WHAT MAKES OUR FESTIVAL DIFFERENT?

1. Grand Prize Winner walks away with our £1,000 FILM FUND & free top end camera rental for their next production.

2. Every filmmaker gets FEEDBACK included with the price of submission regardless if their film is selected or not.

3. Our CATEGORIES ARE BASED ON BUDGET so micro-budget shorts don't have to compete with fully funded films.

4. RUN BY FILMMAKERS FOR FILMMAKERS! Our festival jury is comprised exclusively of award-winning filmmakers. We understand filmmakers frustrations with the festival circuit because we’re frustrated too! Rather than just bitch, we decided to do something about it! We started our own festival to give filmmakers the festival experience we wish we had. We believe in authentic inclusivity as we honour great indie shorts and help fund indie talent's future projects.

Kino Short Film has been running since 2009. It is a unique platform that supports all levels of filmmaking, from absolute beginners to career professionals. There are over 1500 filmmakers in our collective, and we pride ourselves on being approachable in an all too often intimidating industry. We are infamous for our unique Short Film Open Mic which gives filmmakers an outlet to screen for free without having to go through a curation process. Additionally we offer a Short of the Week series, workshops & classes, networking opportunities, and short film production support.

GRAND PRIZE: £1000 FILM FUND + our sponsor The Unit Bag is will provide a weekend hire of one of their bespoke camera and lens packages.

Any Official Selection has the opportunity to pitch their next short film to be considered for our £1,000 Film Fund. The winner will be selected by the festival jury and the audience based on the combined factors of their film in competition and their pitch. The festival director will act as Executive Producer on the selected project to help stretch the fund for a micro budget. The winning filmmaker retains all rights to their work.

ADDITIONAL AWARDS:

Best Micro Budget Short
Best Low Budget Short
Best Sponsored Short

Best Director
Best Performance in a Drama
Best Performance in a Comedy
Best Cinematography
Best Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Original Score
Best First Time Filmmaker
Audience Award

PRIZES: All Award Winners will receive Trophy, plus additional special prizes from our sponsors for certain categories.

FESTIVAL RULES & TERMS

• Submissions are open to anyone.
• All film must be 20 minutes or under (including credits).
• All genres accepted.
• No premiere status is required.
• All submissions must include production budget.
• Films depicting real-life illegal or exploitive acts will be rejected.
• All films, not in the English language, are required to have subtitles.
• Films must have completed post-production after January 2020.
• The payment of an entrance fee is required.
• Entry fees are non-refundable.
• By submitting your film to the Kino London Short Film Festival (KLSFF) you confirm you own the rights to distribute and showcase the film.
• KLSFF will not be held responsible for any copyright issues or infringements.
• By submitting your film you acknowledge that KLSFF reserves the right to promote your film on our website and social media.
• The internal jury of KLSFF will select the official selections at their sole discretion.
• The films are judged on the quality of the project as compared to their production budget.
• Entry does not guarantee acceptance into the festival.
• KLSFF does not make your film available online to the public without your consent.
• By submitting to KLSFF you agree to be put on our mailing list.
• KLSFF director has the right to make decisions about matters not provided by these rules.
• Rules and terms and conditions are subject to change at the discretion of KLSFF.
• By submitting you declare that you have understood, and agreed to the rules and terms of KLSFF.

TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR OUR GRAND PRIZE FILM FUND

(a) The Film Fund Winner will present Kino with a list of requests in regards to utilising the Kino Short Film Fund. Kino will, to the best of its ability, fulfil these requests negotiating on behalf of the Film Fund Winner to maximise the potential of the Kino Short Film Fund.

(b) Funding will be provided by Kino in a number of formats, including but not exclusive to, direct payments, instalments, cover for production costs, subsidising of production by Kino London members, etc.

(c) Any remaining funds not utilised for the Production will be kept by Kino.

(d) The Film Fund Winner must present a Project Plan to Kino within three months of being selected. Project Plan should include a story outline and/or script, proposed budget, timeline, list of cast/crew attached to the Production, and distribution plan.

(e) The Film Fund Winner will be expected to complete the film within twelve months of being selected.

(f) The final film must acknowledge Kino in the credits as a funding partner including placement of the Kino London logo.

(g) Festival Director, Dustin Curtis Murphy, must be named as an Executive Producer on the final project.

(h) The Film Fund Winner will retain all the legal rights to their own work, however they will grant Kino the right to screen the final film. The Film Fund Winner will also grant the Kino the right to use all production stills, promotional materials, and the filmmaker’s likeness for marketing purposes.

(i) The Film Fund Winner agrees to present the film at a Kino London event within six
months of completing the film.

(j) The Film Fund Winner agrees to appear in an interview video created by Kino to discuss their experience with the Production.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • FINALLY a film festival by filmmakers for filmmakers! My filmmaker friends and I have been frustrated by so many film festivals and gone "this surely can be done better, right? Shall we-?"...so delighted to say, it Dustin & Co. beat us to it. And nailed it. A proper cinema screening, great scheduling/programming/curating, high calibre of films and super cool for filmmakers to network too. What a festival should be! Definitely going to go only go from strength to strength. <3

    May 2023
  • Jeremiah Quinn

    Superb film festival. I should know as I attended every screening. The quality of the films was very high. It was great to catch up on the latest short films. The cinemas were very charming and photogenic. All the team were organised and did introductions. A warm welcome. Would highly recommend.

    May 2023
  • One of the UK's best shorts festivals. Dustin and the team are great, communicative, and filmmaker-focused. The films are of a high-quality across the board and they were screened at wonderful cinemas around London, with good opportunities to network with other filmmakers and insightful panel discussions. And this year the shorts were also available to stream online, which I found very helpful. I also loved that the Best Short awards are divided into three categories according to budget (Micro, Low, and Sponsored).

    May 2023
  • Tony Hipwell

    A great programme of shorts across a range of memorable venues. A great opportunity to meet talented filmmakers across a broad range of genres. Highly recommended

    May 2023
  • Martin Ngwong

    Dustin and the team put together a fantastic festival. We were honoured to be a part of it - especially with so many events for filmmakers.

    The quality of other films screened were also incredible. Really humbling to be amongst them.

    May 2023