20TH PRAGUESHORTS FILM FESTIVAL
FEBRUARY 25 – MARCH 1, 2026 IN THE CINEMAS
MARCH 1 – 22, 2026 AT ONLINE PLATFORM KVIFF.TV
Article 1
The Pragueshorts Film Festival is a competitive festival of short films. Its aim is to contribute to the development and promotion of artistic short films and their production.
Article 2
The Festival is organized by Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary, a. s., located at Panska 1, 110 00, Praha 1, Czech Republic, Tel: +420 221 411 011, Fax: +420 221 411 033, E-mail: [email protected], www.pragueshorts.com
Article 3
The 20th Pragueshorts Film Festival will take place in Prague - February 25 – March 1, 2026 in the cinemas, March 1 - 22, 2026 at online platform KVIFF.TV.
Article 4
The Festival program includes the following:
International Competition of short films of up to 30 minutes
National Competition of short films of up to 30 minutes
Labo Competition of short experimental films of up to 30 minutes
Brutal Relax Show –non-competitive midnight program of short films up to 30 minutes
non-competitive informative film sections, retrospectives, biographies, tributes, programs for kids and other accompanying events. The length of films in non-competitive informative sections must not exceed 30 minutes.
Article 5
Film Submissions:
Submission fee:
Early Birds (with deadline for submissions until July 1, 2025) 15 EUR
Regular (with deadline for submissions until September 1, 2025): 25 EUR
Late (with deadline for submissions until October 1, 2025): 35 EUR
Only Master Card and Visa payments will be accepted.
1/ International Competition
Live action shorts, documentary, and animated films of all genres with no thematic restrictions and a maximum runtime of 30 minutes, produced after January 1, 2024, are eligible for submission.
2/ National Competition
Live action shorts, documentary, and animated films of all genres with no thematic restrictions and a maximum runtime of 30 minutes, produced after January 1, 2025, are eligible for submission. Production company has to be located in Czech Republic.
3/ Labo Competition
Experimental films up to 30 minutes, created after January 1, 2024, are eligible for submission.
4/ Midnight Program –non-competitive program
All horror genres, bizzare stories or even disasterpieces up to 30 minutes running time are welcome! Submitted film must have been produced after January 1, 2024.
Article 6
Films will be selected by an expert committee
Accepted films may not be withdrawn from the Festival Program after official selection confirmation.
Applicants may submit their films as online screeners via entry form without any temporal limitation.
All spoken non-English films must include English subtitles.
Article 7
Screening copies of the selected films (DCP or HD files only, with English subtitles) intended for presentation at the Festival must be delivered to the Festival by February 8, 2026. Participants are required to follow the festival's instructions, which they will receive along with the notification of their film’s selection for the 20th edition of the Pragueshorts Film Festival.
Article 8
The Festival must receive a detailed documentation for each selected film, whether for a competition or for a non-competitive section, including the following: a synopsis of the film, stills of the film, a biography and filmography of the director, an original dialogue list and its translation into English and an online screener.
Participation at the Festival requires submission of a film teaser, preferably in electronic form, or granting an authorisation to the Festival to produce such a teaser at the Festival’s expense to facilitate the film promotion. The length of the teasers shall not exceed 10% of the film or three minutes, as the maximum length. The participant hereby grants his/her consent to the teaser being broadcast on the Czech or international TVs and on the Internet.
Article 9
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.
Article 10
Within the International Competition, the Jury shall present the following awards:
Grand Prix and EUR 3,000 for Best Short Film
Further, the Jury may award the following:
two Special Jury Mentions
Within the National Competition, the Jury shall present the following awards:
Grand Prix and EUR 2,000 for Best Short Film
Further, the Jury may award the following:
two Special Jury Mentions
Within Labo Competition - the experimental films section, the Jury shall present the following award:
Grand Prix and EUR 1,000 for the Best Experimental Film
Further, the Jury may award the following:
one Special Jury Mentions
Financial awards will go to the director of the winning films and may not be attributed ex-aequo.
Article 11
Any unclear situations or cases not covered by these Regulations shall be resolved by the Management of the Prague Short Film Festival.
Article 12
Participation at the Festival is subject to acceptance of the Regulations set out herein.