Short Com International Comedy Film and Animation Festival

Overview

Short Com is a one of the leading comedy specific film and animation festivals around the world. And is both a BAFTA and BIFA qualifying film festival. Short Com prides itself on the quality of its programme and the range of comedy stylings it has screened, by filmmakers all around the globe. The most emphatic thing we look for in a film is its ability to make an audience laugh or smile, thus we consider ourselves the most competitive comedy short film festival in Europe. Short Com has screened films from amateur made films to multi-award films that have screened at major film festivals and gone on to being Oscar winners. Short Com has screened during the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, in London, Manchester, Bristol and Berlin. For two years it was a guest programme at the Glasgow Short Film Festival. And has also co-programmed for the BBC for their Comedy Festival in Newcastle 2022 and Glasgow in 2024. Our festival programme screens in London in late September and as part of SI-FAN 2028 in Edinburgh April/May. Why submit to Short Com? If you want your film programmed alongside the best films that recognises and respects the beauty of comedy. Then we're the festival for you. Comedy aside, filmmakers and audiences often claim that we have the best film programmes they've ever seen. When you become a Short Com alumni, we'll also be there to support you and try to help you in your career where we can. 2025 Programme - https://www.shortcom.org/2025-programme 2024 Programme - https://www.shortcom.org/2024-programme 2023 Programme - https://www.shortcom.org/2023-programme 2022 Programme - https://www.shortcom.org/2022-programme 2021 Programme -https://www.shortcom.org/2021-programme 2020 Programme - https://www.shortcom.org/2020-programme 2019 Programme - https://www.shortcom.org/2019-programme Judges for 2026 TBA festival Previous judges have included ; Eva O'Flynn - Development Exec for Channel 4 Comedy, Jim Archer - Director of Brian and Charles and Big Boys, Tom Kiesecoms - Programmer at Slash Film Festival, Steven Hendry - Festival Director of Manchester Animation Festival and Editor of Skwigly Magazine Amy O’Hara - Development Exec at Film 4, Rob Munday Directors Notes, Gregor Sharp BBC Comedy and more. -- If your film can also be considered genre (horror, fantasy, Sci-Fi, action), it might be also worth checking out our genre sister festival SI-FAN (https://filmfreeway.com/SI-FAN) -- For Short Com TV Sitcom Writing Competition, please visit https://www.shortcom.org/script-competition for further details. --

Last updated Sep 12, 2026

Legitimacy Analysis

Trust Signals

Festival Details

FilmFreeway communityGold festival

• Filmmaker

  Oh, I'm incredibly inspired by your festival, the level of competition is great, the films in the programme are brilliant, I got an incomparable pleasure from watching the participating films and the result. I laughed and rejoiced. Excellent communication and hospitality from the organisers. There are not enough stars in the world to give Short Com a rating. Thank you so much!

• Filmmaker

  Loved Short Com! The best fest around!

• Filmmaker

  A fantastic festival that we were so lucky to screen at. It was clear that a lot of thought went into the curation of shorts as they were all at such a high standard and obviously hilarious. Great communication all round and great buzz and we hope to see more of Shortcom! Shout out to Chris who was a complete gent.

• Filmmaker

  We are so thankful to Short Com for screening our stop motion film, "A Bird Hit My Window and Now I'm a Lesbian." We were honored to be a part of the LGBTQ+ Selection." Chris and the team were super communicative, supportive, and kind! xoxo, Carmela and AJ

• Filmmaker

  Carmela Marie Murphy

FilmFreeway reviews are filmmaker opinions, not our score. Cross-check red flags before paying fees.

Related Festivals in United Kingdom