The New York City Short Film Festival (NYC Shorts) is an international competitive short film festival created by filmmakers and dedicated to the short form. In 2024, NYC Shorts will celebrate its 20th annual edition. The festival screenings will once again take place at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, a storied arts and film venue in Manhattan.

NYC SHORTS is a competitive festival with winners in each of seven categories: Drama Short, Comedy Short, Documentary Short, Animation Short, LGBT Short, Foreign Language Short and Student Short. The audience votes for its favorite film in each screening. In our 20 year history, we have screened shorts from all over the world and had filmmakers in attendance from the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Canada, Italy and more. Attending filmmakers participate in a post-screening Q&A and network with other filmmakers and industry guests at our after-party. Our Official Selections have gone on to screen at Sundance, Berlin, Palm Springs Shorts, Clermont-Ferrand and many other important film festivals. In 2007, the animation short THE DANISH POET won the Academy Award for Animation Short after it had its New York premiere at our festival in 2006. In 2018, our Best Foreign Language Short MAY DAY had its US Premiere at our festival and was later short-listed (top ten) for the 2019 Academy Award. MADRE, our 2018 Best Drama Short was nominated for the 2019 Academy Award in the live-action category. Our 2021 Audience Award winner AFFAIRS OF THE ART was nominated for the 2022 Academy Award for Animation Short.

Best of Fest Award
Best Drama Short
Best Comedy Short
Best Documentary Short
Best LGBT Short
Best Student Short
Best Foreign Language Short
Best Animation Short
Audience Choice Award

GENERAL RULES
NYC SHORTS is open to all short films under 20 minutes (including credits), originating anywhere in the world. All foreign language films must be subtitled in English. Films must have been produced after January 2023. We only accept online submissions for the judging process. Please do not send DVDs or presskits of any kind. If your film is selected for the festival, we will request stills and a presskit at that time.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Filmmakers must have all rights associated with their films and allow the festival to use clips for publicity purposes. If your film becomes an official selection, we will request a DVD copy in addition to your screening format. NYC Shorts is permitted to retain DVD or digital copies of each film officially selected as part of our festival library and for media educational use. If you do not wish your film to remain in our library after the 2024 Festival concludes (and henceforth), please notify us in writing and provide a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return of your film.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Ryan McCown

    Fantastic festival and an incredible selection of films. Honored to have "Flutz" featured among them. Thank you James!

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks so much Ryan! We at NYC Shorts were honored to screen your uniquely original film FLUTZ. All the best to you and looking forward to your next film!

  • Uriya Hertz

    A wonderful film festival, excellently managed by James Pellerito. A festival that greatly honors short films and manages to present a diverse and high-quality program each year. I participated with three of my short films and plan to submit any new ones I create in the future. Highly recommended!

    November 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you very much for your kind words about NYC Shorts and for your beautiful films Uriya! It has been a pleasure screening your work. Looking forward to what you do next!

  • Amos Holzman

    Great festival and great communication. I was proud to have my film selected and win an award. warmly recommended.

    October 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you very much Amos! It was a pleasure to screen your film COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER at NYC Shorts. All the best to you and we look forward to seeing what you do next!

  • Olivier Magis

    Very great festival. James manages very well the communication. Great chance to be screened in NYC!

    January 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your kinds words Olivier! It was an honor to screen your wonderful film MAY DAY at NYC Shorts. All the best to you and Fedrik!