Breakout Film Festival is an international short film festival with an annual event held in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Submissions are open each month, January to December, for our monthly short film contest. Notification of selection will be sent on the 20th of the following month.

In January 2021, the winning short film of each monthly contest will be screened at our live event with an overall winner chosen by our esteemed jury.

The inaugural 2019 film festival was held on the 15th June 2019 in the world's art & culture capital, Edinburgh. ‘Answer’ directed by Adam Palmer was our inaugural winner of Best Short Film.

The inaugural 2018 winner of Best Short Screenplay was awarded to Mark Oxtoby for his short script 'My Week with Maisy'.

Breakout Film Festival will now take place in the summer of 2022!due to the COVID-19 delays.

BFF 2020 OFFICIAL SELECTION

Bye Bye Bridges

Directed by Estanis Bañuelos

With the arrival of Brexit, a couple who emigrated to Scotland are afraid that in the near future they will have to change their destination again.

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Don't

Directed by Jordan Blanch

Matt is a bully, but he's also a victim of an abusive father. His friends are conflicted when Matt attacks another student, but they don't stop him either.

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Hazy

Directed by Jonny Magowan

'Hazy' follows the lives of three young men in Edinburgh, best friends each struggling with their own personal demons, and failing to help each other out.

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Home

Directed by Jahvis Loveday & Joy Ben Hur

A girl must leave her home town, her family, her friends. Everything she remembers that was horrible, how the town was so small, everyone knew everyone, becomes the things she will miss the most.

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I'm Here

Directed by Kasper Christiansen

How will the last couple of hours be like on earth if we were forced to leave it, is everyone invited on a journey to a new place or will some be left behind, and who decides who is staying and who is leaving.

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It's a Match
Directed by Lamara Sogomonyan

It's a sunny day, a brief HELLO. And there it is - Love. It's no longer just a match, it is destiny, desperation, desire, thirst! The long-awaited date and a dead end ... In an ideal world a small setback can lead you to drown in your own feelings.

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Just Friends

Directed by Marc Lesperut

Sometimes the thrill when starting a new relationship leads to a downfall of irrepressible emotions.

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Seawolf

Directed by Chris Sitaridis

16 year old Joe lives and works with his unyielding mother, at the family-owned gas station. When two best friends Danny and Rich visit the gas station to buy chewing gum, Joe sees an opportunity to break free. While being bullied by the two troublemakers, he hangs out with them at the local rave club Seawolf.

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Summer Lightning

Directed by Andrew Saunderson

For a father and son, a baseball tournament isn’t the most important battle of the weekend.

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The Plunge

Directed by Simon Ryninks

After a night of passion Emily tells Jay that she’d like to use a strap-on. Scared of losing a girl he has a connection with, Jay reluctantly agrees.

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2021 OFFICIAL SELECTION

JANUARY WINNER

Trucker's Atlas

Directed by Dan Thorburn

A peaceful working relationship between two power-line repair men is put under pressure when one returns back from a family bereavement.

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FEBRUARY WINNER

Safe & Happy

Directed by Richard Ulrich

An ex-cop who for years has kept an explosive secret from his wife and the world is suddenly exposed at a critical moment - with life-changing consequences.

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MARCH WINNER

Loco

Directed by Rory Wilson

A train driver is left traumatized after an incident on the tracks.

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APRIL WINNER

Swing

Directed by Natacha Horn

A dark comedy where abuse is depicted in familiar situations, highlighting how accustomed we have become as both the victims and perpetrators.

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MAY WINNER

Forgive Us Our Debts

Directed by Howard Mitchell

A terrified African-American boy hides foreclosure notices from his family only to have his fears realized when the police arrive to remove them from their home.

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JUNE WINNER

Yet;

Directed by Ivy Chin

A 22 years alcohol addict, struggles to live with herself. Only being drunk will her anxiety goes away.

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JULY WINNER

Prey

Directed by Aiken Chau, Ella Ye, Keni Xiao Xuan Ji, Ryan Maman, Anastasia Adela Putra, Alice Liu, Sabrina Shan, Saniya Baig, Danny Del Toro, Rujun Ma, Summer Oh, Sabrina Shan, Nathan Chen

A relentless hunter travels through the forest collecting antlers and discovers monstrous consequences for his actions. A stop-motion animated short film.

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AUGUST WINNER

Mr Clean

Directed by Lee Bailes

Someone is breaking into empty homes and cleaning them. But are these seemingly harmless crimes hiding something much worse?

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SEPTEMBER WINNER

Doorbells and Gunshots

Directed by Michael Hanratty

A modern coming of age story about a young man trying to find his place in a sexually-charged, violent world where nothing is as it seems.

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OCTOBER WINNER

Danni the Champion

Directed by Laura Cameron-Lewis

Young Danni isn’t like the other girls in town. She’d rather be watching drag races down at the airport or tearing about behind the wheel of her brother’s car, Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes blasting on the stereo.

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NOVEMBER WINNER

Clean

Directed by Richard Paris Wilson

The story of a man who loses his clothes at a launderette and his journey to get them back.

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DECEMBER WINNER

She Decided Not To Remember

Directed by Ozan Boz

KOWINA meets HELIAC to give their relationship another chance. It is gut-wrenching for HELIAC, because in this world, one can not only erase memories of someone, but also erase someone’s memories of oneself.

Monthly winners will be awarded our official selection laurel.

Winners of Best Short Film 2020 and Best Short Film 2021 will be awarded $500 USD, official selection laurel and our coveted trophy.

Short Screenplay winner is awarded $200 USD, laurel and trophy.

Please read our terms of entry before submitting your short film for competition.

Films must be between 1-40 minutes in length (including credits).

Only short narrative genres are accepted. Music videos and documentaries are not valid for this contest.

Filmmakers must have copyright over all footage and soundtrack.

Films must be of high-quality, at minimum FULL HD (1080p).

Filmmakers will be required to submit promotional stills for marketing purposes if their work has been selected.

Open to international filmmakers.

Open to first-time to professional filmmakers.

We accept films already submitted and/or selected to other film festivals.

We don't discriminate against any films that have been published online via a video hosting website such as YouTube or Vimeo.

All films must be produced on or after January 1, 2016.

Breakout Film Festival is unable to give feedback on individual short films upon result notification. We are not a reviewing festival.

We do not accept free submission/entry waiver. 

Films in a foreign language (other than English) must include English subtitles.

We do not provide refunds upon result notification.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Adam Palmer

    Since day one of submitting, Breakout Shorts have been a clear forerunner for one of the best festivals I've ever been a part of. Their communication, support, and enthusiasm for independent film/filmmakers are second to none, and you'd think they'd have been running the festival for years! If you have a film on a festival run, then Breakout Shorts should DEFINITELY be on your list of go-to's! I know I'll be submitting for years to come!

    June 2019