AIM International Film Festival (2)

Festival start: 20 July 2025      Festival end: 18 September 2025

AIM INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL SHORT-FILM FESTIVAL (AIMIDSF) is a competitive festival of short duration films, organized and conceptualized by Art Insight Medium (AIM), a nonprofit government registered trust from Pune, India. AIM's aim is to contribute to the development and promotion of artistic short films, documentaries, animation films and their production through a festival platform called AIMIDSF.

Film festivals are a vital link in the chain of global film culture. It’s sharing. Thanks to global digitalization and huge networking, Film Festivals are now an exceptional tool for crossing the communication channels from the most distant places. Film festivals are helping at the frontline of an increasingly polarized world. Speaking multiple languages, they give us the ability to hear a rich diversity of voices from the divided areas. Whatever happens in the farthest place of the world, it occupies the festival screens. So AIMIDSF is designed for a stage to display your talent. Come join us.

Awards &Selection:

Panel of Juries may consider films in four gross segments:

(1) Short Film (above 3 minutes to 30 minutes)

(2) Micro Film (1 minutes to 3 minutes)

(3) Documentary & Docu-Feature Film (below 20 minutes)

(4) Animation Film (below 20 minutes)

(5) Music Video & Misc. (below 10 Minutes)


Film Awards (to be considered):

Best Entry for each segment
Best Indian Film
Honorable Jury Mention
Best film promoting solidarity between nations, or using new forms of expression (UNICA Award).
BEST OF THE BEST movie will be awarded as "THE CELLULOID TROPHY" in memory of Late P K NAIR"
OtherAwards: Ritwik Ghatak Birth Centenary Award for Best Director. Sri. Manik Lal Ghosh Memorial Award. Sri Ramdas Jadhav Memorial Award. Smt. Saroj Singh Memorial Award for the Female Empowerment.
Panel of Juries and Festival Director / Chairman can mutually decide over any addition or alteration of awards as well as numbers of awards.

Eligibility: Entries for the AIM International Digital Short-Film Festival are open for everyone from any country. Minimum age for the participant is 19 years as on 01st January 2025 but participants under this must submit a consent letter from their parent or guardian.

Theme / Subject: The Short Film can be based on any subject, theme or concept. We are also accepting Animated films, Documentary Films and / or Documentary Feature Films. And we have made provisions for judging them as per their merits. All films have to follow human rights standard.

Language: The films can be in any language. However, all films must include sub-titles in English. This is not applicable for Hindi and English Films.

Length of the Films (duration): The total runtime of the Films, including opening & closing credits, should strictly be a minimum of 1 minute (60 Seconds) and a maximumof 30 minutes (1800 Seconds). Films exceeding this time limit are liable to be rejected. The minimum length should be 60 seconds including credits.

Fees: It’s a free participation Festival.

Formats: The short films MUST be in Digital Format. The films may be shot in MPEG4 or higher version or AVI format. The recommended ratios are: 16:9 / 16:9 Full Height Anamorphic – in DV / HDV. The films should designed for PC (not MacOS, preferable not ProRes). Maximum Size of the film will be 2 GB.

Others: Films will be selected by an expert committee acting as an advisory board to the Festival Program Director and Panel of Juries. The committee, under the authority of the Festival Director, will determine the program schedule and set the screening order of the films. They will also jointly decide about the Awards and selection of the films for exhibiting. The decision of AIDSF, AIM and Panel of Juries in respect of all Awards and Selection shall be final and no communication or correspondence in this regard shall be entertained.
The accepted percentage of submitted films will be anything from 10% to 50% based on the number of entries submitted. The numbers of exhibited films will be decided after receiving all entries. It may be higher or lower in any case, the discretion will be of Festival Program Director and Panel of Juries.

Applicants may submit their films online ‘Film Festival Platforms’ (as mentioned) or / and WeTransfer or / and by Email.
The short films may be in their original language, but MUST be subtitled in ENGLISH. (It's not applicable for HINDI and ENGLISH Language). Films awarded and/ or submitted previously to any other festival can also be considered for this contest. All spoken non-English films must include English subtitles.
Judgment: The Panel of the Juries will be composed of prominent representatives of culture, film production, film theory, film critics, as well as filmmakers and producers. Individuals who participated in the making of any of the competition films are not eligible to become members of the Jury. All Jury Members are sworn to secrecy.
The accepted percentage of submitted films will be anything between 10% to 50% based on the number of entries submitted (qualitative and quantitative both factors will be taken care of) and number of exhibited films may differ. But it is assumed and declared that it may be higher or lower in any case, the discretion will be of Festival Program Director and Panel of Juries.
Originality, Permissions, Indemnity: Films must be the original work of the applicants. If a film is based upon another person’s life or upon a book or other underlying work, applicant(s) must secure any necessary rights to make such adaptations. However, it is not necessary to submit the adaptation rights agreements to the Festival. Neither the Festival nor its jurists investigates or attests to the authenticity of an applicant’s statement of authorship or rights secured. By entering the competition, you represent that you have secured all necessary rights. Applicants are solely responsible for obtaining all necessary rights and permissions for third-party materials included in their films, including but not limited to music, trademarks, logos, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights. AIM expressly disclaims all liability or responsibility for any violations of the foregoing.
Additional Information: We strongly encourage filmmakers to submit their film only after it is fully finished and will judge each submission as a completed work, whether it is or not. Once a film is entered, we will not update the submission with a more recent cut. That said, because AIM’s focus is on story, minor technical changes will not affect the final decision of any film. Should the film be accepted to play during the Festival, the filmmaker will have the opportunity to supply the Festival with their most recent version.
MUSTDO:
1. Complete entry form.
2. Synopsis of the Film -100 words and 20 words both (in MS Word)
3. About Director (Bio-Data) – 100 words (in MS Word)
4. 2 Still photographs of film(in JPEG)
5. Poster(If any – in JPEG)