Sheffield Short Film Festival

Rules & Eligibility

1. Entries must be no more than 20 minutes in duration including title sequences and credits. However, the festival organisers reserve the right to curate any film of any length.

2. Films must be the original work of the entrants and must have been produced after 1st January 2020.

3. Sheffield Short Film Festival does not have a premiere policy for documentaries. For fiction films, Sheffield premiere status is essential, however, preference will be given to those films with a Yorkshire premiere status.

4. Sheffield Short Film Festival accepts all genres.

5. Sheffield Short Film Festival does not accept music videos or films that promote a product or company.

6. It is a legal requirement for entrants to have obtained clearance for all copyrighted music and other copyrighted material used in their film’s entry. Filmmakers are responsible for ensuring this has been done and evidence may be requested by the festival organisers in support of this requirement.

7. It is the responsibility of each entrant to have obtained the proper permission from all those people actively appearing in their film. This is usually done by way of a release form.

8. All films not in the English language must have English subtitles that are embedded in the film.

9. Sheffield Short Film Festival only accepts electronic submissions completed online through FilmFreeway.

10. To be considered for the 2022 competition, entries must be received by the final deadline as stipulated on FilmFreeway.

11. Your status on FilmFreeway will acknowledge the receipt of your submission.

12. Filmmakers whose work has been selected will receive notification by the stipulated FilmFreeway notification date.

13. Sheffield Short Film Festival may need to alter deadlines and notification dates and reserves the right to do so for any reason.

14. Sheffield Short Film Festival reserve the right to have absolute discretion over all decisions regarding entry and status of films into the festival at any time and for any reason.

15. The decision of the judges is final. Unfortunately, we cannot enter into individual discussion regarding those decisions and are unable to provide individual feedback.

16. The entry of a film is the entrant’s responsibility. The submission fees are decided by the festival and, unfortunately, we cannot reimburse submission fees for any reason.

17. Sheffield Short Film Festival and associated parties cannot accept any responsibility for any misuse of intellectual property rights.

19. Sheffield Short Film Festival has the right to use images and a maximum of 90 seconds from selected films for promotional or festival screenings or on the Sheffield Short Film Festival website, for press and/or media purposes.

19. Sheffield Short Film Festival will always seek permission from filmmakers if we wish to use any film for any other purpose related to Sheffield Short Film Festival or subsequent promotion or events.