The Aaretalerkurzfilmtage is one of the cutest shortfilm Festivals in Europe! - "Small is Beautiful" is our Motto.
Screening takes place in 6 different Rooms around the historical Center of Münsingen, Switzerland. With this event we want to offer a respectful platform to independent filmmakers of short films. There will be no competition - each film is the best!

"Aaretaler Kurzfilmtage est un festival très sympathique mené par une équipe chaleureuse. Une très belle sélection de films projetés 5 fois chacun pendant le weekend devant un public passionné. Un festival où je reviendrai avec plaisir"
(Laurent Ardoint, Director/Actor of "Le tueur du lac maudit")

"Niché au coeur de la ville de Münsigen, ce festival de cinéma offre une magnifique sélection d’une centaine de courts-métrages du monde entier. Accueil chaleureux et public au rendez-vous. Je suis très reconnaissante d’y avoir été accueillie par l’équipe hors pair du festival et d’y avoir présenté mon film devant un public curieux et attentif"
(Janine Piguet, Director/Actress of "Fortissimo")

“Aaretaler Kurzfilmtage…is a wonderful festival, it has a bijou friendly feel, located in stunning surroundings, truly exceptional”
(Clifford Milner, Director of “Breaking and Entering")

“Aaretaler Kurzfilmtage est un festival organisé avec beaucoup de générosité, de simplicité et de talent. Organisation impeccable, équipe très accueillante, sélection exigente, équipement professionnel, tous les ingrédients sont réunis pour faire de ce festival un grand festival”
(Delphine Poudou, Director/Actress of "My inner child")

Awards & Prizes

Audience awards:


1st place, winner: 1500 CHF

2nd place: 1000 CHF

3rd place: 700 CHF

Rules & Terms

• Maximal film length allowed: 20 minutes

• Year of production: not before 2023
• Several films can be submitted by one person. For each film the submission form has to be filled out separately

• Submission fee 5 USD

• For films in German language: Please send them without subtitles (Clean version).

• For films in other languages than German: English or German subtitles are required. (German preferred!)


The submission deadline for the Aaretalerkurzfilmtage 2026 is: February 28, 2026.
 The submission process has to be completed according to www.aaretalerkurzfilmtage.ch or via www.filmfreeway.com


Incomplete submissions cannot be accepted! All filmmakers who submit a film within the given deadline receive a definite answer in June 2026. Films submitted by postal service (preview copies) cannot be sent back due to budget reasons.

Copyright/data confidentiality
:

By submitting your film you confirm that no copyright infringement takes place by screening the film. The Aaretalerkurzfilmtage are not liable for possible copyright infringements!

Apart from technical reasons, submitted films may be copied to other storage devices. The organising committee of the Aaretalerkurzfilmtage will use the submitted films exclusively for this festival.

Contact information may be given to other film events if their inquiries are to promote film culture and have no commercial interest. Email contact and/or websites will be mentioned in film descriptions of the printed program. If this is not desired, notice has to be given until September 1st, 2026. No films or other personal data will be passed on to third parties.


11 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thierry Pradervand

    It is a beautiful festival with a fantastic audience (all the rooms were full of enthusiastic people who wanted to know so much about the films). Food was good, hospitality wonderful. We were greeted and accompanied all along and also introduced to other filmmakers. The quality of the selected films was impressive. I saw so many beautiful short films.

    November 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Thierry

    Thank you very much for this wonderful feedback, we were delighted to receive it. It is always a pleasure to welcome you to the Aaretal Short Film Festival.

    hugs

    Enzo and team

  • Alan Sahin

    We had the pleasure of showing our short documentary «Going South« (Im Stau) and I was amazed by the team's and visitors' generosity and warm hospitality. I can only recommend! <3

    November 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Alan
    It was a pleasure to have your film in our programme. The audience loved it. Unfortunately, it missed out on a place among the three winning films by just a few votes from the audience. We wish you every success in your future film-making endeavours.

    Best regards

    Enzo and team

  • Randy Scott Steinlauf

    Aaretaler Kurzfilmtage is a terrific festival that punches well above its weight. Here are just a few reasons why:
    1. Excellent curating of consistently outstanding short films.
    2. A large selection of films (89!) that are screened multiple times over the weekend. Our film was screened a total of five times.
    3. Quite possibly the best organized festival I’ve ever attended. Just one example, the PDF version of the festival program was emailed two months prior to the start of the festival. All sessions started right on time.
    4. Hospitality! Enzo and the entire could not have been more gracious and wonderful hosts. Plus great food and drinks in between screenings.

    Looking forward to attending again!

    November 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Randy
    Thank you very much for your wonderful feedback, we really appreciated it. Your film ‘The Festival’ fit perfectly into our programme and made quite a few visitors laugh. We are already looking forward to your next film, which you are welcome to submit to us.

    All the best

    Enzo and team

  • Levin Vieth

    A lovely festival in the heart of Switzerland! The curation is top notch and you can see some of the best international shorts of the past 2-3 years. I felt very honored to be invited with "LONELY FANS - Vents solitaries" and if i could only wish for one thing would be a swiss competition so there would be more networking opportunities among swiss filmmakers. It's definitely a festival for the public (with great attendance!) and not like most other festivals in Switzerland where filmmakers watch other filmmakers shorts in their own bubble. Therefore it's a really unique experience to showcase your work to a great curious audience!

    November 2024
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Levin, Dear David

    Thank you very much for your kind words, we were very pleased to receive them. And yes, we would also like to include more Swiss short films in our programme, but unfortunately only a few are submitted and very often they don't quite meet the desired quality.

    All the best, and hopefully we'll see you again next year.

    Enzo and team

  • Elias Förderer

    Unique atmosphere, lovely team, great film selection. Highly recommended to visit the festival!

    November 2024
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Elias
    Thank you very much for your visit to our festival. We are very pleased that you enjoyed it. Hopefully we'll see you again next year.

    All the best, Enzo and team