Venice Shorts

Welcome to the VENICE SHORTS FEST of California, an IMDb qualifying seasonal and annual festival, dedicated to short filmmaking. It is important to recognize and promote the power of short filmmaking. We are dedicated to short films of all genres and independent artists. Every year in December, we screen the best shorts of the year in our live event in LA with networking events, interviews and various programs for short filmmakers.

Our seasonal festival is a very popular competition which offers promotion and screening to the official selections and nominees of each season. Screening is not mandatory for the various sections of the seasonal competition.

Do not miss our online weekly short film screenings! Do not miss our annual winners on LA Indies magazine. We promote, screen and award international and American short films.

“Venice Beach’s birth in 1905 couldn’t come at a better time for Hollywood. Abbot Kinney’s “Fantasy By The Sea”, was just starting out when the brand-new movie industry came to California for its year-round sun. For the next hundred years, Hollywood’s love affair with Venice would bring entertainment to millions all over the world.”
—Edward Thomas Company

Venice Shorts of California has been selecting, promoting and screening U.S. and international films in the past few years and it has turned into a very popular indie festival. Our judging team consists of experienced filmmakers and artists working in media who themselves have gone through the same path of creating indie shorts.

Venice Shorts aims to discover and recognize indie short films and screenplays of all genres from all over the globe. The festival has also featured some of the most well known names in the film industry together with emerging U.S. and international talents.

The festival alumni includes Oscar winners and nominees such as Gus Vant Sant, Jeremy Irons, Eric Roberts, Ross Kauffman and Jessica Chastain. The festival aims to discover indie film projects but also encourages established names in the industry to take part in creation of short films as producers, directors, actors and writers.

We also promote our award winners through social media to thousands of film industry professional and other artists working in media.

The best of the annual receive a bonus from LA Indies magazine in order to further promote, market and screen the award-winning short film projects. The winners of the annual festival will be screened in LA.