Almost Famous is an international distribution pitching forum for upcoming short films, of any genre, up to 30 minutes, made in partnership with Lights On distribution company.

Almost Famous is one of the 4 pitching sessions of ShorTO Film Market, the industry event dedicated to the short film ecosystem, organized by the Italian Short Film Center from 2016.

Awards & Prizes

Lights On, Award partner of the pitching session, is a world sales company of quality cinema based in Italy.

Lights On will award one of the selected projects with a two-year distribution contract.
The awarded project will be chosen at the sole discretion of Lights On.

Lights On manages the international distribution of a film catalog focused on major festival circuits. Since 2019, the agency has handled short films such as Pham Thien An’s Stay Awake, Be Ready (Illy Award, Cannes), Shuli Huang’s Will You Look At Me (Queer Palm, Cannes; Jury Award, Sundance), and Serhat Karaaslan’s The Criminals (Sundance). Its selections also include titles premiered at Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, and Toronto.

In feature film distribution, the company represented Lois Patiño’s Red Moon Tide and Sebastian Mihăilescu’s Mammalia at the Berlinale, and Guto Parente’s A Strange Path, which won Best International Narrative Feature at Tribeca 2023. At the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, Lights On distributed Lucy Kerr’s Family Portrait (Golden Boccalino for Best Director) and Nelson Yeo’s Dreaming & Dying, which received the Pardo d’oro for Best Feature Film in the Cineasti del Presente competition and the Swatch First Feature Award.

Rules & Terms

Almost Famous is an international distribution pitching forum for upcoming short films, of any genre, up to 30 minutes. Selected participants will have five minutes to pitch their project to an audience of film professionals. The pitch should include the screening of a 2-minute film excerpt. Short films at the last phase of postproduction, with a rough cut or finished and unreleased, without a distribution deal, are eligible to participate.

Following the pitch session, participants will attend a series of one-to-one meetings with industry professionals scheduled by the ShorTO team.

Almost Famous is dedicated to the following categories of applicants: single directors or creative teams composed of a producer and a director, from any country of the world, looking for distribution.

Eligible applicants are:
- Directors
- Creative Teams of Director and Author
- Producers
- Production Companies

DATE AND PLACE
Almost Famous pitches and one-to-ones will take place in Torino, Italy, during ShorTO Film Market 2026, from Saturday November 29th to Monday November 30th 2026.
The selection involves taking part in an online pitching training in November, before the market.

REQUIRED MATERIALS
Short film images, up to 3 stills (Maximum file size: 5 MB, allowed extensions: jpg or png.)
Short film link (rough cut or finished) & password (if required)
Link to the previous director’s film (when available)
Current state of your project (max. 350 characters)
Delivery date of the final version (if the short film is not complete)

The Film Dossier MUST contain: (Maximum file size: 5 MB, allowed file type: pdf)

Synopsis (max. 350 characters)
Full credits
Note of intent (max. 1 page)
A written description of the target countries you wish to engage for collaborations
Director’s bio and filmography
Producer/production company bio and filmography
Short bios/profiles of relevant team members (actors, DOP, editor, etc.)
Festivals’ submissions done (if any)

The note of intent is the creative vision for the project, the author's personal insight, the source(s) of inspiration, and the meaning of the film.
ShorTO selection panel retains sole discretion to accept or reject any project submissions that are deemed incomplete or lacking required materials.

Upload the dossier in 'Files & Attachments'.

DEADLINES & FEES
The call opens on Wednesday, June 10th, 2026.
Regular deadline: Tuesday, August 25th, 2026, at 23:59 CEST. Fee/Regular: € 40,00.
Late deadline: Monday, October 5th, 2026 at 23:59 CEST. Fee/Regular: € 55,00.
The fee is payable at the end of the submission process via PayPal only.

NOTIFICATION & GRANTS
Applicants will receive a selection or rejection notice via email by the end of October 2026.
All participants are required to travel to Torino to attend the on-site Almost Famous pitch.
ShorTO will provide accommodation for 2 nights and a free accreditation to the market event to a single representative for each selected project.
In case of selection, participation in the online pitching training and the on-site market event in November is mandatory.
All selected participants will be offered to attend a consulting session on the distribution of their film with Lights On.

LIGTHS ON AWARD
Lights On will award one of the selected projects with a two-year distribution contract. The awarded project will be chosen at the sole discretion of Lights On.

AI DISCLAIMER
Any visual or written content generated with the support of AI must be clearly labelled to indicate that it was generated by an AI system rather than a human.

CONTACT
For any further information, please contact info@centrodelcorto.it.