Newcastle International Short Film Festival (9)

Festival start: 21 November 2025      Festival end: 22 November 2025

Newcastle International Short Film Festival or NiSFF is an IMDb registered short film festival open to submissions of short films in multiple genres and categories from international, Australian and regional New South Wales (NSW) film-makers. Finalists for the best film in their regional category will be screened at the Royal Exchange Hybrid Performance Space/Cinema in Newcastle Australia in mid November each year. The overall Best Short Film winner will be selected from all the various category winners regardless of its length.

No screening fees are paid to selected films and no DCP is required. If your film is understandable for a mainly English speaking audience without subtitles then English subtitles are not required.

All Official Selections are Nominations for award and can be registered as Nominations on NiSFF's IMDb event page allowing the selected film to be listed on IMDb. Laurels will be issued to Official Selections and award winners. No prize money is offered. NiSFF does not pay screening fees or royalties or film maker travel expenses.

Newcastle premiere status is preferred. Films that have previously screened outside this region, including in Sydney or Woollongong, may submit.

Films should have been completed within a five year period leading up to the festival. Films submitted to earlier editions of the festival cannot be resubmitted in future years unless they have been significantly reworked.

Submissions by online screener through Festhome or link to Vimeo or other site. Password protection for the online screener is the responsibility of the submitter. 1080p MP4 files are adequate and preferred.

DCPs are not required and we cannot accept submissions on film. The festival will not screen directly from websites such as Vimeo or You-Tube and do not want Blu Ray discs.

Copyright remains in the film-maker and the film-maker grants the festival a licence to screen their film during festival week.

The Film-maker waives any right to screening fees from the festival by submitting to the festival.


Films are preferably to be in English but films that are not in English may still be selected if the spoken language is not imperative for the audience's understanding of the film and may be subtitled at the discretion and expense of the film-maker. SUBTITLES NEED TO BE BURNED INTO THE IMAGE OF THE FILM NOT PROVIDED AS A SEPERATE FILE.

Applicants are to submit to the category that describes their residence (eg regional NSW, Australia or International) and that approximates the running time of their film regardless of the films genre. The organisers will then categorise the film into the various genre categories e.g. live action drama, animation, doco, experimental and comedy films etc. The films will then be grouped and judged in the festival on the basis of their genre and regional categorisation. Film-makers can nominate the genre of the film on their Festhome project page and the organisers will take that as final determination of the genre and may also consult with the film-maker in regard to the genre of the film where necessary. All films under 5 mins regardless of camera specs are to be included in the same genre categories. That is, for example, super short films made with a cinema camera will be grouped with super short films made with a phone. Phone films in all categories are accepted.

Awards will be given based upon genre and length and region. For example, these will include:

Best NSW Regional Super Short/Phone Film Live Action Drama;

Best NSW Regional Super Short/Phone Film Experimental Film,

Best NSW Regional Super Short/Phone Film Documentary

Best NSW Regional Super Short/Phone Film Comedy,

Best NSW Regional Super Short/Phone Film Animation.

Best NSW Regional Short Short Live Action Drama,
Best NSW Regional Short Short Experimental Film,
Best NSW Regional Short Short Documentary,
Best NSW Regional Short Short Animation,
Best NSW Regional Short Short Comedy.
Best NSW Regional Short Live Action Drama,
Best NSW Regional Short Experimental Film,
Best NSW Regional Short Documentary,
Best NSW Regional Short Animation,
Best NSW Regional Short Comedy.

The same categorisations will apply separately for Australian and International films in the various genre and running time classifications as those for regional New South Wales (NSW) submissions.

Films judged the best of their genre in the regional NSW, Australian or International categories will be selected to screen at the festival as finalists and a 'Best Short Film Award' will inevitably be awarded from all finalists from all genres and regional locations as the best overall film. All Officially Selected Films are nominations for awards.

No screening fees are paid to selected films.

Newcastle International Short Film Festival welcomes your submission.