The CISHORTFF-2024 is a film festival that celebrates the diversity of cultures and the power of cinema to connect people from all over the world. We believe that cinema is a magical instrument that speaks a universal language, allowing us to observe and witness the greatness of our humanity. We invite filmmakers of all genres to submit their films to our festival and share their compelling tales with the world.

Our festival offers exclusive and effective networking events for filmmakers, including digital and live networking events, seminars, panels, and master classes. We also provide an immersive experience for our fans, who are passionate about cinema and its ability to investigate societal concerns while stimulating lively debate.

Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your work and connect with other filmmakers from around the world. Submit your film to the CISHORTFF-2024 today!

The following awards will be presented during the 3rd Calcutta International Short Film Festival:
1. Best Film – Short Animation
2. Best Film – Short Live-Action
3. Best Film – Short Experimental
4. Best Film – Short Documentary
5. Best Director – Short Live-Action
6. Best Director – Short Documentary
7. Best Actor
8. Best Editor
9. Best Cinematography

THE RULES:
1. All films submitted must have been produced on or after September 1, 2023, and must satisfy the following selection criteria:
2. CISHORTFF-2024 considers an entry to be a short film if it is 30 minutes or less in length.
3. Short films that are available for viewing in the public domain will not be eligible. This covers DVD/Blu-ray/VOD/OTT platforms/online digital portals/websites.
4. Promotional films are not permitted to be submitted to the CISHORTFF-2024 (e.g. films promoting tourism, charitable appeals, awareness campaigns, etc.)

TERMS & CONDITIONS:
By submitting your film to the CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2024 (CISHORTFF-2024), you expressly acknowledge that you are the rightful authorized person to do so and accept to be bound by the accompanying Terms & Conditions:
1. A film's submission to the CISHORTFF-2024 does not guarantee its selection as a nomination/official selection/award. All films submitted to CISHORTFF-2024 will be examined by our judging panel, and the announcement of the nominees/official selections/winners will be emailed to the individual filmmakers and posted on our website/social media accounts. Canvassing in any form will result in the submission being disqualified at CISHORTFF-2024.
2. All submissions under the Short Fiction - Competition segment are invited to showcase their work at the Kolkata premiere.
3. All official selections/nominees will be presented with a certificate and laurels. The awards will only be given to the winners picked by the judges.
4. All selected nominees/winners who are unable to attend the CISHORTFF-2024 awards event will be contacted by our organizing staff to have their certificates/awards delivered to them.
5. All contributions must be no more than 30 minutes long (including credits).
6. All entries must be accompanied by English subtitles. Any submission received without English subtitles will be rejected outright.
7. A filmmaker may submit more than one film in a category and multiple categories at the same time.
8. The CISHORTFF-2024 has the right to reject any entry.
9. The CISHORTFF-2024 is hereby granted the right to use an extract from any film submitted for festival promotional reasons. The individual or corporation submitting the film declares that it has the authority to commit the film for screening and understands and accepts these requirements, rules, and restrictions.
10. You agree to indemnify and hold the CISHORTFF-2024 harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees and court costs) incurred as a result of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, and publicity.
11. If the filmmaker fails to submit the film in the relevant category, the CISHORTFF-2024 will not reimburse any payments. Films submitted without the required payments or submission media may be declared ineligible by the CISHORTFF-2024 festival director. The festival does not fund any of the filmmaker's expenditures.
12. If a film is chosen as an official selection, the filmmaker will be contacted via email, and the film will eventually be listed under Official Selections on the festival website/social media accounts. The fact that your film was chosen as an Official Selection does not guarantee that it will be screened at the festival. It implies that your film was well received by our panel of judges, and you may use the festival emblem on your poster.
13. If a filmmaker withdraws their submission, their submission money will not be refunded. Entry fees are non-refundable in any case.
14. We seek an official trailer or poster, a synopsis, and a link to your film's screener. To avoid disqualification, please pick the relevant category when submitting your entry. We reserve the right to reassign films to their proper categories.
15. CISHORTFF-2024 reserves the right to change these Rules & Terms at any moment and without notice. Each such amendment takes effect immediately. The filmmakers should check for modifications to these Rules and terms regularly.

DISCLAIMERS:
1. Participation in the Calcutta International Short Film Festival immediately implies compliance with India's current laws and regulations. Producers, distributors, and other companies submitting films to the Festival must ensure that they are legally permitted to do so.
2. All filmmakers understand and agree that if their film is nominated/accepted for showing at the film festival, they grant CISHORTFF-2024 complete and unrestricted authority to play the film at times determined by the festival and to charge an entrance fee for the screening.
3. The Filmmaker knows and accepts that they will not receive any revenue from box office proceeds, which will be wholly kept by the festival to assist cover the overall cost of the festival presentation. It should be remembered that box office receipts never cover the cost of presenting the short film programming.
4. The Filmmaker accepts and understands that while the festival (CISHORTFF-2024) will do everything necessary to display the films in the best possible way, the festival (CISHORTFF-2024) is not responsible for any malfunctions during the production's presentation during its festival screening. Before the public viewing, all entries are meticulously pre-screened to ensure that the screenings meet professional standards. The Festival (CISHORTFF-2024) accepts no responsibility for any technical difficulties that may arise during the display of this film at the event.
5. The Festival reserves the right to judge any issues not covered by the Regulations and to make exceptions to the Regulations in justified and well-motivated cases. If a disagreement arises over the interpretation of any article in these regulations, the original Indian legislation will be considered binding.
6. The Filmmaker understands that the festival will take every precaution to safeguard and control the viewing of their entry/screener link. The event accepts no responsibility for entry theft, copyright breaches, or piracy.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Bishal Swargiary

    Good festival, superb communication, thanks for selecting our documentary.

    December 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks for your kind words. This has motivated us to raise our bar for our next edition. Best regards.

  • Mimi Garrard

    Thank you! We were very happy to be a part of your fine festival. Mimi Garrard

    December 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much for your kind words. This has definitely motivated us to raise our bar for our next edition. Best regards.

  • Hats off to CISFF for arranging a superb online festival of 2022. I was happy to make the official selection, let alone win the award for Best Doc. Thanks once again. The people behind the festival were very professional and the films were carefully curated and the festival did their best to make the festival seem like a festival even through the pandemic. I liked the platform and the availability of “meet and greets” and such.

    December 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much for sharing your experience. This has definitely motivated us to work harder for our next edition. Best regards.

  • Thank you for choosing my movie.
    I hope to see you again!

    December 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much for your kind words. This has definitely motivated us to work harder for our next edition. Best regards.

  • The Calcutta International Short Film is a world class short film festival which brought together a wonderful selection of international films. Festival Director Shubhankar Mazumdar and Programming Director Ankit Bagchi made every effort to ensure that the filmmakers and the audience had the best experience possible. It was an honour to have my film “Carbon Sky” selected for the Experimental film program in the first edition of CISFF!

    January 2021