World’s Top Short Film Festivals

Screening at short film festivals is a sure-fire way to start creating a buzz around your film and your career. You are also likely to bump into short-film buyers eager for content for the dozens of fledgling websites desperate for movies. Short films are much easier to see on the web or on a mobile telephone than features (at the moment, at least)

Scroll down this list, and click on the links and look at each festivals programming to see if your film would fit. And google them to see if there any satisfied filmmakers talking about the festival of your choice.

Finally, happy hunting. Don’t forget that Raindance Film Festival, Britain’s largest independent film festival, loves short films, and we are open for submissions. Raindance is also a Oscar qualifying festival for short films.

The Raindance Team

The Top 5 Must-Submit Short Film Festivals

• Sundance Film Festival (USA)
• Cannes Film Festival (France) – for shorts under 15 minutes only
• Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (USA)
• Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France)
• Aspen Shortsfest (USA)

Short Film Festivals – USA

• AFI Fest
• Los Angeles Film Festival
• Tribeca Film Festival
• SXSW: South By Southwest Film Festival
• Telluride Film Festival
• Seattle International Film Festival
• San Francisco International Film Festival
• Slamdance Film Festival
• Chicago International Film Festival
• Austin Film Festival
• St. Louis International Film Festival
• Cinequest Film Festival
• Atlanta Film Festival
• Santa Barbara International Film Festival
• Rhode Island International Film Festival
• Florida Film Festival
• Nashville Film Festival
• Hamptons International Film Festival
• USA Film Festival – for American shorts only
• Los Angeles International Short Film Festival
• Chicago International Children’s Film Festival
• Ann Arbor Film Festival
• Athens International Film Festival
• Black Maria Film Festival
• New Directors/New Films Festival
• Gen Art Film Festival – for American shorts only
• Heartland Film Festival
• Starz Denver International Film Festival
• Mill Valley Film Festival
• Woodstock Film Festival
• Hawaii International Film Festival
• San Diego Film Festival
• Cleveland International Film Festival
• Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
• Philadelphia Film Festival
• New Orleans Film Festival
• Stony Brook Film Festival
• Bumbershoot
• World Arts Film Festival

Canada

• Toronto International Film Festival
• Montreal World Film Festival
• Montreal International Festival of New Cinema
• Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival
• Vancouver International Film Festival – for Canadian shorts only
• Edmonton International Film Festival
• Calgary International Film Festival

Australia

• Flickerfest International Short Film Festival
• Melbourne International Film Festival
• Sydney Film Festival

Brazil

• Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival
• Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival
• Sao Paulo International Film Festival

Argentina

• Mar del Plata International Film Festival

Chile

• Santiago Chilean International Short Film Festival

Colombia

• Cartagena International Film Festival

Bermuda

• Bermuda International Film Festival

Japan

• Short Shorts Film Festival

South Africa

• Durban International Film Festival
• Cape Town World Cinema Film Festival  

UK

• Raindance Film Festival *Oscar , BAFTA and BIFA qualifying
• London Short Film Festival
• Edinburgh International Film Festival
• Kinofilm – Manchester International Film Festival
• Encounters International Short Film Festival *Oscar qualifying
• Leeds International Film Festival
• Aesthetica Short Film Festival

Ireland

• Foyle Film Festival
• Cork International Film Festival

Germany

• Berlin International Film Festival
• Cologne International Women’s Film Festival
• Oberhausen International Short Film Festival
• Oldenburg Film Festival
• Interfilm Berlin Short Film Festival
• Filmfest Dresden
• Hamburg International Short Film Festival

Spain

• Huesca International Film Festival
• Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films
• Gijon International Film Festival for Young People
• Valladolid International Film Festival

Italy

• Venice International Film Festival
• Turin International Film Festival of Young Cinema – for Italian shorts only

Switzerland

• Locarno Film Festival

France

• Angers First Film Festival

Greece

• Drama International Short Film Festival

Bosnia-Herzegovina

• Sarajevo Film Festival

Poland

• Cracow International Documentary and Short Film Festival
• Wroclav Era New Horizons

Czech Republic

• Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Belgium

• Brussels International Short Film Festival
• Ghent Flanders International Film Festival
• Leuven International Short Film Festival

Denmark

• Odense International Film Festival
• AFIA Film Festival, Aarhus

The Netherlands

• Rotterdam International Film Festival

Sweden

• Uppsala International Short Film Festival
• Stockholm International Film Festival  
• Gothenberg International Film Festival

Finland

• Tampere International Short Film Festival

Norway

• Grimstad Norwegian Short Film Festival – international shorts by invitation only

Have we forgotten anyone? Please add into the comments box below.