TEHRAN-The line-up for the international competition section of the 41st Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) has been announced by the festival secretariat, in which 107 short films will compete for the top awards.

This year, the festival received 13,651 submissions from more than 30 countries. The number of submitted films is a new record in the history of the event, about twice the number of submissions last year, IRNA reported.

The line-up includes 59 short fiction films, 21 animated movies, 18 documentaries, and nine experimental films. The submitted works are from India, China, Poland, the U.S., Egypt, Greece, France, Palestine, Turkey, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Cuba among others.

The TISFF has been held for 40 consecutive years in Iran, by the Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS) – one of the most renowned schools of cinema and short film production in Iran and throughout the world. 

With more than 80 branches across the country and a family of 250 thousand graduates, the IYCS has gone through excellent educational and effective filmmaking courses, producing hundreds of short films every year and winning hundreds of awards from prestigious and prominent international film festivals in the past four decades. Many of the IYCS’s graduates rank among the top celebrated filmmakers of both Iran and the world.

The TISFF is approved by the Academy Awards® (Oscars) and the winner of the Grand Prize becomes eligible for the Oscars.

After holding and celebrating 40 glorious years, the TISFF is introducing two new categories to the previous categories of for its 41st edition.

With the rise of cutting-edge and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Extended Reality (XR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR), we are witnessing fundamental, profound, and significant changes in the creative production process and the presentation of visual and audio works. These advancements are shaping a future where short film production and distribution will evolve rapidly and precisely.

To understand, recognize, utilize, reflect, advance, and enhance these technological transformations and advancements in service of the art and industry of short films, the festival introduces two new categories in its international competition sections to accept, judges and screens creatively produced short films made using these technologies: AI and XR/ VR/ MR/ AR.

The festival also introduces these two categories to fulfill and advance its global mission of fostering, encouraging, enhancing, and promoting excellence in short filmmaking, inviting up-and-coming talents and emerging filmmakers to delve into the realms of emerging, creativity, immersion, and low-budget production, as well as acknowledging and supporting those who excel in this innovative landscape.

Mehdi Azarpendar, the managing director of the IYCS, will serve as director of the secretary of the upcoming edition of the TISFF, due to be held from October 18 to 23 at Mellat Cineplex in Tehran.

SS/SAB