Since 2015, the Toronto Short Film Festival has showcased hundreds of short filmmakers to sold-out Toronto cinema audiences. We'll be back at the Paradise cinema in 2025 for another amazing festival.

The festival is a hub for local filmmakers to celebrate their premieres, thank their cast and crew, and meet their fans. International filmmakers travel to Toronto to represent their films to a genre-savvy Toronto audience, and film fans of all kinds pack into sold-out screenings to enjoy the very best of short form.

Toronto Short screens over 100 short films every year, making it the biggest short festival in Toronto, and every film is selected from FilmFreeway submissions.

Toronto Short alumni have gone on to enjoy frequent screenings on the wider festival circuit, garnered numerous awards for their work, and gone on to bigger projects with collaborators found at the the festival.

Join us for Toronto Short's 11th year!

Awards & Prizes

Awards are given in the following categories:
Best Drama Short
Best Comedy Short
Best Experimental Short
Best Documentary Short
Best LGBT Short
Best Horror Short
Best Sci-Fi Short
Best Short Short
Best Animated Short
Best Music Video

Rules & Terms

The Toronto Short Film Festival is open to short films from any country which are under 50 minutes in length.

67 Reviews
Overall Rating
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Value
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Networking
  • Leslie-Ann Coles

    Great Toronto festival. I was delighted to have a full house. Steve is a great host, he contextualized the art of shorts during his opening remarks. It’s a festival led by passion. A terrific theatre too!!

    April 2024
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  • ravi steve

    This fest chooses a wide range of films in all genres. What I LOVED about the programming is that you get an assortment of styles and themes instead of packs of films that focus on a single idea. It's a small detail, but it seemed to keep the audience fresh for each film. On top of this it hosts at a fantastic venue in downtown Toronto. Worth the submission!

    March 2024
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  • Sydney Emrys

    Absolutely a wonderful experience!
    Starting the evening off with your film’s poster playing out front was just surreal. Then walking inside to the TSFF banner gave it some glamor. To then enter the theater with its grand screen and comfy seats made the viewing even more magical. After the event they had a partnership with a local tavern so you had a place to converse since there isn’t really a spot inside.
    First time filmmakers feel so welcomed and a great debut place for your film. Everyone was supportive and encouraging.

    March 2024
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  • Jennifer Sidoriak

    Such a well-organized festival and our team was so thrilled to be a part of it. Dream come true to have our short screened in our own city and get to celebrate it with friends, family and other filmmakers.

    March 2024
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  • Mazdak Taebi

    Amazing festival. Well-organized and friendly. Thank you for screening my film "Room 57". We received the Best Drama award. What a great honor! Thank you again.

    March 2024
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