Our Live screening Event last May 6th & 7th was amazing!! 🌟 🎥 Check some of our pics above!!📸

The city of Venezia is well known for its loving relationship with cinema. The independent and artistic filmmakers scene has taken place, for years, in LA CASA DEL CINEMA.

Venezia shorts has rapidly turned into a favorite between independent filmmakers. This festival, in a few years, has become part of the 50 most popular, and the 100 best reviewed worldwide and IMDb qualifying.

We are committed to screen the complete official selection of films at our live event, where filmmakers and guests will participate of the Q&A’s and panels, enhancing the opportunity for networking with directors, cast, crew and people from the industry. An amazing opportunity to submerge yourself in other visual artists' works! During the year, we will award the best films with cash prizes for a total of USD 5000 🏆

ALL TECHNICAL AND PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES FOR FREE BY SUBMITTING YOUR FILM IN ANY COMPETITION.🎬

Some of our recent winners include a new wave of amazing uprising directors as Andoni Betbeder, Ivan Maria Friedman, Sylvain Begert, Nicolaj Kopernikus, Jesse Boyle, Asta Wellejus, Teddy Kristiansen, Marios Papageorgiou, Gilles Bovon, Eléna Weiß and so many more! These new talented Italian directors: Letizia Borficchia, Andrea Walts, Francesco Massimiliano Gozzo, Frank Dell'Oro. And Student Academy Awards Winners: Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma from USA, Pascal Schelbli from Germany, Maren Klakegg from Norway, Percival Argüero Mendoza from Mexico and German Golub from Estonia.

Furthermore, the festival will select a number of films as semifinalists. All semifinalist projects will be invited to our Virtual Screening Event, where they will be awarded semifinalist laurels.
After the online event, we will choose the best film of the Online Event which will receive a USD 1000 cash prize.

All the Winners will receive the Official Laurels and the winning-category achievement certificate after the Live Event. Jury will choose from the Official Selection a film that will receive the JURY'S DISTINCTION AWARD with a cash prize of USD 3000.🏆

All OFFICIAL SELECTION films will be screened at our public Live Event.📽

Awards & Prizes

JURY

To keep the Awards fair and transparent, we invite independent judges from all around the world who enjoy the experience and assess each category.

Each short film will be reviewed at least for three judges after the film is scored by our screening team. Our judges team includes artists from the United States, Canada, Austria, Spain, Argentina and Sweden.

You can submit your film in any of the Main Competitions and automatically your film will be considered for all Technical & Performances Categories with no extra cost. You don't need to pay any additional category fee.

Our event will hold 10 COMPETITIONS by movie genre.
We proudly announce our MAIN COMPETITIONS:
* NARRATIVE SHORTS COMPETITION
* FOREIGN SHORTS COMPETITION
* DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
* ANIMATION SHORTS COMPETITION
* NEWFILMMAKERS SHORTS COMPETITION
* EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS COMPETITION
* STUDENT SHORTS COMPETITION
* HORROR SHORTS COMPETITION
* MUSIC VIDEOS COMPETITION
* COMEDY SHORTS COMPETITION

TECHNICAL AND PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES
These categories are all complimentary.
When you enter a MAIN COMPETITION, your film is automatically considered in all Technical and Performance Categories. Simply check all of the free categories you want to be considered and enter the names of the artists in the Custom Form.
Best Producer
Best Female Director
Best Male Director
Best Female Student Director
Best Male Student Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Acting Ensemble
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Production Design
Best Sound Design
Best Original Score
Best Screenwriting

Rules & Terms

* In order to submit a film, you must own the rights or have permission from the owner.
* The VENEZIA SHORTS relationship will exclusively be related to the film submitter.
Any Foreign film that is not in English must have English subtitles.
* All fees are non-refundable.
* VENEZIA SHORTS will not be responsible for damaged copies.
* A downloadable high definition link (.mov or .mp4) of the film is required in case the movie is selected to be screened.
* Students must present a valid Student ID in order to receive our student discount.
* Not all the submissions are selected for the official competition. Our Judges are free to make their own choices and no feedback will be given about not selected films.
* VENEZIA SHORTS can consider any film to be disqualified if the festival considers the content inappropriate. If you have any question regarding this decision you might contact us at our email address
* A fee is required for all the Main Competitions. For payment structure visit FilmFreeway website
* All Technical & Performances Categories are free of charge and are included by submitting your film in any Main Competition. For payment structure visit FilmFreeway website
* The applicants (submitters) must accept VENEZIA SHORTS Rules and Terms.
* Filmmakers are requested to add the name of the person and the category. When you submit your movie in a Main Competition, you can choose your film to be considered in any Technical & Performance Categories you want. Please tick all free categories you want to be considered and add the names of the artists in the Custom Form.
* By submitting your movie, you authorize VENEZIA SHORTS to use, distribute and share the film poster, trailer, synopsis and movie stills in our social media.
* Maximum length allowed is 40 minutes.
* We do not require premiere status.

73 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Maureen Payne-Hahner

    Venezia Shorts Italy very carefully curates all selected material for both virtual and in person screenings. The quality of selected material is very high; thus, celebrate being a part of their festival planning! Highly recommended.

    June 2023
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  • La Fémis

    Great communication, great hospitality, thank you so much for hosting the Midwife !

    June 2023
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  • Zornitsa Dimitrova

    Wonderful Festival! Thank you for having us, for your kindness and for the organisation! We had such a lovely time!

    May 2023
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  • Wesley Howard

    Awesome festival! Thanks for having us!

    May 2023
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  • Ryan Espinosa

    This was my first selection from a festival for my debut short, How it Goes. The festival was extremely responsive. While the virtual vs. live event feels like a confusing format and more of a marketing strategy (more selections = more eyes on their brand) the selections are all top notch and it was an honor to have our film screened among such incredible works. Many of the films we screened alongside had been given official selections to some of the largest and most revered festivals in the world (Cannes, TIFF, Sundance etc.) - so the quality is of the highest and an accreditation to the programming teams superior taste.

    Being a Semi-Finalist was a great honor and as I was only apart of the virtual screening I can't speak to the networking/hospitality aspects of the live event, however I'm sure it was splendid.

    All in all I'd give it 4 stars!

    June 2023
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