Indie Short Fest

About

IMDb qualifier Indie Short Fest (ISF-LA) is an LA-based international film competition with red carpet live screenings and Q&A at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CA, every two months.

ISF-LA is looking for independent projects from all genres, particularly low or no-budget ones, as well as from all countries, especially from those traditionally underrepresented in the global film industry.

Each round, all submitted projects are featured in ISF-LA site and social media (with the publication of synopsis, stills and a trailer/teaser) as part of a general promotional action of indie production. Submitter has the option of decline any public highlight, as long as notified ISF-LA, keeping however his project(s) under consideration. These projects are judged by a random team of invited experts from academia and film industry from Los Angeles area, against a high standard of merit. From the pool of official selection, which has a very competitive acceptance rate, ISF-LA chose the nominees and award winners of the season. All of them can add their projects to IMDb. Some of the award-winning projects, selected by the programmers of ISF-LA, are publicly screened in Los Angeles at the end of each round.

Awards

Besides the premiere screenings at one of the most prestigious venues of Hollywood, Indie Short Fest (ISF-LA) offers a distribution deal to all award winners through its streaming TV channel, plus the exclusive ISF-LA official trophy (at the annual event) and other rewards.

For each category, besides the Major Award, it can be given also Outstanding Achievement Awards (for the runner-ups) and Honorable Mentions.

Also, for each round, ISF-LA decides and award two overall winners (chosen from all categories) as Best Short (spoken in English) and Best Foreign-Language Short.

The awards by category: 

• Best Indie Short 
• Best Documentary Short 
• Best Experimental Short 
• Best Student Short 
• Best Animation Short 
• Best Drama Short 
• Best Comedy Short 
• Best Romantic Comedy Short 
• Best Dark Comedy Short 
• Best Thriller Short 
• Best Film Noir Short 
• Best Mystery Short 
• Best Action Short 
• Best Crime Short 
• Best Fantasy Short 
• Best Horror Short 
• Best Sci-Fi Short 
• Best Western Short 
• Best Parody Short 
• Best Children Short 
• Best Women Short 
• Best LGBTQ Short 
• Best Web Series/TV Pilot 
• Best Web and New Media 
• Best Microfilm 
• Best Music Video 
• Best Mobile Short 
• Best Drone Short 
• Best Producer 
• Best Director (Female) 
• Best Director (Male) 
• Best First Time Director (Female) 
• Best First Time Director (Male) 
• Best Student Director (Female) 
• Best Student Director (Male) 
• Best Young Filmmaker (Female) 
• Best Young Filmmaker (Male) 
• Best Actress 
• Best Actor 
• Best Supporting Actress 
• Best Supporting Actor 
• Best Child/Young Actress 
• Best Child/Young Actor 
• Best Acting Duo 
• Best Acting Ensemble 
• Best Cinematography 
• Best Editing 
• Best Sound Design 
• Best Sound Mixing 
• Best Sound Editing 
• Best Original Score 
• Best Original Song 
• Best Original Screenplay 
• Best Adapted Screenplay 
• Best Short Script 
• Best Special FX 
• Best Visual FX 
• Best Costume Design 
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling 
• Best Special Makeup 
• Best Production Design 
• Best Trailer/Teaser

Rules

All genres are accepted with a maximum length of 60 minutes. 

The films must include English subtitles (unless the spoken language is English).

By submitting the film, the submitter agrees that: 
1. Indie Short Fest can use trailer/teaser/film poster/stills or BTS for promotional purpose (but do not release, under any form or circumstances, the full film) 
2. Entry fees are non-refundable unless they are covered by the submission protection option, according to the Filmfreeway terms. 
3. The submitter owns all the rights to the film. 
4. The submitter cannot withdraw the submission after the official selection announcement. 
5. The information about the entries can be disclosed to ISF-LA associated film festivals, namely the upcoming other cities-based ISF.

Indie Short Fest does not accept the following: 
1. Extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organizations. 
2. Films which are made before 2016. 
3. Films with a poor production standard (bad sound, lack of subtitles/captions for non-English films, or video resolution less than 720p HD).

For student fees, it is mandatory the student status evidence (e.g copy of student card included in the project).

Premiere Requirements

No premiere requirement

Jury and Organizers

Victor Eustáquio - Festival Director

Ana Conceição - Controller

Sara Eustáquio - Producer