filmed within our community and by residents. Each year the entries continue to improve, and demonstrate not only the cultural and historical diversity of our town but a growing enthusiasm for the creative art of storytelling with film/video. We have added workshops over the last several years to assist people with film-making and broaden the diversity of film entries.

The town and increasingly the greater surrounding communities, looks to the Film Festival as a treasured annual tradition, and a reason to gather with friends, perhaps dress up, and watch a new crop of films that add to our sense of wonder and amazement for the community we live in.