The SHORT Festivalowski is an international short film competition born out of a desire to support the development of comedy filmmaking, promote young filmmakers and the need to bring a smile to the faces of audiences tired of depressing content. The competition is being held in Płock as part of the Positive Art and Soft Content Festival since 2024. The organisers of the competition are the FILMFORUM Association and BiG Festivalowski sp. z o.o.

Comedy looks easy, light and enjoyable only on screen. In reality, it is one of the most difficult film genres to make, which is sometimes wrongly downplayed, underestimated and considered less artistic. Although it is definitely more challenging to evoke tears of laughter than tears of despair in the cinema hall, darkness, tension and suffering are still considered more noble and sublime than comedic timing, accurate jokes and positive energy. The world of cinema rarely sees the value in putting audiences in a good mood. The mission of the SHORT Festivalowski competition is to change this and to give proper prominence to comedy film productions.

The competition, born out of the combined mission and expertise of the FILMFORUM Association and the BiG Festivalowski team, provides a space where young, fresh comedy cinema, which sets new trends and currents in this area of film art, is appreciated, promoted and rewarded. It is a platform for presenting the diversity of comedy short films from all over the world and an opportunity to honour young filmmakers who, regardless of the inconveniences, aim to entertain the audience. The ambition of the organisers is to make the SHORT Festivalowski competition one of the most prestigious reviews of comedy cinema on the festival map of the world.

The films presented as part of the competition are judged by a professional jury, consisting of renowned figures in the comedy industry. The jury awards two financial prizes, the Grand and Small Festivalowski, which go to the makers of the most interesting, professional and entertaining comedy short films of the year.

Awards & Prizes

GRAND Festivalowski – main award for the best comedy short film of the year – financial award for the director of the film, awarded by the Jury.

SMALL Festivalowski – special financial award for the director of the film, awarded by the Jury.

Rules & Terms

Although the BiG Festivalowski puts the emphasis on complete freedom both in theory and practice, with film competitions it is like a bowling game – there are rules. In the case of the SHORT Festivalowski, they are very simple:

1. As the name suggests, the competition is all about short films, so the duration of the film must not exceed 40 minutes.

2. The competition aims to showcase newness, freshness, follow and promote new trends in comedy cinema, so the submitted films must be no older than two years (at the time of submission).

3. And the obvious – the creators of the submitted films cannot be members of the selection committee, jury members or organisers.

Full Rules & Regulations:
https://filmforum.pl/download/short_festivalowski_short_film_competition_regulations.pdf