The Scottish Short Film Festival (SSFF) is to promote and encourage filmmaking in and about Scotland, give credit where it's due and encourage young and upcoming talent in the field.
We wholeheartedly welcome submissions from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, and from filmmakers of any gender, religion or orientation.

Each entry must be 25 minutes or less and have some relation to Scotland - be it Scottish actors, Scottish story, Scottish director, Scottish music etc.

ALL submissions will receive feedback from the judges about their film. We aim to support and encourage filmmaking and know how helpful feedback can be.

Looking forward to receiving your submissions!

The Scottish Short Film Festival is a non-profit and volunteer-led organisation.

Awards & Prizes

Best Film
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Script
Best Sound
Best Music
Best Costume/Make up
Best Editor
Best Cinematography
Best Documentary
Best Animation
Audience Choice Award
Acting Coach Scotland Rising Star Award

Rules & Terms

Terms and Conditions

Normal closing date: 11:59pm on 30th April 2026.
Priority will be given to premieres and films not already publicly available.
All the awards, except Audience Prizes, will be decided in advance by the judges, whose decisions are final.
Audience members vote for the audience prize. You can't vote for yourself.
Maximum length of film : 25 minutes, including titles and credits.

The film must have been completed between 1st Jan 2024 and 30th April 2026, so if it was started in November 2023 and finished in January 2024, this is acceptable. Please note, any false information regarding the film's budget, submitting as a premiere when it is not, or false information regarding the film completion date, may result in disqualification and loss of your entry fee.

We now only accept entries via FilmFreeway.com

It's a Scottish Short Film Competition, so the film must have some relation to Scotland. You can enter as many films as you like.

All those whose films are shown in the film festival will be eligible for one free ticket.

If you don't enter by 30th April 2026, your film will not be shown to the shortlist judges, or watched by ourselves, even if it's the best ever. But you will have a chance to enter it next year.

The judging panel and the audience's decisions are final. If there's a tie for the audience prize, there will be a quick-fire question round on the subject of film or some other method.

Unfortunately your entry fee cannot be refunded if your film is not chosen to be shown during the film festival, but we will offer feedback from the judges.

By submitting your film you assert that you as the film-maker own all rights and permissions to use the music and video footage of places, buildings and persons in your film.

If you have any questions feel free to contact us via email scottishshortfilmfestival@gmail.com
14 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Cameron Strachan

    A really good weekend of films. Quality was exceptional, with a good mix of genres and types of films too. Thank you to SSFF for our Best Actor Nomination and for our screening!

    October 2022
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks Cameron! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for coming along :) Looking forward to more from you in the future.

  • Strath Martin

    I was so pleased to be part of this event. The quality and variety of the films made for an entertaining and thought provoking evening. The venue and organisers were fantastic, on the ball and very welcoming and encouraging.

    October 2022
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks Strath! Much appreciated and glad you enjoyed the night. Great to have you along and all the best with your future film projects!

  • Patrick Rooney

    A great festival to be a part of, championing local Scottish talent on a professionally produced platform. Highly recommend!

    October 2021
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Patrick, your review and rating mean a lot to us! Great to have your film in our programme and looking forward to seeing more from you in the future.

  • Craig Andrew Robertson

    Some of the films were not very good and there were some spelling errors in the marketing, but beyond that a very good job from all involved.

    They managed to sort subtitles for my film when I asked them to

    September 2021
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Many thanks for your rating and review, Craig! All feedback is useful and appreciated. Glad to have you aboard and hope to see more from you in the future.

  • Matthew Thomson

    Fantastic festival, with excellent communication and a superb selection of short films. They did a great job running it online and creating a buzz. Good work.

    September 2021
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks for the rating and review, Matthew! Glad you got the most out of the experience, and it was great to have you onboard. Hope to see you at future events :)