SHORT TO THE POINT (STTP) is an international network of distribution, broadcast and promotion of short films and their authors. Since 2009, SHORT TO THE POINT has gone through several steps and right now it has gathered some awesome projects under its umbrella, offering professionals and amateurs the opportunity to promote their work, see their short films projected in unconventional cinemas across the world and even share their experience and knowledge to those who need advice and guidance.

SHORT to the Point - Monthly Awards
This is our main project, and it is dedicated to filmmakers from all over the world. Our jury selects every month the winning short films for each category:

Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Narrative, Best Production Design, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, Best Short Comedy, Best Short Drama, Best Short Horror, Best Adventure/Action, Best Thriller/Mystery, Best Short Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Best Romance, Best Dance/Musical, Best Narrative Short, Best Student Short, Best Young Director, Best Children Short, Best Animation Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Experimental Short, Best Music Video, Best Mini Short, Best Mobile Phone Short (incl vertical) , Best Debut or First time Filmmaker, Best No Budget or Low Budget Short Film, Best Amateur Short, Best Series (Web/TV), Best Fashion Short, Best Commercial/Ad/TVC, Best Stop-Motion/Time-Lapse, Best Trailer.

How it works
First of all, you have to choose one or more categories and submit your short film.

Usually, our submissions start on 1st-11th of the month and end on the same day next month.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We don't screen the films online! The members of the jury watch the films online and they choose the Official Selections.

In maximum one week after the deadline day for submissions we publish the Official Selections list, and we notify the filmmakers via e-mail.

During the next 14 days our members of the jury watch the selected short films again and they decide the winners for each category. After that we publish the Winners list, and we notify the filmmakers by e-mail. The lists are published on social media and on our dedicated website: shorttothepoint.com.

Your nominations and awards can be listed on IMDb. (http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0003900).

This is a short tutorial about How To Get Your STTP AWARD Listed On IMDb - https://theshortfilmfestival.com/how-to-get-your-sttp-award-listed-on-imdb

All the awarded films will be screened next summer during the “STTP+” or STTP in-person events.

First of all, the JUDGING PROCESS
Submissions are judged and scored based on criteria including: quality of screenplay (story, dialogues etc), acting, production quality, originality, technical proficiency, cinematography, sound design, editing, location/s used and set design. We support indie filmmaking and we will award additional points to shorts produced on a micro budget and/or minimal crew.

The AWARD CATEGORIES are:
Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Narrative, Best Production Design, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, Best Short Comedy, Best Short Drama, Best Short Horror, Best Adventure / Action, Best Thriller / Mystery, Best Short Fantasy / Sci-Fi, Best Romance, Best Erotic, Best Dance / Musical, Best Narrative Short, Best Student Short, Best Young Director, Best Children Short, Best Animation Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Experimental Short, Best Music Video, Best Mini Short, Best Mobile Phone Short (incl vertical) , Best Debut or First time Filmmaker, Best No Budget or Low Budget Short Film, Best Amateur Short, Best Series (Web / TV), Best Fashion Short, Best Commercial / Ad / TVC, Best Stop-Motion / Time-Lapse, Best Script, Best Song, Best Poster / Artwork, Best Score / Soundtrack, Best Photography, Best Trailer.

We are trying to satisfy all filmmakers who submit their shorts to SHORT to the Point ISFF. We know how difficult is to make a film and therefore we want to offer you a good experience with our festival. So here are our awards and prizes.

NOT SELECTED:
+ 50% discount for your next entry at SHORT to the Point ISFF (the waiver is valid till the end of the year).

SELECTED:
+ Official Selection laurels.
+ Discount waiver for submitting your short film to ‘rolling ideas’.
+ Discount waiver for submitting your short film to ‘Short Film Factory’.

SEMI-FINALIST:
+ Semi-Finalist laurels.
+ Virtual Screening of your short film.

FINALIST:
+ Finalist laurels.
+ Virtual Screening of your short film.

MONTHLY AWARD WINNER:
+ Award Winner laurels.
+ Digital Certificate (printable).
+ Virtual Screening of your short film.
+ Shortlisted for In-Person Screenings.
+ One published interview with a member of the film crew.
+ Promotion of the short film (trailer, photos, behind the scenes video etc) on our website.
+ Promotion of the short film (trailer, photos, behind the scenes video etc) on Social Media.

Please read these Rules & Terms carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your film into competition in the SHORT to the Point (ISFF), you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of these Rules & Terms.

Article 1
SHORT TO THE POINT is an international network of distribution, exhibition, and promotion of short films.
Every short film included in the SHORT TO THE POINT festival will be promoted in the monthly events developed in Bucharest and other major cities from Romania and abroad. Other means of distribution and promotion of the films submitted to SHORT TO THE POINT are the open air projections (STTP TOUR) organized in different cities from Romania, and also the talent camps held annually.

Article 2
The general objective of STTP is to reward films and audiovisual productions by promoting them worldwide.

Article 3
Parallel with the Festival, additional events like conferences about film industry, symposiums, exhibitions, thematic parties, workshops or talent camps will take place.

Article 4
SHORT to the Point categories include Comedy, Drama, Horror, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Musical, Sci-Fi, Narrative, Indie, Student, Children, Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Music Video, Mini Short, Mobile Phone, Amateur, Series (Web/TV), Fashion, Commercial, Ad, TVC, Stop-Motion, Time-Lapse, Trailer.
Each short film must be entered for one of the competitions named above. In some cases, though, the selection committees reserve the right to assign it to another competition or special programme.
Film Genres: All types of short films are accepted. Here are some examples: Absurdist, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Advertising, Art-house, Biographical, Black Comedy, Classic, Children, Comedy, Crime, Dance, Detective, Drama, Cult, Epic, Family, Fantasy, Gangster, Horror, Independent, Indie, Noir, Historical, Kids, LGBT, Magical realism, Musical, Mystery, Melodrama, Road Movie, Philosophical, Political, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Silent Films, Slice of Life, Social, Sports, Superhero, Supernatural, Surreal, Suspense, Thriller, Urban, War (Anti-War), Vertical, Vlog, Western, Zombie etc
By submitting to Narrative Short + All Individual Awards, you enter the competition for the Best Film Award, Best Narrative Award, Best Director Award, Best Cinematography Award, Best Screenplay Award, Best Editing Award, Best Production Design Award, Best Leading Actor Award and Best Leading Actress Award - Submit your Narrative/Fiction Short Film, no longer than 33 minutes. All genres of short films are accepted.

Article 5
There is no restriction about the date of the production of the films.

Article 6
The running time of films entered for the competitions should not exceed 33 minutes (we have no minimum length limit).

Article 7
Each participant is responsible for the content of his/her work and for any possible copyright problems. The participant owns all rights concerning the usage of his/her work according to the regulations. The Festival Committee has no responsibility to third parties. The Festival Committee has the right to reject films, if the content or technical quality does not correspond to the Festival conditions. The Festival Committee doesn't watch third party links. The films submitted on FilmFreeway must have the possibility to be watched inside the platform. Otherwise, the films will be rejected, without a refund for the submission fee.

Article 8

The official language of the Festival is English. Films must be subtitled in English.

Article 9

The Executive Committee decides on the Festival schedule including the sequence of the screening of all the films. It also decides on the exclusion of any participants and their film in case of any breach of conditions and decides on all issues not included in these Regulations but related to the organization of the Festival.

Article 10
The participation in the Festival is subjected to agreement with these conditions and keeping to these terms.

Article 11
The directors of submitted films that are accepted will be notified via e-mail in the beginning of each month. There will be a list of accepted films on our website shorttothepoint.com at the beginning of each month.

Article 12
SHORT to the Point (ISFF) works hard to recognize quality filmmaking and tends to offer awards to 100+ short films per year.
SHORT to the Point will screen a 150 minutes selection of awarded films every month during Short to the Point event.
We may also screen some shorts outside these awards selection that deeply impress our selection committee.

Article 13
We work hard to keep our submission fees as low as possible – consequently we cannot provide fee waivers.

Article 14
SHORT to the Point has no festival premiere eligibility requirements. Shorts that have screened at other festivals are still eligible.
SHORT to the Point has no public or internet broadcast eligibility requirements. If your short has screened on Vimeo etc, it is still eligible.

Article 15
Changes to submitted films will only be accepted if accompanied by a new submission fee.
The decision of the selection committee is final.
All entry fees are non-refundable.

Article 16
Stills of selected films may also be shown on the Festival website and publicity/promo material including press releases, festival brochures and other materials.
Entrants are responsible for securing all rights and permissions from copyright and other holders relating to their short.
SHORT to the Point reserves the right to update or modify these terms and policies without prior notice.
The SHORT to the Point (ISFF) is hereby granted the rights to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations.
The SHORT TO THE POINT (ISFF) reserves the right to refuse entries.

Article 17
The person or institution submitting the film is responsible for clearing all rights to the content of the work relevant to the film’s use by the festival. By submitting, they state that they are authorized representatives thereof, i. e. that screening or other use of the film by the Festival does not infringe rights held by third parties (e. g. copyrights, personality or trademark rights), and that especially the rights to any material produced by others (music, film footage, photo- graphs, text etc.) used in the film have been cleared. They furthermore shall indemnify the SHORT to the Point ISFF against all third-party claims in connection with screening/using the film in the course of the Festival. This includes covering any legal costs that might be incurred.

Overall Rating
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Networking
  • We are very grateful for the selection of our short documentary ‘Closer to heaven, back to the sea’. With this recognition we hope to reach and encourage more people who miss a loved one. Thank you so much!

    February 2024
  • bo zhang

    On behalf of myself and my team, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your profound recognition of our work. Your support and encouragement will inspire us to work even harder and explore further creative horizons.

    February 2024
  • Michał Kucharski

    Thanks to be a part of this festival

    December 2023
  • Thank you for selecting my film, superb communication and festival!

    November 2023
  • Thank you so much Short to the Point for selecting my film Everythingness & Nothingness to be a part of your festival. I am very greatful for the opportunity. As a first time director I was pleasantly surprised to have been accepted. I hope to make more films soon and hope they will be accepted as well.

    September 2023