Call for Entries will open starting October 1, 2024, until January 31, 2025 - please check details below.

The 41th Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg (Hamburg Shortfilm Festival) along with the section Junges Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese (Hamburg Young Shortfilm Festival Mo&Friese) for young audiences will take place from June 3 to June 8, 2025.

The German and International competitions present a selection of films in composed programmes which reflect contemporary questions and aesthetics in the mirror of the present. The Triple Axel Competition with its annual changing topic challenges filmmakers to take full advantage of the three minutes max. The competitions of Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg function as seismographs for societally relevant questions and therefore allow brief glimpses into the future. Young new talents encounter well known artists. Contemporary cinema at eye level – international and national. Films shown in the competitions, were produced outside the framework of commercial exploitation strategies, thus offering an unobstructed look at questions, relationships, conditions, and moments.

The Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg awards prizes worth a total of 15.500 €. The Jury of the International Competition nominates one European film for the European Film Awards. e.V.

Our section "Mo&Friese" is one of the very few film festivals for a young audience that is exclusively dedicated to short film. Including all types of short films, we present nine programmes with three different competitions aiming at children and youth age 4 to 18 and an international industry. Mo&Friese awards prizes worth a total of 3000 €. In addition, an international Jury (containing of ECFA members) is choosing a shortfilm for the ECFA Shortfilm-Award.

The festival is organized by the association Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg e.V.

Please check our Rules & Terms before submitting.
Only short films up to a maximum length of 30 minutes (except for The Triple Axel Competition with up to a maximum length of 3 minutes) and not older than two years (January 2023) are accepted.

Awards & Prizes

Hamburg Short Film Award (3,000 €)

Deframed Award (2,000 €), for a film which reflects reality in a poetic, formal and analytic way while ignoring all rules in a pioneering spirit.

The Jury of the International Competition nominates one european film for the European Film Awards.

The audience awards the Audience Award (1,500 €) for the best film from the International or German Competition.

The competition spanning ARTE Short Film Award consists of the purchase of one film (up to 6000 Euros) and its subsequent screening in the Kurzschluss programme by ARTE, the Franco-German cultural TV channel.

The festival is a qualifying festival for the British BAFTA Awards as well as the BIFA (British Independent Film Awards).

Mo&Friese Awards:

Friese-Award for the Best Short Film for Children 4+ / 6+ (1,000 €)

Mo-Award for the Best Short Film for Children 9+ / 12+ (1,000 €)

Neon-Award for the Best Short Film for Young People 14+ / 16+ (1,000 €)

In addition, an international Jury (containing of ECFA members) is choosing a shortfilm for the ECFA Shortfilm-Award.

All prizes of Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg including Mo&Friese will be awarded to the director/s of the film.

Rules & Terms

SUBMISSION
Films from all genres, countries and formats can be submitted for application. Only short films up to a maximum length of 30 minutes (except for The Triple Axel Competition) and with a production date not older than January 2023 are accepted. The festival reserves the right to programme films longer than 30 min in exceptional cases. The deadline for the submissions is January 31 2025. For the submission of a film from October 1 2024 to October 31 2024 7€ (incl. legal value added tax) will be charged as submission fee. Submissions from November 1 2024 to January 31 2025 will be charged 10 € (incl. legal value added tax). The Triple Axel Competition is excluded from the fee. Please use a separate entry form for each film submitted and provide the requested material. All sections of the form must be filled in through Shortfilmdepot or FilmFreeway until January 31 2025. Each short film must be entered for one of the competitions named above. If the film is suitable for the youth section Mo&Friese we kindly ask to submit it only there. The selection committees reserve the right to assign it to another competition or special program including Mo&Friese and vice versa. The festival reserves the right to rule on any cases not provided for in these guidelines individually.
 
RIGHTS
The person or institution submitting the film is responsible for clearing all rights to the content of the work relevant to the films use by the Festival. By submitting, they state that they are authorized representatives thereof, i. e. that screening or other use of the film by the Festival does not infringe rights held by third parties (e. g. copyrights, personality or trademark rights), and that especially the rights to any material produced by others (music, film footage, photographs, text etc.) used in the film have been cleared. They furthermore shall indemnify the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg against all third-party claims in connection with screening/using the film in the course of the Festival. This includes covering any legal costs that might be incurred.

PREVIEW COPY
Films can be submitted via the online submission platform https://www.shortfilmdepot.com/ and https://filmfreeway.com/ only. For questions regarding submissions, especially in the case of film schools and distributors please contact submission@shortfilm.com. If your films language isn’t English, please make sure it has hardcoded English subtitles. Preview files will remain in the archive of the Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg e.V. for internal use only.

NOTIFICATION
The directors of submitted films that are accepted will be notified via e-mail in the midst of April 2025. There will be a list of accepted films on our website http://www.shortfilm.com and https://moundfriese.shortfilm.com/en/ at the beginning of May. We will also notify those who have not been selected around the beginning of May.

SCREENING COPIES
Accepted formats: DCPs and digital film files (mp4, mov, prores). If the original version is in a language other than English, the film needs to be subtitled in English. This also applies for the short films selected for the German Competition. Should there be any problems with your screening copy we reserve the right to use your preview copy as backup. In the case of a selection, the submitted film may be shown several times (repetitions during the festival period). Should the film win a prize at Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, it will be shown as part of best-of programs following the festival. Selected films will be made available in the Online Video Library with worldwide access during the festival week for registered accredited film professionals. If we decide to screen films in an online environment, the primary contacts of the films will always be asked for permission after presenting them the conditions of the screening. The Artistic Director of the festival reserves the right to rule on any cases not provided for in these guidelines individually.

PRESS AND PROMOTION MATERIALS
With the submission of the film, the festival is permitted to use the film title, credits, distribution contact and the name of the director as well as film stills and film excerpts (max. 60 seconds) for general editorial reporting and promotion within the framework of the festival (incl. TV, web, cinema, showreel). The images will also be used for the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg available print products (festival publications) and online media (websites, apps, social media channels) where they will remain available without any time or territorial restrictions. The festival also reserves the right to make a password-protected copy of the film accessible to representatives of the press or selected industry professionals.

PRIVACY STATEMENT
We take the protection and security of personal information very serious. With the submission, the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg is permitted to use the data provided for the purpose of processing the festival and its archives. This consent is the legal basis for the data processing (according to the EU General Data Protection Regulation—GDPR). For the full statement please see https://festival.shortfilm.com/en/data-privacy
12 Reviews
Overall Rating
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Value
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  • Edon Rizvanolli

    What a great, down-to-earth festival with a relaxed, easy-going atmosphere! It was a real pleasure to screen our film, I Believe the Portrait Saved Me, here. Being nominated for the European Film Awards' Best Short Film was the icing on the cake.
    It's definitely worth visiting, whether you're a filmmaker or a film lover.

    June 2025
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  • Sabine von Bassewitz

    What shall I say - it was great! I saw s many great and well selected movies - such as wide range from very funny to very serious! And so many so amazingly good, every piece in it's own special way!
    I met so many creative people round there and the hospitality was great! Love and thanks!!

    June 2025
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  • Che ming Chang

    The Best film festival ever !

    There are multiple events for filmmakers to catch up with each other and the theater for screening is absolutely nice .
    And there are a lot of audience go to watch films .

    It's a Must to submit to this film festival !

    July 2024
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  • Joey Arand

    My co-director Alma and I had a great time at the Hamburg Short Film Festival. The team is great, the atmosphere is wonderful, all three screenings were fully booked and the presenters were excellent. We enjoyed the talks and workshops and the film programme. We met nice people at the parties and networking events and had a lot of fun dancing.

    We can definitely recommend the festival!

    June 2024
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  • Ilir Hasanaj

    What a pleasure to have shown Workers' Wings at this great festival. Such a passionate and kind team behind Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg. This festival is a must go.

    June 2024
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