The Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA, a.k.a former American Short Shorts) began in Harajuku, Tokyo in 1999, and introduced ‘short film’ to the Japanese audience. In the 12 years since, the festival has attracted more than 230,000 people, and has become one of the biggest short film festivals in Asia. Since 2004, SSFF & ASIA has been officially recognized as an Academy Award® accredited festival and is the only short film festival that has received this prestigious recognition in Japan.
Grand Prix winner is eligible to receive a consideration for the Academy Award® nomination in short film categories the following year.
Objective
Submit short film entries to the festival’s official competition. All genres of shorts are accepted, except music video clips.
Prizes
The Festival presents awards in four categories: Japan, Asia International, International.
The Grand Prix is selected from the three Best Short Award – winners of Japan, Asia International and International competitions. The winner of the Grand Prix will qualify for consideration in the Short Films Category of the Annual Academy Awards®.
- Best Short Award – International Competition: 600,000 Yen
- Best Short Award – Asia International Competition: 600,000 Yen
- Best Short Award – Japan Competition: 600,000 Yen
- Audience Award – International Competition: 200,000 Yen
- Audience Award – Asia International Competition: 200,000 Yen
- Audience Award – Japan Competition: 200,000 Yen
Rules
- Your film must not have been screened in Japan on any media, either commercially or in a festival or otherwise, before the festival in 2011. Any films that have screened on the internet still will NOT be considered as Japanese Premieres. And if your film is selected, you must agree to withhold it from exploitation on all media in Japan until after the festival.
- Submissions will be considered in four categories: Japan, Asia International, International.Eligibility for each category will be determined by the festival based on the following criteria:
- Director’s nationality,
- film location,
- language of the film,
- nationality of casts’ and
- source of funding.
*Asian countries are defined as: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China (Rep. of China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), East Timor, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippine, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
- Formats: All (Please note, however, that submissions must be sent on DVD and, if selected, filmmakers are required to provide an NTSC Digi-Betacam, NTSC Betacam SP or DV-Cam.)
- Running Time: 25 minutes and under. No exceptions. Running time includes closing credits.
- Produced Since: January 2009 for all competitions
- English subtitles: required for submissions with language other than English or Japanese.
How to enter?
- Complete your online submission on shortfilmdepot.
- To submit a film, you’ll be requested to create an account and register the film. For details and to submit a film, please refer to the bottom of the page after you have read through festival’s guideline.
- Send your Submission Receipt and NTSC or PAL DVD of your completed film.
- Screeners will not be returned.
- Works in progress will not be considered.
- If you are submitting more than one film, you may include them all on one DVD, but please label the tape clearly and remember to complete separate submission forms for each film.
Important:
- Please do not send press kits or any other materials with your submission. Any extra materials will be discarded.
- The applicant is responsible for the costs of sending the DVD screener. *Preferred regular mail or EMS for the shipping.
- All international deliveries must be marked as below:
No commercial value Non-pornographic For cultural purposes only
Submissions must be postmarked by 1 December 2010, and late submissions will not be considered and screeners cannot be returned.
Postal address:
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia MBE 707 Shinjuku Monolith B1F, 2-3-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-0990 Japan
