The New York Short Cinema Awards, an IMDb-qualifying event, is a competition and annual screening event dedicated to short films, independent filmmaking, and arthouse cinema.

Our mission is to elevate the voices of short filmmakers, ensuring their distinctive contributions to the film industry are recognized and appreciated by audiences and industry professionals.

We aim to discover and honor artists who create short films each season, and annually, we present films from across the world in genres such as fiction, documentary, animation, experimental, sci-fi, and comedy.

We are deeply passionate about short films and have proudly featured an impressive and diverse array of short films at our annual live events at the Producers Club theatre in recent years.

Awards & Prizes

Best Narrative Film
Best Documentary Film
Best Indie Film
Best Student Film
Best Animation Film
Best Music Video
Best Experimental Film
Best Web-Series-Pilot
Best Comedy
Best Director
Best Script
Best First time filmmaker
Best Cinematography
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Producer

Rules & Terms

Short Films must not exceed 40 minutes.
Projects must have been completed in the past three years.
International and American films are eligible for competition and live screening events.
New York premiere is not required for our live screening events at the Producers Club.
Entry fees are not refundable.
The films must have English subtitles if the original language is not English.

6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Jack Teague

    It was a true pleasure and honor for my short script "Tetch" to receive New York Short Cinema Awards Nomination. This very welcome recognition affirmed the universality of themes within the story rising above their colloquial couch.

    April 2026
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  • Damir Susa

    as Frank Sinatra would say in the song "I want to be a part of it, New York, New York..."

    April 2026
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  • Andrew James Bleidner

    Wonderful festival great communication can’t wait for next year Andrew James Bleidner writer of The Boy and the Dog/Sparrow

    April 2026
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  • Kit Wilson

    Outstanding experience with seasoned professionals.

    April 2026
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  • Xavier Hautbois

    We are honoured and very happy that our animated film TombeauX, which focuses on the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and features electroacoustic music by Pierre Albert Castanet, has been awarded Best Experimental Film at your festival!

    November 2025
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