ADRIA SHORTS International Short FIlm Festival in its second year as a Monthly Film Competition – in addition to an annual in-person festival celebrating the very best short films from our monthly competitions. The festival is held in the very heart of the city of Zadar, one of the crown jewels of the Croatian Adriatic coast.

We live in a "new world", and the film industry is quickly adapting to it - thanks to the advancement of technology, increasingly easier shooting conditions and increasingly available online education of the basics of filmmaking, more and more talents have the opportunity to express themselves with moving images. Many of them find their author's expression precisely in the unique possibilities of the short form. Short movies are a world of their own, a mini-universe in which you can express yourself in many ways - fiction, documentary, animated, experimental, humorous or serious...

Adria Shorts is a new part of that world, a hybrid international film festival dedicated to the promotion of short films and open to visions, titles and applications from all over the world. It takes place online throughout the year, and the main event, the award ceremony and the grand prix for the best film of the festival, is awarded in August in Zadar, the jewel of the Croatian Adriatic coast, with screenings of the winning films on a big screen in the very center of the city.

The founder of the Adria Shorts festival is Velimir Grgić, a veteran of the film business in Croatia, screenwriter, producer, author of many books about film and thousands of film criticism texts, dedicated for years to discovering new talents and unique author's visions, with over 20 years of festival experience in various functions, from selector and art director to consultant and jury member. He worked and socialized with film greats such as Oliver Stone, Franco Nero, Robert Englund, Roger Corman, William Friedkin and many others.

This is the first year of holding Adria Shorts, and the team of critics and filmmakers that organizes Adria Shorts wants to turn this festival into one of the biggest and best hybrid festivals, dedicated to promoting short films and their authors, in the region and beyond.
Adria Shorts is open to a wide range of author's ideas and accepts all types of short films, in the specified categories, without limitations of budget, technique, ideas. We will treat every submitted film equally, and the goal is to enable authors to promote their titles globally, network, present and screen on digital platforms, as well as in front of a live audience.

The categories for submission of films are:

ARTHOUSE FICTION
Films that you have created to satisfy your personal artistic urges, without genre restrictions - dramas, philosophical, poetic, art films and all others that you think can carry the label "arthouse cinema".

GENRE FICTION
Films that you created "in the genre", following the stylistic and thematic bases and legalities of certain genres - for example, action, horror, thriller, sci-fi, western, comedies, musicals and all other genres.

DOCUMENTARY
Documentaries of all profiles - from historical to travelogues, from author portraits to intimate diary entries, from engaging messages to entertaining escapism.

ANIMATION
Animated films of all animation techniques - 2D and 3D, hand-drawn, motion graphics, rotoscope, cut-out, live animated, pinscreen animation...

EXPERIMENTAL
Films that re-evaluate cinematic conventions and explore non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working - all radical, avant-garde ideas are welcome, as are all films that cannot be classified in other categories.

At the end of each month, Adria Shorts announces the winners of the month - the six best short films of the month, one from each category; monthly winners receive a digital certificate and laurels and are nominated for the festival's Main Awards and the Grand Prix, the best film of the year.

Monthly awards

They are awarded every month to the best achievements in the following categories:
- Best Arthouse Fiction
- Best Genre Fiction
- Best Documentary
- Best Animation
- Best Experimental Film

All monthly winners are nominated for the main prizes - Grand Prix, which are awarded once a year, in a physical event that will be held in Zadar, during September 2024.

The winners of each category will get a digital laurel & certificate.

Festival awards

The festival's main prizes are awarded once a year, and all monthly winners compete for them.

🏆 Grand Prix - Best film of the festival

- Best Arthouse Fiction
- Best Genre Fiction
- Best Documentary
- Best Animation
- Best Experimental Film

Trophies for Grand Prix and diplomas for other festival winners are available and are free of cost. Applicants need to pay the courier charge only.

We strongly encourage you to review the following carefully. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to all of the following rules and terms.

General rules
Films completed on or after Jan 1, 2018 are eligible for consideration
Films from all over the world are accepted
Each film may have a maximum length of 30 minutes (including the closing credits)
Films may have been produced anywhere in the world, without any distinction
All non-English language films must be submitted with English subtitles
Films must be submitted via online screener only trough FilmFreeway platform
Entry fees are non-refundable

Student films
To qualify for student entry fee rates, entrants must include proof of student status at the time of production (copy of student ID, transcript, etc.)

Selected and awarded films
By submitting to the Adria Shorts, you give us consent and right to screen your film in front of a live audience
Adria Shorts does not pay screening fees for submitted films

Non-selected films
Adria Shorts does not provide feedback or screening notes to entries that are not selected
The decision of the festival selection committee will be final
Non-selected films can be re-submitted at any time for a second chance

Awards
Monthly winners will get laurel & certificate, and will be nominated for a Festival Awards and Grand Prix - Best film of the festival
Best film of the festival will get a trophy (Grand Prix) and winners in other categories will get diplomas. All awards are free of charge, applicants need to pay the courier charge only.
The Festival reserve the right not to award any or all of the prizes each month

Promotion
Adria Shorts reserves the right to use images from submitted films for marketing purposes
The excerpts (not longer than 30 seconds) from selected films can be shown on the TV / Local Network / Internet etc.

Other
Adria Shorts organizers reserve rights to change, cancel or re-schedule the dates, venue, awards & categories without consent or information to contestants.
All personal contact information is to remain confidential and not to be shared with any third parties.

COPYRIGHT & LEGAL TERMS

By entering your film for consideration to the Adria Shorts, you authorize that your work is cleared for festival exhibition and accept full legal responsibility for the intellectual property therein. The submitter and all filmmakers associated with the project shall indemnify and hold harmless the Adria Shorts, and any representative or affiliates from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorneys fees and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Joe DeVita

    What an honor it is to be one of the winning films for January 2024. The people at Adria Shorts were so very kind, gracious, and accommodating.

    February 2024
  • Juan Carlos Huerta

    Awesome experience, the festival is well organized, communication is clear and crew is friendly. Thank you very much for considering and awarding our short film Hypnotica.

    January 2024
  • Very good festival, thank you for selecting NATURE ATTACK.

    November 2023
  • Guido Galante

    It was a pleasure and an honor to participate in your festival. Thank you for the opportunity you gave us to be able to promote our project.

    August 2023
  • ahLoong _

    To be honest, I really appreciate how the festival organizer prepare their digital certificate, I never expect any festival will include their professional review & comments on the cert, this has made the certificate become more valuable & memorable, instead of just "another" certificate.
    Really great job! Love it :-)

    July 2023