Ural Shorts (4)

Festival start: 17 March 2025      Festival end: 25 June 2025

On the border of Europe and Asia, in the 300-year-old city called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains —
we organize an International Short Film Festival with a quarterly Official Selection and Live Screenings every summer, autumn, winter and spring.

NOW OPEN: Submissions for the Ural Shorts Spring 2025

Our mission is to seek out and unearth fresh talent in the art of filmmaking from across the globe. We aim to showcase and endorse top-tier independent short films, regardless of their origin, production year or budget. Our ultimate goal is to encourage and inspire auteurs everywhere.

Ural Shorts consists of four Seasons and Annual Award Event. Every Season the selection committee watches privately the submitted short films and chooses the Official Selections. All selected films enter the competition for the Season Awards.

Within 10 days after the Official Selection list is published the jury announces the Season Winners. The winning films enter the Screening Program in cinemas and on television for all to see.

All Season winners enter the competition for the Annual Awards in 18 nominations corresponding to the Main and Technical and Performances categories. And receive an invitation to the Annual Award Event.

The Ural Shorts Annual Event takes place in August in the 300-year-old city of Nizhny Tagil, on the border of Europe and Asia, which is called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains. Annual Award Event consists of a cultural and educational program, the annual awards ceremony, screenings, TV interviews, workshops, and other activities.

Short films can be submitted in the following Main Categories:

1. Fiction Short
2. Documentary Short
3. Docudrama, docufiction
4. Animated Short
5. Experimental Short
6. Student Short
7. Debut Short
8. Micro Film
9. Music Video
10. New Media

You can submit your film in several main categories. Films entered in multiple categories may win multiple awards.

BONUS: You can submit your film in any of the Main Categories where you feel your project fits better and automatically your film will be considered for all Technical and Performances Categories with no extra cost. You don’t need to pay any additional category fee!

Technical and Performances Categories:
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Leading Actor
Best Leading Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Cinematography
Best Editing

Every Season the jury announces the Season Winners in 18 nominations corresponding to the Main and Technical and Performances categories.

All selected films receive the Official Selection laurels. All Season Winners receive the Winner laurels, the Certificate of Achievement (digital format) ready for printing, and get the opportunity to be screened in a cinema theatre and / or on television.

All Season winners enter the competition for the Annual Awards and receive an invitation to the Annual Award Event. The winners of the annual awards receive the Ural Shorts Trophy. To award special prizes and diplomas from the jury, the festival directorate, partners and sponsors is possible.

Please read these Rules & Terms carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your film into competition in the Ural Shorts, you clearly acknowledge these Rules & Terms and agree completely to them.

Eligibility

1. We accept international short films up to 40 minutes in length.

2. There are no restrictions on genre, production year, country of origin and premiere status. To participate in the Ural Shorts your film may be available online and/or be shown earlier at other festivals.

3. You can apply through the festival’s official website or through online platforms.

4. An entrance fee is required for all the Main Categories. All Technical & Performances Categories are free of charge and are included by submitting your film in any Main Category.

5. Multiple entries in Main Categories from the same submitter are accepted. The same film can be submitted in several Main Categories and qualify for several prizes. But each submission must be accompanied by a completed online entry form and a separate entrance fee.

6. Each short film must be entered for at least one of the main categories. In some cases, though, the selection committees reserve the right to assign it to another competition or special program.

7. The official languages of the festival are Russian and English. Films with spoken dialogues in languages other than Russian and English are accepted only with English subtitles.

8. We don’t accept work in progress, copies of films.

9. Entrants are responsible for securing all rights and permissions from copyright and other holders relating to their short.

Entry fee

1. The entry fee depends on the time of application (deadline):

- early deadline (up to the 25th of the first month of the season) — $18

- regular deadline (up to the 25th of the second month of the season) — $24

- late deadline (up to the 25th of the third month of the season) — $30

2. All Submission fees are non-refundable.

3. We work hard to keep our submission fees as low as possible – consequently we cannot provide fee waivers.

Notification

The applicants of submitted films that have been selected will be notified via e-mail. The Official Selection list will also be published on our website https://uralshorts.com and on our social media. The Winners list will be published no later than two weeks after the official selection notification.

Screenings

1. Every Season we make a list of films which are going to be screened in the theatre and/or on TV. We screen only the season awarded films. Due to the duration of the screening in some cases we may not screen all the winners.

2. Selected films not received an award will not participate in the screenings, unless the festival management has made a different decision.

3. Copies of films included in the screening program must be provided to Ural Shorts by transmission over the Internet within 10 days from the date of notification of such inclusion. Formats of copies to display: DCP, HD files. The Festival has the right to demonstrate the copy that was attached to the application in case of compliance with its technical requirements.

4. The winning films and films of the competition program of the year can be shown no more than 3 (three) times without the written permission of the film producer or his authorized representative. Ural Shorts has the right to show films in all screenings organized under the Ural Shorts brand. The festival does not pay license fees for screening films selected for the competition.

Annual Award Event

Each Edition of the festival has a duration of one year: it starts on June 1 current year, and finishes on May 31 next year, and consists of four competitive seasons. All Season winners enter the competition for the Annual Awards in 18 nominations corresponding to the Main and Technical and Performances categories. By the jury’s decision, special nominations are possible. The winners of the annual awards receive the Ural Shorts Trophy.

The Ural Shorts Annual Event takes place in August in the 300-year-old city of Nizhny Tagil, on the border of Europe and Asia, which is called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains. Annual Award Event consists of a cultural and educational program, the annual awards ceremony, meetings, TV interviews, workshops, and other activities.

The winners of all four seasons will receive invitations to the award ceremony. The participation terms will be stipulated in personal invitations.

Conclusions

1. Changes to the submitted films will only be accepted if accompanied by a new submission fee.

2. The decisions of the festival team, the selection committee and the jury are final and non-negotiable. Thank you for your understanding.

3. By submitting your film, you authorize Ural Shorts International Short Film Festival to use, distribute and share the film poster, trailer, synopsis, movie stills and filmmakers names, informational and promotional materials on our website and social media accounts, on television and for the purpose of promoting the festival.

4. Ural Shorts reserves the right to update or modify these terms and conditions, not to award any prizes if the entries received are not up to the expected standards, as well as to change or re-schedule dates, awards, categories without prior notice.

5. The applicant agrees that he has read and accepted these Rules and Conditions. The applicant confirms that he/she has the necessary authority or has received the necessary authority from the copyright holder to submit the film for participation in the festival.

6. The applicant is responsible for ensuring all rights to the content of the work relevant to the film's use by the festival. The applicant guarantees that the rights to any material produced by others (music, film footage, photographs, text etc.) used in the film have been cleared, and that the screening or other use of the film by the festival does not infringe rights held by third parties. He/she also guarantees the protection of Ural Shorts from any third-party claims related to the screening/using the film within the framework of the festival, including covering any legal costs that might be incurred.

7. By submitting an electronic application for the Ural Shorts festival via the official website or the Festhome platform, the applicant confirms that he/she is an authorized representative of the copyright holder of the film and agrees to all the above points of these Terms and Conditions in full.