ABOUT

The city of Venezia is well known for its loving relationship with cinema where the independent and artistic filmmakers scene has taken place, for years.

Venezia Shorts has rapidly turned into a favorite between independent filmmakers. This festival, in a few years, has become part of the 25 most popular, and the 100 best reviewed worldwide and IMDb qualifying.

We are committed to screen the complete official selection of films at our live event, where filmmakers and guests will participate of the Q&A’s and panels, enhancing the opportunity for networking with directors, cast, crew and people from the industry. An amazing opportunity to submerge yourself in other visual artists’ works! During the year, we will award the best films with cash prizes for a total of USD 2000.

Some of our recent winners include a new wave of amazing uprising directors as Klaas Diersmann, Nikita Kvasnikov, Michèle Flury, Joseph Ollman, Cyprian Hercka, Andrea M. Catinella, Arta Kroni, Neda Ivanović, Nicole Catherine Fantl, Muck van Empel, Elias Koller, Lisa Jödicke and so many more! These new talented Italian directors: Cornelia Schöpf, Federico Campana, Aria Bodio, Michele Magliaro, Gianfranco Pellegrini, Mirko Genduso, Francesco Massimiliano Gozzo, Martina Generali, Simone Pratola, Francesca Sofia Rosso and Lorenzo Sicuranza. And Academy Award Nominee Martin Strange-Hansen, Clermont-Ferrand ISFF Salomon Ligthelm, BAFTA Nominee Elham Ehsas adn Student Academy Award Winner Tamara Denić.

Furthermore, the festival will select a number of films as semifinalists, which will be invited to participate in our Virtual Screening Events and awarded semifinalist laurels. Following each online event, one standout film will be selected to take part in our live event. We host four virtual events per year, along with one annual live event.

All the Winners will receive the Official Laurels and the winning-category achievement certificate after the Live Event. Jury will choose from the Official Selection a film that will receive the JURY’S DISTINCTION AWARD with a cash prize of USD 1000.

All OFFICIAL SELECTION films will be screened at our public Live Event.

JURY

Suzie Léger

Austrian-Canadian actress and director based in Vienna. Born in Horn, Lower Austria, she grew up in Vienna and explored theater and filmmaking from a young age. During a year in Brazil at 15, I became fluent in Portuguese and discovered O Cinema Novo, inspiring my first narrative and experimental short films. She studied Transmedia Arts at the University of Applied Arts and Performance Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Her work has earned international recognition, including the Ö1 Talentestipendium, the START grant for media art, and awards at festivals such as the Women’s Film Festival Vienna and the Now&After Film Festival in Moscow. After completing acting studies, she worked in the US, performing in theater, short films, and the TV pilot Cicatrix. My co-written role in Astronauts received acclaim at international festivals and screened at the Diagonale’22.

Lorenzo Danesin

Lorenzo Danesin (Treviso, 1988) is a sound designer, composer, and sound engineer. In cinema, he has worked from the beginning with Giulio Boato. In 2021, he founded 313, a film production company, together with Giulio Boato and Laura Belloni. He has been responsible for the soundtracks, sound design, and sound editing of various short and feature films, including "Animata Resistenza". In 2022, he composed the soundtrack for the animated short film "A guerra finita" by Simone Massi, presented at the Venice International Film Festival and awarded at numerous international film festivals around the world, including the Nastro d'Argento for Best Animated Short Film.

Mochi Lin

Mochi Lin is a director, animator, and composer, who recently graduated with a BFA in Film and Animation from Rhode Island School of Design. She also concentrated in History Philosophy and Social Sciences and studied Music at Brown University. Her undergraduate film, Swallow Flying to the South, toured over 80 festivals around the world, and won top honours at Venezia Short Film Festival in 2023, earning a place on the 2023 BAFTA animation shortlist.

Marina Glezer

Marina Glezer a notable filmography, delving into directing after studying dramaturgy and scriptwriting in 2008. They debuted in 2012 with "Gabriela e Ismael," a UNASUR-winning short sold internationally. In 2015, "Berta y las Menores" garnered UNCIPAR recognition and was showcased at various festivals. Their creativity extended to theater in 2017 with "Salon de Belleza," securing the FNA award and PRO theater support. 2018 saw the release of two new short films, "El señor del tiempo," a winner at the INCAA blood window contest, and "Animal Woman." Now, they've recently completed their first full-length feature, "La Ruptura."

Barbara Lombardo

Barbara Lombardo, studied acting at the Julio Chavez Theater School. Her breakout role was as Vanina in the hit series Resistiré, followed by lead roles in Socias and Mujeres Asesinas. She gained immense popularity as Pochi in El Puntero. Her diverse TV credits include History Of A Clan, The Rich Do Not Ask Permission, The Roldan, and You Are My Man, alongside appearances in Mexican series like XY La Magazine and Soy Tu Fan. In film, she earned acclaim for Captive, landing a nomination for Best New Actress at the Argentinian Film Critics Association and international recognition, including a win at the San Sebastián Festival. Other film credits include The Mugger, El Hombre Que Corría Tras El Viento, and 2001 Mientras Kubrick Estaba En El Espacio. She starred as Manuela in the 2020 feature film Manuela.

MAIN COMPETITIONS

You can submit your film in any of the Main Competitions.

We proudly announce our 10 MAIN COMPETITIONS:

narrative shorts competition
foreign shorts competition
documentary shorts competition
animation shorts competition
new filmmakers shorts competition
experimental shorts competition
student shorts competition
horror shorts competition
music videos competition
comedy shorts competition

EVENTS

In our Event, we screen THE COMPLETE OFFICIAL SELECTION. Films are specially curated by our Program Director in different blocks, more than 10 Q&A with filmmakers from all around the world and an exclusive Cocktail.

Please check our photos of our last live event and get prepared to join us in the next one.

As Filmmakers we know the importance of screening a film in a full cinema, not only for the networking possibilities, but also because we make movies to be seen on a big screen. We are fully committed to run our events in person honoring the best projects of the season.

All films in our Official Selection will be screened during our Live Event, where filmmakers will also have the opportunity to network with fellow artists and industry professionals.

Additionally, all semifinalist films will be included in our Virtual Screening Events, where they will compete for a spot in the Live Event.

Winners will be announced during the Live Event.

ABOUT

JURY

MAIN COMPETITIONS

TECHNICAL AND PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES

EVENTS