Oakland Short Film Festival is an event founded by filmmakers for filmmakers.

We aim to create a festival, where independent short films of all genres and countries of origin get the recognition they deserve, where filmmakers can come together and celebrate each other's work, at a fully sold-out cinema, filled with movie fanatics.

Short films have difficulties reaching larger audiences, which is why Oakland Short Film Festival's goal is to showcase the best indie short films of the past years to a large crowd. We aim to show people the high quality of short films, and how they provide a unique film experience, which can be just as rewarding and interesting as watching a feature length film.

If you'd like your film to be one of the screened films, to prove the values of short films, join us in April, 2019 for Oakland Short Film Festival!

Our venue, The New Parkway theater is a community-centered cinema and pub located in Oakland’s Uptown district, a place where you can enjoy great movies with good food and drinks in cozy couches. We believe that a great venue is the first step in creating a truly valuable film festival, it's the best way to reach the right audience and to provide the best possible festival experience for both the filmmakers and the festival-goers.

Awards & Prizes

The festival program will consist of international short films of different genres. All styles, genres and languages are welcome. Our team of judges, who come from filmmaking and film criticism backgrounds, will select the most diverse screening selection.

We will award winners in different categories:

Best Short Film

Best Documentary Short

Best Drama Short

Best Thriller Short

Best Comedy Short

Best Experimental Short

Best Director

Best Writer

Best Cinematographer

Best Student Short Film

Best Student Director

The winners will be announced at the festival, after the screening, and online the next day. The evening will be closed with a networking party.

Rules & Terms

☼ For the purposes of our festival, short films can be max. 40 minutes.

☼ All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles.

☼ All films must have been made in or after 2011.

☼ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

☼ By submitting to us, you give us the right to screen your film in front of a live audience at The New Parkway Theater.

☼ Nominations: All films nominated for every category.
Official Selection: Films selected for screening will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.
Award Winners: Chosen from both the Nominations and the Official Selection.

☼ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

☼ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through our online platforms.

☼ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

☼ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

☼ We cannot provide refunds.

☼ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

☼ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.