Brussels Short Film Festival (29)

Festival start: 23 April 2026      Festival end: 02 May 2026

Brussels Short Film Festival is an exhibition intended for cinema lovers, both audience and professionals. The purpose is to promote and circulate short films and to generate contacts between audience, young directors and professionals.

Since 2018, the winner of the Great Prize of the International competition will be eligible for consideration in the Animated Short Film/ Live Action Short Film category of the Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

Cash Prizes: 11,500€

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION:

· International Great Prize: 3500 €

Since 2018, the winner of the Great Prize of the International competition will be eligible for consideration in the Animated Short Film/ Live Action Short Film category of the Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

· Special Jury Prize : 1000 €

· Best actress Prize: 1000 €

· Best actor Prize: 1000 €

· Audience Prize: 1500 €

· And other prizes including broadcasting rights on TV channels.

NEXT GENERATION COMPETITION:

. Great Prize: 1500€

. The Audience International Award: 500€

. The Audience National Award: 1000€

. The Young Jury Award: 500€

. And other prizes including broadcasting rights on TV channels.

R E G U L A T I O N S

International and Next Generation International Competitions

28TH BRUSSELS SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
APRIL 23 > MAY 02 2026


1. OBJECTIVES

The Brussels Short Film Festival is an exhibition intended for lovers of cinema, both audience and professionals. The purpose is to promote and circulate short films and to generate contacts between audience, young directors and professionals.

The festival organises 3 competitions:

• National Competition

• International Competition

• Next Generation Competition (dedicated to student films)

Since 2018, the winner of the Great Prize of the International competition is eligible for consideration in the Animated Short Film/ Live Action Short Film category of the Academy awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules, and for the Cesar.

2. ORGANISATION, DATES AND PLACE

The Brussels Short Film Festival is organized by the non-profit association Un Soir…Un Grain in Brussels from April 23rd to May 2nd, 2026.

3. RULES AND REGULATIONS
To be admitted, each film must meet the following requirements:

- Films have to not exceed 30 minutes in length. All genres are accepted;

- Films submitted in Next Generation competition have been directed in the framework of a cinema school or a higher directing course;

- Films have to be produced (or have the 1st public exhibition) after November 1, 2024;

- Films have to be available for festival screening on DCP non-encrypted (named according to the Digital Cinema Naming Convention) and mp4. - 20 to 30 Mbs - 1920 x 1080;

- For the submission, the screener imperatively has to subtitled in english, even if the language of the film is english;

- In case of selection, the screening file imperatively has to be understandable in english (subtitles in english if english is not the language of the film). If necessary, French and/or Dutch subtitles will be screened live during the screening.

!! The student films have to be submitted to the Next Generation Competition

4. SUBMISSION deadline:

JANUARY 15, 2026
online submission on Festhome (www.festhome.com)

- Participants have to enter their film via the online submission

- The film has to be uploaded

- Attached files:

o Three stills and a poster (optional) of the film which can be used in any publication (catalogue, brochure, website etc.)

o A photo of the director

Entry only will be valid upon reception of all these documents

Submission fees for the International Competition:

• Until August 14th 2025: 10€ per film

• From August 15th to September 18th 2025: 13€ per film

• From September 19th to December 04th 2025: 15€ per film (!! deadline for films produced in 2024)

• From December 05th 2025 to January 15th 2026: 22€ per film

Submission fees for the Next Generation international competition:

• Until September 18th 2025: 7€ per film

• From to September 19th to December 04th 2025: 10€ per film (!! deadline for films produced in 2024)

• From December 05th 2025 to January 15th 2026: 14€ per film

Any submission made outside this online platform (DVD, BluRay, link sent by email, etc.) won’t be considered for the competition.

5. Awards

Several prizes will be awarded by the official jury as well as the audience in the framework of the audience award. Jury’s decisions may not be subject to appeal. Only persons bound by the name of the award will be the recipients of it.

The payment of the awards will be made within a period of 12 months after the festival.

Winning an award includes the agreement of the production with the fact that the awarded films could be screened for free during regional screenings after the festival and one time during a free screening (at the festival marquee or at the Mont des Arts) during the next festival.

6. SHORT FILM MARKET

A Short Film Market is organized during the Festival. All the films submitted to our competitions, even if not selected, will automatically be indexed in the market catalogue and accessible to the international programmers and TV buyers attending the market. Thus, it is necessary to send the film with english subtitles.

!! If the file is not downloadable from the submission platform, we cannot guarantee that the film will be included in the Short Film market.

By default, the copy uploaded to the submission platform will be used for the market. If you wish to replace it, please contact us by email at print@bsff.be.

7. SELECTION

A selection committee, chosen by the festival team, will be appointed to view all submissions for pre-selection. Only selected films will be allowed to participate in the competition. The selections results will be notified online (www.bsff.be) by the mid-March 2026. Once submitted to the committee, films can’t be removed and no refund will be made.

8. TELEVISION DIFFUSION AND INTERNET

All selected films may be excerpted (limited to 15% (max 2 minutes) of the length) for publicity purposes on TV or via the Internet. Extracts of the selected films may be broadcast on TV channels and on the internet in the context of divulging information regarding the Festival.

9. SHIPPING OF SCREENING COPIES

• No rental fees of the prints will be paid by the festival for the competition programmes. Copies of selected films must be sent before March 26th, 2026. The address will be communicated later to the selected participants.

• Concerning postal shipments: the maximal value written on the package has to be 10€ or 10$ (especially for films coming from outside the European Union). Un Soir, ... Un Grain will not pay any border tax whatsoever.

• The film copies will be sent back during May 2026 to the production company address or to an address whose deliveries prices by Fedex or Belgian post office are not higher than the sending to the production company address.

• We encourage participants to send their screening file via the FTP server we make especially available.
• USB sticks will not be sent back after the Festival

10. INSURANCE

In case of loss or deterioration of a hard drive during the festival, the festival’s responsibility is only committed to replace a hard drive with a value inferior or equivalent to 50€. Thank you for not sending us the film’s Master.

11. INVITATION FOR THE DIRECTOR

Selected films directors will be invited to Brussels for 2 days during the festival and will receive an accreditation. The festival will cover a part of the guest’s travel costs. This invitation may not be used by a third party.

12. LITIGATION

The organisation committee is the only one allowed to deal with the persons most closely concerned in case of a litigation. Submit a film to our Next Generation competition implies the acceptance of these regulations. Should any legal dispute occur, only the French version of the present regulations and the Belgian Legislation will have force of law.