Chennai International Short Film Festival

Chennai International Short Film Festival has been started by persons having long associations with film festivals under the aegis of Chennai Academy of Motion Picture, a non-profit trust to promote good cinema to the film enthusiasts of Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu. Short films have emerged as a universal experimental platform for both professional and amateur film makers alike. With proliferation of high quality digital technology at relatively low prices, every film enthusiast wants to embark on film making and short films are the first stepping stone in that effort.

CISFF is the unique event in India which showcases talents to short film making. It is the only annual International Short Film Festival happening in India with awards in all categories.

13th Chennai International Short Film Festival -2025 (20th Feb to 23rd Feb 2025)

Awards & Prizes

The Jury will announce the awards during awards function (23rd Feb 2025 @ 6.00 pm)

2.1 Animation awards:
The Best Short Animation award will carry a trophy, a certificate
2nd and 3rd place will get shield and certificates.

2.2 Documentary Awards:

The Best Short documentary award will carry a trophy, a certificate
2nd and 3rd place will get shield and certificates.

2.3. Best Short Fiction Award:

The Best Short Fiction award will carry a trophy, a certificate
2nd and 3rd place will get shield and certificates.

2.4. Best Students Film Awards:
Best Students film Award will carry a trophy, a certificate.
2nd and 3rd place will get shield and certificates

13th edition winners
Best Short fiction - Punal

Second Best Short Fiction - Por Paravaigal

Best documentary - Irantha kaalam

Jury award - The wall

Jury's special mention : Breaking the silence

Student category
Best Short fiction - The bird that forgot to fly

Second Best short documentary - Wings of Hope

CISFF Special mention - Ethirmarai & Kayamai

Regulations:

The Festival is meant for short films of maximum 20 minutes duration (Subtitles mandatory) and will have the following sections

i) World Competition for short fiction films (maximum 20 minutes) produced after 1st January 2024
ii) World Competition for Short documentary films (maximum 20 minutes) produced after 1st January 2024
iii) World Competition for short animation films (maximum 20 minutes) produced after 1st January 2024
iv) World Cinema films (Short / documentary / animation films of maximum 20 minutes) produced after 1st January 2024
v) Competition for Indian Students Films: This section is exclusively for Indian Students only (from High School level to final year degree course) and films made under any category i.e. short fiction / short Documentary / short animation of maximum length of 20 Minutes are eligible for submission. The films should have been produced after 1st January 2024
vi) Country Focus (films from one or two countries & duration will be restricted to maximum 20 minutes each film)
vii) Special section (tributes / homage etc)

Entry Dead line and entry fees
S No Name of the category Entry detail Entry Fee Dead line
1 World short film competition Regular 30 US$ Jan 20th 2025
2 Students Competition Regular 10 US$ Jan 20th 2025
3 World short film non-competition Regular 10 US$ Jan 20th 2025
4 Notification date for all the categories Feb 1 2025

Overall Rating

Quality

Value

Communication

Hospitality

Networking

Fabian Adams

It was great being in 13th chennai International film festival. Thanks to the total for organising such a great event.

March 2025

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Seerkatchi Packil Pandian Bhaskaran

It was an honor to have our film, 'Por Paraivaigal, ' awarded at the Chennai International Short Film Festival! This isn't just a festival and an event that highlights each film individually. The festival organisers kept filmmakers up-to-date with all the details of each day's events. Even the updates were presented so coolly.
We couldn't wait for the next one. We appreciate the enormous work that would have gone into organising this fantastic festival!

March 2025

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Amirtha Jebamani

It was great experience and liked very much. Thanks the team of chennai international shortfilm festival .

March 2024

Helpful

Response from festival:

Thank you Jebamani . much appreciate your feedback and we look forward to seeing you at the 13th edition.
ASHOK SAMINATHAN

Simply they are encouraging ammeture, student filmmakers. This is not right way to pursuing the film festival.

March 2024

Helpful

Response from festival:

Dear Mr Saminathan,
we regret for not offering a good festival experience for you. kindly offer your suggestions and we will see how we can accommodate those. thank you,
Marcel Hobi

I am proud that my short film is part of your festival.
It's a shame that I couldn't take part in the festival.

It is a special honor that Love Bubbles received the Best Animation Award. Thank you!

March 2024

Helpful

Response from festival:

Dear Marcel,

Congratulations again on the win. we are in touch with the embassy to connect the trophy and certificates. As a small token of our appreciation. It was wonderful to enjoy the film in a cinematic canvas. thank you for writing to us .