Bref International Short Film Festival (1)

Festival start: 23 April 2025      Festival end: 27 April 2025

Bref International Short Film Festival is the first festival dedicated to short films in Valle d'Aosta regione (Italy). Organized by AIACE VDA, a cultural association founded in 2020 in Aosta and dedicated to cinema in every form that organizes several events, workshops, school labs all over the year.

The idea of the festival is not only to be a showcase for the best contemporary films and new authors, but has also many special programs in order to put the attention on stories that matters. Inclusivity, human and civil rights, transfeminism, antifascism and resistance are themes that will have a lot of space both in the competition and in the special programs.

We accept all kind of shorts: fiction, animation and documentaries.

The festival will have several programs but all films will compete for all awards (except for the SAVT award that is tied to the theme of labour rights)

Set in Valle d'Aosta, a region at the border with Switzerland and France, the festival have also a strong intention to create bridges with those countries in an Industry section and with a special francophone program.

Cash Prizes: 1,500€

The festival will have 3 different juries: Young jury, Official jury and Critics jury.

- Jury Award for Best Film

- Young Jury Award for Best Film

- SAVT Award: worth €1000, presented by the Syndicat Valdôtain des Travailleurs to the film that best explores issues related to the labor market and working life

- Critics’ Award for Best Film

- SuperBref Award for the best film under 5 minutes

- Nocturno Award for the best film of the Midnight program: this award includes an interview and the presentation of the short film in the magazine Nocturno

- Ciné-Passage Award for the best French speaking film

- Resist! Award, worth €500 for the best film that explores themes related to resistance

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1. The festival is structured in the following categories:

- International Short Film Competition: the competition is open to all short films (we accept animation, live-action and documentary, with no limitations on themes or genres).

- Midnight Program: dedicated to horror and fantastic cinema.

- Kids: a family-friendly program.

- Resistance Program: dedicated to films whose main subject revolves around the theme of resistance (this can be represented in various ways, including human and civil rights, feminism, antifascism, resilience, antispecism, and so on).

- Ciné-passage: dedicated to Francophone cinema.

- Super Bref: dedicated to short films with a runtime of less than 5 minutes.

All short films must run up to 30 minutes, except for those in the Super Bref program. All films must be produced AFTER January 2024, expect for the Resistance program where all films produced after January 2022 might submit if the film is related to the theme.

Selected films will be included in one of these categories, according to the decision of the selection committee. You only need to submit your film to one category; if it qualifies for others, we will consider it automatically. If your film is selected for a different category, we will notify you and request your approval before finalizing the selection.

All sections are competitive and eligible for the awards specified in the "awards & prizes" section.

2. The festival aims to showcase high-quality films able to tell stories with significant social and cultural value. Eligible films must relate in some way to the following genres and themes: fictional or documentary short films, animated short films, experimental films, and works dealing with topics such as resistance, politics, feminism, antifascism, antispecism, and more.

3. Each author is responsible for the content of their work.

4. If the film’s dialogues are not in Italian, it must include Italian or english subtitles. If Italian subtitles are not available, in case of selection, it is mandatory to provide the festival with an .srt file of the english subtitles and/or a time-coded dialogue list, along with a low-resolution file of the film. This will allow the festival to create the Italian subtitles.

(IMPORTANT: The low-resolution file used for subtitling must be identical to the screening copy).

PLEASE don't change your screener password once submitted.

PLEASE submit your film using a Vimeo link, we often have problems watching films submitted using Festhome streaming service.

5. In case of selection, we will contact participants privately to request all required materials for marketing, subtitling, and screening purposes.
The screening copy of the films must be provided to the festival at least three weeks before the event begins, either via digital download or shipment.

Accepted formats: H264
If a physical shipment is required, the festival will cover shipping costs both ways, unless the package is to be sent directly to another festival after the Bref International Short Film Festival. In such cases, the recipient must cover the shipping costs.

6. Once selected, a film cannot be withdrawn from the competition.

7. Selected films that fail to provide the requested materials and documentation, or provide them after the specified deadlines, may be excluded from the selection.

8. The festival will not handle the shipment of trophies or awards if the winners are unable to attend the award ceremony.

9. The festival will not pay screening fees to the authors/distributors of selected films in competition.

10. Applying for participation in the Bref International Short Film Festival constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these regulations.