New York Shorts International Film Festival

Now in its 11th year, New York Shorts International Film Festival is the largest short film festival on the East Coast. A non-profit organization that provides a showcase for emerging filmmakers from around the world.

New York Shorts is a qualifying film festival for the Canadian Screen Awards, presented by The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. We are the ONLY short film festival in New York on the Canadian Screen Awards eligible festival list.

The festival has become a career stepping stone, establishing a tradition of discovering and promoting filmmakers who have gone on to become Academy Award® Nominees.

Previous selections have included:

2020 OSCAR® WINNER Live-Action Short Film, "The Neighbors" Window" by Marshall Curry wins New York Shorts 'Best of Fest'

2020 OSCAR® NOMINEE Documentary Short Subject The New York Times Op-Docs "Walk Run Cha-Cha" by Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt

2019 OSCAR® NOMINEE Animated Short "Animal Behaviour" by Alison Snowden and David Fine

2015 OSCAR® NOMINEE "The Dam Keeper" by Robert Kondo, Daisuke Tsutsumi

2013 Student Academy Award® "A World for Raúl" by Mauro Mueller wins New York Shorts Best Drama

2012 OSCAR® NOMINEE & BAFTA Best Short Animation "A Morning Stroll" by Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

2012 World premiere "Derek" by Ricky Gervais wins New York Shorts Best Comedy and became a popular British television show picked up by Netflix.

New York Shorts International Film Festival is one of the largest showcases of short films in North America and an ideal platform for filmmakers to screen their films and gain recognition in New York City.

New York Shorts events include receptions, as well as workshops with industry experts and top filmmaking professionals sharing their practical advice to attending filmmakers.

New York Shorts believes short-form cinema and its creators should have their own premier film festival in New York deserving similar recognition given to the feature films and their creators.

The heart of the festival is the quality and scope of extraordinary film programming to enthusiastic audiences in the vibrant filmmaking enclave of New York City.

Canadian Screen Awards Qualifying

Best of Fest
Best International
Best Drama
Best Comedy
Best Animation
Best Documentary
Best Experimental
Best Sci-Fi
Best Horror
Best Music Video
Best Web Series

*Halyna Hutchins Cinematography Award

Final Draft, the industry-standard in screenwriting is an official sponsor.

Note if any category does not meet the standard deemed award-worthy by the judging committee, it’s possible that there will be no award announced in that category.

2022 Requirements

We prefer films NOT screen in New York City prior to our festival. We factor in previous screenings in New York City when determining our selection.

Films must have been completed after January 1, 2020
Non-English films must have English sub-titles.
Works-in-progress will be considered, provided they will be completed prior to the festival.
You may submit more than one film- but you must complete a separate entry form and pay entry fee for each film.
Film entries will NOT be viewed without entry fee payment

Selection
Film selection for the festival will be made by the screening Committee.
Selected filmmakers are responsible for all shipping fees.
All filmmakers will be notified via email of acceptance.

Overall Rating

Quality

Value

Communication

Hospitality

Networking

Oriana Ng

I had a wonderful time attending NY Shorts IFF. The festival team was wonderful, the events and Q&As compelling, the audiences generous and great to interact with. I was thrilled to have my short screened among such a wide variety of great NY shorts. Thank you!

November 2022

Helpful

Response from festival:

It's such a joy to meet gracious filmmakers. Please consider us for your next New York film premiere.
Pablo Beracochea

Had a great time participating in this festival. As others said below, this was a fun festival, aside from being a great networking opportunity and an honor to have our full "New York Tango" selected. The organizers were friendly and helpful at all times, and they even set-up a hotline for film makers' questions on the run up to the start of it. The festival was mentioned in The NY Times and George RR Martin was a guest. Couldn't have asked for more

November 2022

Helpful

Response from festival:

It was wonderful to have artist like you sharing their work.
Zazie Sales

Absolutely amazing festival! Not only was it an incredible opportunity, but it was also so much fun. The films were incredible, there were a ton of great networking events, and the organizers are just lovely. Thank you again for including "The Reveal."

November 2022

Helpful

Response from festival:

Glad you took advantage of the networking events.
Sarina Film Productions

This was a great festival to go to. It was fantastically organized. We loved the level of professionalism, attention to detail and the organization. There were many networking and learning opportunities which we took advantage of. We hope you like our next film and wish to be at this festival next year. Thank you very much for having us.

November 2022

Helpful

Response from festival:

Thanks for sharing your elegant romantic dance film with us.
Christopher Gleaton

NY Shorts International does a great job of finding great films for their festival and they are in tune with the filmmakers that choose to screen with them. We were originally set to screen digitally but they gave us an opportunity to screen theatrically after some consideration. Thank you for a wonderful memorable experience with NYShorts

November 2022

Helpful

Response from festival:

Terrific film + fabulous creative people. The pleasure was ours.