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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. Some selected monthly award-winning projects are offered a proposal to worldwide distribution on digital platforms.

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.

Awards & Prizes

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 on 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.

Some selected award-winning projects are offered a proposal to worldwide distribution on digital platforms.

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 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

Rules & Terms

The films must include English subtitles (unless the spoken language is English).

By submitting your film, you agree that:
1. Independent Shorts Awards can use parts of your film (including trailer/teaser/film poster) for promotional purpose.
2. Entry fees are non-refundable.
3. You own all the rights to the film.

Independent Shorts Awards does not accept the following:

1. Extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organizations.
2. Films which are made before 2000.
3. Films with a poor production standard (bad sound, lack of subtitles/captions for non-English films, or video resolution less than 720p HD).

All genres are accepted with a maximum length of 30 minutes.
For student fees, it is mandatory the student status evidence (e.g copy of student card included in the project).

Independent Shorts Awards 2018 © All Rights Reserved
141 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Vincenzo De Sio

    A very special thanks to the Jury, we are Proud and Honored for the Awards! Very powerful Festival, great social media and email communication. The Staff is always kind and helpful! ISA are a very special occasion for filmmakers from all over the world! Grazie!

    August 2018
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  • Ty Cooper

    I am honored that our short film, Mingle was selected and recognized. When I made changes to the film such as remastering rhe audio they were patient and supported my due diligence to provide the best version of my film. They responded quickly. Even now, I have a question about being awarded and I do expect to hear from them quickly. A-Class programmers and staff there. I would like to meet them in person.

    August 2018
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  • Julie Stackhouse

    Thank you IFA! Our film, It’s Not My Fault, received a nomination for best film, and was awarded both platinum (best actress) and silver (best drama short, best indie short) awards and we can not be more thrilled!!! Your team was fantastic with communication and champions the promotion for films across the board. Thank you again for your time, consideration for ‘It’s Not My Fault.’ We hope to be present for the annual awards!

    August 2018
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  • Frazer Lee

    Great communication and diverse programming, this online festival is highly recommended to filmmakers looking to raise the profile of their films projects.

    August 2018
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  • Victoria Bell

    Thank you so much!!! I'm so grateful for your support and hard work!
    Great Festival!!

    August 2018
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