IMDb Award Listing Qualifier's Independent Shorts Awards (ISA) is a monthly international film competition, with an annual live screening and awards event in North Hollywood, California.
Each month, the submitted projects are privately screened and judged by a random team of invited experts from academia and film industry, against a high standard of merit. The monthly winners are automatically qualified to compete and be screened at ISA annual event.
Every submission can add numerous additional judging categories. The name(s) to be credited should be included in the cover letter.
Submissions are accepted exclusively through FilmFreeway.
All entries are promoted through our social media and website with a dedicated page.
For this purpose, we recommend that projects must be fully entered on FilmFreeway, including downloadable poster and trailer.
All projects officially selected in each month receive the Independent Shorts Awards laurel and certificate and are rated at their IMDb pages (if applicable). Also, some selected works will be reviewed by ISA team. These reviews are published at ISA website and shared at each film IMDb page (if applicable). Some filmmakers, screenwriters and actors/actresses could be invited for an interview to be published as well in ISA website.
Judges score quality and creativity of entries on a performance scale and winning entries are recognized and awarded monthly at four levels:
Platinum Awards, Gold Awards, Silver Awards, and Bronze Awards.
It can be given also Honorable Mentions.
The awards by category:
Best Short Script
Best Narrative Short
Best Indie Short
Best Student Short
Best Animation Short
Best Documentary Short
Best Experimental Short
Best Microfilm
Best Music Video
Best Drama Short
Best Comedy Short
Best Dark Comedy Short
Best Thriller Short
Best Parody Short
Best Horror Short
Best Crime Short
Best Film Noir Short
Best Mystery Short
Best Fantasy Short
Best Sci-Fi Short
Best Western Short
Best Children Short
Best LGBT Short
Best Women Short
Best Web Series/TV Pilot
Best Web and New Media
Best Mobile Short
Best Drone Short
Best Commercial/Promotional
Best First Time Director
Best Young Filmmaker
Best Director (Male)
Best Director (Female)
Best Student Director
Best Acting Ensemble
Best Acting Duo
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Child/Young Actor
Best Child/Young Actress
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Sound Design
Best Original Score
Best Original Story
Best Special FX
Best Visual FX
Best Trailer/Teaser
