The 20th London Short Film Festival will be held from 13th-22nd January 2023

LSFF exists to spotlight a multiplicity of filmmakers, visual artists and creatives, across intersections and with a commitment to peripheral voices.

Each January, the festival hosts ten days of short form, conversation and multidisciplinary curation. It will present up to 500 British and international films, collaboratively selected from 5000+ open submissions, alongside Special Events and an industry programme of workshops, panels and discussion for filmmakers and cinema workers.

Each edition, LSFF awards cash prizes to the UK and international short films screening in our annual competition. We are a BAFTA-affiliated festival, enabling accepted UK filmmakers to apply for the 2023 BAFTAs.

Awards & Prizes

Each year the festival appoints an international jury who deliberate on the following categories and award prizes.

LSFF jury in recent years has comprised of filmmakers such as Ngozi Onwurah (Welcome II the Terrordome), Lucille Hadžihalilović (Innocence), Nick Rowland (Calm With Horses), Baloji (Zombies), producer Jacqui Davies (Ray & Liz), film industry professionals such as actors Stacy Martin (Nymphomania, Vox Lux) and Jessica Barden (The Lobster, The End of the Fucking World), journalist Wendy Ide,and festival programmers from Hamburg Short Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Dokufest Kosovo, imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival, Open City Docs, and Short Waves Poland.

BEST UK SHORT FILM

The Best UK Short Film Award spotlights the multiplicity and diversity of British creators and creativity producing impactful, challenging work.

The Best UK Short Film Award winner will receive a £1000 grant towards their next project and a choice of financial support to travel to an international festival or training and development opportunity, plus a £1000 cash prize from the festival itself.

A Special Mention runner-up will be awarded £500 towards their next project.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM

The Best International Short Film Award champions filmmaking from across the globe interpreting cultural, political and social concerns in bold and exploratory ways.

The Best International Short Film award winner will receive a £1000 grant towards their next project.

A Special Mention runner-up will be awarded £500 towards their next project.

THE TAASH AWARD FOR COMEDY IN FILM

Sponsored by Mark Rylance and the Van Kampen family in partnership with Sky Arts

Getting a laugh is a rare talent – subjective to each one of us watching, whilst a universal experience when it’s gotten right – and this award acknowledges those filmmakers finessing comedy on screen.

In celebration of the life of promising filmmaker Nataasha Van Kampen, this award remembers her boundless talent and humour, as founded and sponsored by her stepfather, Mark Rylance.

BEST LO-BUDGET SHORT FILM

LSFF has always championed a little DIY rebelliousness in short filmmaking, while being aware there’s a method to that madness.

LSFF’s Lo-Budget Mayhem programme has been the festival’s traditional celebration of such filmmaking, and this award recognises work that is imaginative, resourceful and tells stories with limited-to-no resources and a good dose of wit.

All qualifying films can be found in Lo-Budget Mayhem programme and this award is deliberated on by a separate youth jury.

The Best Lo-Budget Short winner will receive an award of £500.