The RIGA IFF International Short Film Competition seeks to highlight new auteur films of various genres and techniques from all over the world. RIGA IFF is one of the 27 festivals that nominates a short film as a candidate for the European Film Awards.
The curator and the selection committee evaluate submissions, look for individual works at other film festivals, film and art schools, and reach out to independent short filmmakers. There are as many films as there are opinions, and as many creators as there are stories.

The only things the selected films have in common is a maximum running time of 30 minutes and a strong personality. Audience members are guaranteed to find reasons to quarrel, laugh, or even shed a tear or two – often together with the filmmakers themselves!

Whether they are animated, narrative, documentary, or experimental, the competition seeks out short films with a distinct voice. The festival’s curators will select up to 25 of the most interesting submissions from around the world to screen at the festival.

Entries

We welcome short films with a running time of up to 30 minutes and with a completion date of no earlier than 1 January 2021. We especially encourage Baltic filmmakers and artists to apply (both professionals and students) as we want to encourage filmmakers from the region and promote their work internationally.

For films produced in the Russian Federation and Belarus, it is prerequisite not to have received any direct or indirect state funding.

Prize

The selected short films are judged by an international jury consisting of industry experts, filmmakers, and representatives from the international film festival community. The film that generates the greatest passion and the liveliest discussions about the very essence of cinema will receive the Silver Grass Snake Award (a silver pin featuring the Latvian symbol for the grass snake) and a monetary prize of EUR 2,000. The Award Ceremony takes place on the second Saturday of the festival.

Candidacy for the European Short Film 2023 Award

The jury selects a single candidate for the European Short Film 2023 Award from the films screened in the RIGA IFF National and International Short Film Competitions. Eligible directors must be born in Europe or hold a passport from a European country (the European Film Academy defines Europe as both EU and non-EU countries and includes Israeli and Palestinian passport holders), the film must have been produced in 2021 or 2022, and the running time cannot exceed 30 minutes.

Deadline

The call for submissions opens on 22 March 2022 and closes on 31 May. The submission fee is EUR 10 per entry and all submissions are free of charge for the first month, until 22 April. The results will be announced by 10 September 2022.