MISSION & OBJECTIVE
Seattle Shorts is an annual film festival featuring the artistry of independent film making through inspiring and finding extraordinary films. Our goal is to bring Seattle film lovers the very best of short films from around the globe.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Seattle audiences love shorts, really Seattle people love to get out of the rain and into see movies of all kinds. Your film will be "seen" if chosen to screen in our festival. Seattle Shorts is always sold out weeks in advance.

Your film will be watched and taken under careful consideration. In many cases films are watched by several people and if your film makes it to the final programming phase it will be watched by a screening committee.

We're moving to a larger theater, and a new month to continue growing the festival for filmmakers. The 7th annual is being held at the SIFF Uptown - http://www.siff.net, right in the heart of Seattle - September 9th and 10th, 2017.

We expect another sold out festival. We welcome and encourage filmmakers to attend the festival and would for sure do a Q&A with you. We will provide accommodations for you and for sure transportation to and from the airport. You will be wholeheartedly welcomed.

The beautiful MarQueen & Mediterranean Inn located in the Queen Anne neighborhood just blocks away from the Seattle Center are the official Hotel sponsors for all visiting filmmakers.

The Seattle Shorts Film Festival showcases narrative short films of less than 30 minutes in length. We're also excited to expand our programming line-up by announcing our newest category music videos. All music videos must be in-between the length of 2 to 8 minutes.

Send us your film!!!!!

Thank you,
Daniel Hoyos
Festival Director

We have an all-star jury for 2017 who will vote for the following awards:
Grand Jury Prize
Best Actor
Best New Talent
Best Cinematography
Best Director
Best College Student Short
Best Documentary
Best Animation
Best Music Video

Audience Choice Awards for Best Film in each screening block.

Jury includes:

Allie Grant (Actress "Showtime's" Weeds, "ABC's" Suburgatory)
Nikki Hahn (Actress "Disney Channel's," Adventures in Babysitting)
Elgin James (Director "Little Birds, " starring Juno Temple & Kay Panabaker)
Megan Leonard (Features & shorts programmer for Seattle International Film Festival)
​Alexis Korycinski (Director "The Haircut,” starring Bailey Noble & Molly Quinn)
Special jury member for the music video program - Joel P. West (Composer, Songwriter, Short Term 12)

GENERAL RULES
RULES AND REGULATIONS

1. Films must not exceed 30 minutes in length, or less than 3 minutes including credits.
2. All non-English language films must have English subtitles or no dialogue.
3. A separate entry fee is required for each submission.
4. Submissions may NOT be withdrawn from the Festival once they have been entered, except at the sole discretion of the Festival.
5. All selected films may be excerpted (up to 2 minutes) for publicity purposes.
6. After selection, notification letters will be sent electronically: all acceptance letters will be accompanied by a telephone call: please provide an email address, and telephone number.
7. Do not send DVDs via special delivery such as Fed Ex. Only regular U.S. mail please.
8. Projects MUST be completed after January 1st, 2015
9. Filmmaker MUST have proper license to all copyrighted music, video, and images projected in their short film.
10. All accepted films will be screened digitally via ProRes Quicktime at SIFF Film Center. Please note we do not screen off DVD/Blu-Ray.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • They screened our films in a great movie theater with excellent picture quality and great sound, though we weren't required to submit a DCP (so we got the best of both worlds from a filmmaker's perspective). The fest made the filmmakers feel very welcome, and the team answered all my questions promptly. I also really enjoyed the films that played in my block.

    January 2017
  • Excellent venue, a little rushed but overall the environment was fun, met a lot of great filmmakers and got to see a lot of great shorts.

    November 2016
  • Lauren Ciaravalli

    I had a wonderful time at Seattle Short Film Festival. The festival was a perfection combination of friendly, intimate and high-quality. We were so proud to be in the Women in Film block and really enjoyed all the films we saw last weekend.

    Filmmakers were given a gift bag with many welcoming treats and guides to Seattle. I also have to say the LYFT credit they gave filmmakers was especially helpful and considerate. What a great idea and powerful use of sponsorship! All of this really made me as a filmmaker feel valued and welcomed.

    Finally, at the party, I had the pleasure of meeting other filmmakers and Film Festival Programmers. Overall and excellent festival!

    November 2016
  • Bita Shafipour

    One of the best short film festivals we have had the honor to attend. Highly professional and friendly. They look after the films and the filmmakers with much dignity and care.

    November 2016