Leuven International Short Film Festival

Leuven International Short Film Festival is the yearly place to be in December for film lovers and professionals in Belgium and abroad. As Academy Award Qualifying festival since 2012, BAFTA recognised since 2016 and European Film Award nominating since 2017, it's the main Belgian gateway to the most renowned award ceremonies worldwide.

The festival will take place from Friday November 24 until Saturday December 2 in the beautiful medieval city of Leuven. The festival programme consists of more than 100 screenings in 4 venues. The whole festival takes place at one location, with screening venues, workshop rooms, festival bar and kitchen only a few metres apart, creating a unique cosy atmosphere.
The programme contains live action fiction films, animated shorts, short films for children, non-narrative shorts , VR and yearly changing thematic compilations. Every year, the festival screens more than 200 short films from all over the world, divided into more than 25 different compilations.
Beside the film programme, the festival organises film concerts, live music, parties, dinners, masterclasses, workshops and panel discussions, giving film professionals from Belgium and abroad inspiring moments of learning and networking possibilities.

_____Why Pay a Fee? Return for filmmakers_____

With our fee at only €9-11, its sole purpose is enabling us to treat your film fairly. Without this fee, we would have too many submissions, and we would not be able to give them all our full attention.

As a festival, we're proud to say our competition is 100% selected from paying submissions. We don't go prospecting for films at other festivals and give every film the same fair chance. We don't look at the festival screening history of the submitted films or the previous works of the directors. Everyone starts with a blank slate, and we only judge the films based on their own merits.
Waivers are only given to filmmakers that were previously selected at the festival.

Directors selected for competition are invited and receive travel and accommodation (depending on the country of origin), as well as an accreditation for the complete festival. Films outside of competition are paid a screening fee, or can request accommodation (places are limited), and an accreditation for the festival.
All selected directors can request fee waivers for next editions of the festival.

The festival's focus on directors makes it a great place to get to know colleagues and present your film to the broad audience present in Leuven.