Cannes Short Film Festival
The Cannes Short Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Cannes, France. The festival is dedicated to showcasing and promoting short films, typically defined as films with a running time of less than 40 minutes.
The Cannes Short Film Festival is considered one of the most important events in the short film industry and is an excellent opportunity for filmmakers to showcase their work and network with other professionals.
Cannes Short Film Festival Submission
Submission Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2023
Submissions to the Cannes Short Film Festival festival are open to filmmakers from around the world and typically have strict eligibility requirements, including a running time of less than 40 minutes and a completion date within the preceding 12 months.
Eligibility
- short films that do not exceed 15 minutes in length, including credits.
- films that have been produced during the twelve months preceding the Festival
- films whose distribution is limited to their country of origin
- films that have not been presented at any international motion picture event. If the film has been selected for an international section (competitive or not) of a festival, it becomes ineligible for the Festival de Cannes. A selection is international if it presents films from different countries
- films that have not been shown on the Internet.
Rules
Films may be accepted in the Official Short Film Selection at Festival de Cannes
- Short films must be directly uploaded during the registration process (cf. Technical Specifications below).
- Any short film sent in other formats (DVD, BluRay, Mini DV, Beta, etc) will be viewed.
- There is no fee for the short film submission and your film must only be uploaded once.
- It is possible to upload a working copy of the film.
- When filling out the entry form, please state if the submission is the final version or a working version.
- Once you have uploaded a working copy, you won’t be able to upload a final copy later.
Short films (between 1 and 35 minutes) can also be registered for the Short Film Corner, a meeting place dedicated to short films within Festival de Cannes.
Subtitles
- without subtitles if the original language is French or English
- with French or English subtitles for all other original languages
For subtitled films, the subtitles must be integrated into the image.
Cannes Short Film Festival Awards
The Cannes Short Film Festival awards several prizes to recognize the best short films from around the world. The specific awards given may vary from year to year, but some common awards include:
- Grand Prize for Best Short Film: This is the top award for the festival, recognizing the best short film among the competition entries.
- Special Jury Prize: A second-tier award recognizing a film that stands out for its quality and creativity.
- Prize for Best Director: An award recognizing the director of a short film for their vision and leadership in the film's production.
- Prize for Best Screenplay: An award recognizing the writer of a short film for their storytelling and scriptwriting skills.
- Prize for Best Cinematography: An award recognizing the cinematographer of a short film for their visual storytelling and camera work.
- Prize for Best Animated Short Film: An award recognizing the best animated short film in the competition.
- Prize for Best Live-Action Short Film: An award recognizing the best live-action short film in the competition.
- Prize for Best Documentary Short Film: An award recognizing the best documentary short film in the competition.
In addition to these awards, the festival may also present awards for other categories, such as best actor, best sound, and best editing, among others.
Winning a prize at the Cannes Short Film Festival can bring recognition and exposure to the filmmakers and their work, and can also help to advance their careers in the film industry.
Technical Specifications
Accepted file formats (endings):
- .mp[e]g / .avi / .vob / .mov / .mp4 / .m4v
Recommended codecs
- MJPEG
- Apple ProRes
- H264 (high bitrate if possible: minimum 2MBit/s and Uncompressed (very large files)
Resolution
- PAL or NTSC (as well as SECAM) from 720x400px up to HD material of 1920x1080px
Audio format requirements
- 48kHz sound PCM (only uncompressed)
- MP3
- AAC (if possible > 160 kBit/s)
File specifications
- We only accept multiplexed files (i.e. with audio, video and subtitles in a single file)
- Your film file should not exceed 8 GB
- The higher the resolution, the better the quality of scanning
- You can upload a film with a resolution of up to 1920x1080 pixels (HD), as long as it does not exceed 8 GB
Preparation of the film
- Make sure that your film has no colour bars or any black sequences before the film starts or after it ends
- make sure you upload a progressive (deinterlaced) video file, without any horizontal lines across the image (an interlacing artefact known as "combing"), particularly visible during sequences with rapid movement.
If your Film is Selected
You will be contacted before the official press conference
You must supply us either with a DCP (Digital Cinema Package), a JPEG 2000 file or a 35mm print.
The Film Department will send you all the necessary information in due time, but only if your film is selected.