Mutoscope is home to the boldest, weirdest, most powerful, most surprising and most innovative shorts !
This is what we like to see on the screen and this is what we wish to promote and show to our audience !
So if you think your film has this little something that makes it different, wether it is its message, its story or its shape ; wether it is a disturbing love story, an intimate poem, an experimental essay or a gory horror flick ; wether it is live or animation.
We want to be surprised, we want to be moved in one way or another, and we want to arouse our audience' intelect, curiosity and senses.

Mutoscope awards three prizes.
One is awarded by the audience for both "Turfu" and general competition,
one is awarded by a jury for the general competition,
one is awarded by a student jury for the "Turfu" program.

Prizes are honorary.

1 - GENERAL ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

The competition is open to films from all over the world, produced in 2024 or 2025 and under 45 minutes in length.

Any short that is strange, bold, fantastic, magical, trash, weird, disturbing, dirty-funny, innovative, provocative, tongue-in-cheek, daring, experimental, gory, scary, abstract or gloomy... is admitted. In one word any short that is able to arouse the viewer's intellect, senses and curiosity.
We do not want to narrow the selection, and we let you be the judge of wether your film has this little something that makes it different.

The selection committee is not due to justify its choices.

The festival does not pay any screening fee for shorts in competition.

2 - FILMS SUBMISSION

Films submission deadline : August, 1st (regular) or August 16th (late).

Films are to be submitted through filmfreeway.com.

The spoken language has to be English or French, or there must be English or French subtitles.

Participation implies the unreserved acceptance of this regulation.

The screening of a selected film can not be canceled by the entrant.

3 - COMPETITIONS

The festival has two competitions : the general competition (six programs) and the "Turfu" competition (one program).
The films entering the general competition are selected by the selection committee.
The films entering the "Turfu" competition are selected by a cinema students class, under the supervision of the selection committee.

One film can not be present in both competition. If it was to be selected in both cases, the general selection would have priority.

The submission of a film implies it can be selected in any of the competition, unless the festival is notified otherwise.

Details can be asked by contacting the festival.

4 - SELECTED FILMS

Results will be announced on October, 15th, 2025.

5 - AWARDED FILMS SCREENING

A screening of the awarded films and the audience favourites will be planned a few days after the end of the festival. Jury Prize, Audience Prize and Audience "Turfu" Prize will be shown, as well as the films that will receive the next highest scores at the audience vote.

For this screening, the festival will pay 50€ for each awarded film.
The films with the next best scores at the audience vote will not be paid a screening fee.

If the rights holder of a film does not agree with this screening or the terms of this screening, he shall discuss the matter with the festival before the beginning of the event.

6 - DIRECTORS ATTENDANCE

Travel costs and accommodation of the participants will not be covered by the festival. However, the selected shorts' directors will enjoy a pass for every screening during the festival, if they are attending.
If they plan to attend, the directors are invited to get in touch with the festival as soon as possible, so that we can help them with their trip and their stay.

7 - COPYRIGHT AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

The director, the producer or the person in charge commit themselves to owning the music rights, the film rights and the text rights of the works appearing in the selected film. Otherwise, the festival's liability could not be upheld.

Any dispute concerning this regulation and its interpretation should be held before Lyon Tribunal de Grande Instance.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Lotti Bauer

    Unfortunately I couldn't be there in person.
    Thematically a unique festival. Very good communication.
    It was nice that my film Final Whistle was there.

    January 2025
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you !
    We were glad to have your strange film illustrating another aspect of strangeness in our strange festival !

  • A superb genre festival! Great communication and audience response. We had two clients screen in the 2024 edition: Lady In The Lake and This Bitter Earth.

    March 2024
  • Eric Falardeau

    Amazing team! Amazing fest! Highly recommended.

    November 2021