Ooty Short Film Festival

The 7th edition of the Ooty Short Film Festival (Ooty SFF) is scheduled to take place from December 1st to 3rd, 2023. This festival extends a warm invitation to filmmakers from all corners of the globe to come and share the magic of independent short films.

Throughout its history, the event has grown and evolved, offering attendees not only a vibrant selection of short films but also an array of enriching cultural activities. These include engaging Q&A sessions, hands-on workshops, and captivating exhibitions.

The festival boasts curated sections featuring some of the most exceptional experimental and artist-made short films, promising a truly diverse and inspiring cinematic experience for all who attend.
The Ooty Short Film Festival is produced by the Nilgiris Film Club (NFC), a pioneering film club in the mountains of the Western Ghats. The festival provides filmmakers a platform for conversation, professional networking and development.

We aim to curate a program that embodies a unique and original artistic vision. Our focus is on showcasing short films that boldly push the boundaries of both form and concept, opening up numerous avenues for interpretation and understanding.

In our pursuit of this vision, we have a special interest in works created by emerging filmmakers and artist-made shorts. We believe that these voices often bring fresh and innovative perspectives to the cinematic landscape, making them a vital part of our program.

The selection will happen in two rounds.
Shortlisting round: In this round, the received entries will be shortlisted by a jury panel, and the entries that have been shortlisted will be notified by phone or email of their selection for the final round.

The shortlisted films would be screened in front of the curator, jury, and chosen audiences in the final round, and the winner would be determined. All of the selected films will be screened at the festival, which is set to take place on December 1, 2, and 3, 2023.

The festival has instituted the Golden Elephant Awards: The best film, the best director, and the best performer will get Golden Elephant awards.

Eligibility:
. Films completed after January 1st, 2021 are eligible for Competition
. Films of 30 minutes or less (including credits)
. All types of short fiction film are accepted for submission (including experimental shorts, animation, avant-garde, & the poetry-film)
. Multiple submissions from the same director will not be considered
. Industrial or commercial films are not accepted

General Rules:
. If selected, high-quality files in formats such as mov/avi/mpg/h264/pro-res or DVD Blu-ray, DCP have to be submitted.
. Excerpts from selected films, trailers, and stills may also be screened or published online to assist in promoting the festival.
. The submitter must have the legal authority to submit the film and to have the work screened publicly, including any necessary permissions. By submitting, the submitter confirms they have all the necessary rights for the screening of the film.
. By submitting their film, all entrants are deemed to have read and agreed to the rules and regulations governing the festival. In the event of any disagreement, the interpretation of the festival will take precedence.

Liability:
The sender of the submitted film is responsible for all copyrights. He or she is legally authorized to enter his or her short film into the festival and, if selected for the festival, is authorized to give screening permission.
The applicant has secured all necessary rights for both pictures and sound, and the exhibition will not violate or infringe upon any rights, including but not limited to music, images, and content.
If selected for the festival, the applicant acknowledges and agrees that an exhibition quality digital screening file must be made available for screening by November 25th, 2023.
The film, including all copyrights, remains the property of the author. The films will be handled with the utmost care. However, the festival management will assume no liability for damages or losses.
The non-profit nature of the Ooty Short Film Festival activities guarantees that the works submitted will be used only to advance the cultural objectives of the Ooty Short Film Festival.

Overall Rating

Quality

Value

Communication

Hospitality

Networking

Gaurav Kulshrestha

Bad experience to participate in this film festival. After taking download link for screening no communication or notification of nominee, semi finalists, finalists or Winner results from their side. Results are also influenced by local politics which they say technical Problem. Pre judice and biased film festival. Very unprofessional and armature approach
Bad learning experience . Not recommended to anyone.

December 2023

Helpful

Response from festival:

Hi Mr. Gaurav,

We noticed your review about our short film festival. We would like to explain the system that we follow which might let you understand our festival better.

Firstly, we would like to let you know that we have a jury team, which comprises of very talented filmmakers from all over the world, who selected the films and nominated the films for the awards. You can have a look at our jury committee at our website (www.festival-ooty.com). Only the jury members are authorized to select and nominate the films and no one else has access to select or nominate the films. So we assure you that there’s no local politics in nomination or the award process.

Secondly, the directors/producers of the nominated films were promptly informed of their nomination. We didn’t want to release the results before the award ceremony to the public or to the other film directors since it would remove the suspense factor from the award ceremony. We’re sorry that our festival had given you a bad experience but we didn’t intend to and we sincerely apologize for it.
Hamid Vatanparast

I am very happy to have won this festival, it makes me proud

December 2023

Helpful

Response from festival:

Hi Mr. Hamid,

We congratulate you for winning the award. We appreciate and acknowledge your talent. Continue making films that inspire and keep that creativity of yours alive. We would like to watch your future projects at our short film festival.
unparalleled imagination

It's great festival! We are grateful for selected as a winner.
We could not able to attend the festival but the festival team send us the trophy through post.
There is mostly festivals who wants money for the trophy but they never asked for money even send through post without any cost.
Best Wishes and We Highly recommenced this film festival.

February 2023

Helpful
Vishvajeet Desai

Good Experience with Ooty short film festival

December 2022

Helpful
vishal tr

It was a great experience watching my short film on the big screen. The festival was filled with lots of wonderful short films.happy to be a part of this Festival

December 2022

Helpful