How do filmmakers tell a story in under six minutes?

Find out at the 18th annual Short Short Story Film Festival.

About the Festival

The Short Short Story Film Festival is a competitive international festival of films that tell a story in under six minutes, celebrating brevity in filmmaking with both live-action and animated films.

The festival consists of two programs, Heartstrings and Headtrip, each with a distinctive tone yet wide-ranging styles and topics, and including both live-action and animated films.

It's a Wrap!

The 18th edition of the festival returned to celebrate brevity in film-making in a new way, starting Monday, 24th November and running through Sunday, 7th December.

Continuing with our approach from 2024, this year's festival was a unique online event, with film makers across the globe participating in both exhibiting and reviewing films.

A panel of Spoiler Alert Radio interviewees judged the films and selected the best in each program as well.

Touch here to see a list of jury members.

Festival Awards

For the Heartstrings program, the winner was Lilli + Camille, from German director Iris Birke, depicting the loss of a loved one and the healing quality of flora – a space in which memory and vitality exists equally.

For the Headtrip program, the winner was Tar, from Iranian directors Fariba Farzanfar and Kaveh Sistani. In Persian, tar can mean a strand of hair or a traditional stringed instrument. The film is animated with real strands of hair, depicting a girl, her instruments, and an enraged centipede.

Commissioned custom art objects created by past festival winners are presented to current winners.

Festival Film Selections

With several hundred submissions from forty countries, it was difficult yet rewarding to select the best of the best.

In total, we accepted 18 films, from a dozen countries on four continents, most of which are US or World premieres.

Touch here to see a list of festival films.

Festival History

The festival has taken place every November since 2007 (except for a Covid hiatus in 2020), in cities and towns throughout the northeastern United States.

To learn more about the festival concept and history, touch here.

For requirements to submit to future editions, touch here.

There is no fee to submit your film to the festival.