ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
CELEBRATING SHORT FILM
The Vancouver Short Film Festival (VSFF) is a celebration of Canada’s vibrant community of short film, documentary, and animation artists.
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Our goal is to elevate talent from British Columbia and connect BC creators to the greater film industry nationwide. By providing an arena for short filmmakers to showcase their films to the public, we help build ties between emerging filmmakers, established professionals, and their local communities.
OUR HISTORY
SINCE 2005
2005
The inaugural Vancouver Student Film Festival is held on Tuesday August 23rd, 2005 at the Pacific Cinematheque. The sold-out event showcases 12 of Vancouver's most successful post-secondary student filmmakers and graduates.
2006
The VSFF expands to include 17 films over two days, with the first-ever panel portion of the festival. Five established industry professionals provide their expertise on How to Make Your Next Short Film. Held at the Vancity Theatre, the festival's spectatorship doubled in size, with the Saturday evening screening selling out.
2009
The Board changes the name and nature of the festival to Canada's first Vancouver Short Film Festival, to accommodate professional artists. With the help of a rejuvenated Board of Directors, the VSFF receives 140 entries and screens 32 films on October 23-24, 2009.
2010
VSFF celebrates a second year under our new name with 45 short films, a panel, our second international screening, a retrospective screening of the top films in our five years, two parties, and a free screening co-presented by the National Film Board of Canada.
2012
The 3rd annual VSFF partners with the NFB's Get Animated! with an animation workshop and Family Program, screens 29 films including a "Hometown Favourites" program, and presents a panel on using the short film medium as a stepping stone to other careers.
2013
The 4th annual VSFF presents two special screenings: BC Web Series and BC All-Stars, celebrating 21 films and 4 locally produced web series.
2014
VSFF celebrates 5 years as the Vancouver Short Film Festival with another BC Web Series screening and a special retrospective screening featuring Best Short Film winners from the past 4 years. In total, 21 short films and web series are screened.
2015
The Board unanimously decided to move the festival dates from November to January.
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2016
The 6th annual Festival takes place at the Vancity Theatre Jan 28-29, 2016. 23 films are shown in 4 programs over two days, with two sold out shows and attendance over 85% capacity.
2017
The 7th annual VSFF takes place Jan 27-28, 2017,
showcasing 28 short films over 2 days. On Jan 27 our hashtag #vsff17 trends #1 in Vancouver.
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2018
In our 8th year, we premiere our first-ever After Dark programming block, featuring selections of horror and thriller shorts from BC’s genre filmmaking community.
We also hold our inaugural Filmmaker Luncheon event, a networking and educational opportunity for the filmmakers with films screening at the festival featuring 2-4 industry professionals in a panel breakfast.
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2019
In our 9th year, VSFF expands its programming across the calendar with two networking events, The October Indie Film Mixer and June Spring Film Mixer, bringing together VSFF alumni, sponsors, industry partners, and community members to provide space for our networks to reconnect year-round.
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2020
The 10th annual festival (Jan 24-26) sees an expansion to three days in celebration of our anniversary. VSFF screens 51 short films in 6 screenings, including a 10th Anniversary Retrospective screening, celebrating some of our best films from years past. Ticket sales are the highest in the history of the festival.
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2021
In our 11th edition, VSFF transitions to a fully online format in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Delivered via Eventive Virtual, VSFF screens our largest program ever with 61 short films across 7 programmes, 3 days of industry and filmmaker events, and an Awards Presentation awarding 15 awards to BC’s top short films.
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2022
In our 12th edition, VSFF's features 51 short films in 6 programs submitted by filmmakers from across Canada. The 3-day fully online event features filmmaker-exclusive events including our Filmmaker Coffee Hour panel & discussion, an After Dark Watch Party, and our annual Awards Presentation.
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In June 2022, VSFF holds Live In Theatre
screenings of our full 2022 and 2021 festival programs, in-person at the VIFF Centre in Vancouver. Thirteen screenings in two cinemas are offered over a two-day period, plus VSFF official After Parties - we were pleased to return to in-person gatherings after a 2 year hiatus!
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The festival now regularly receives over 300 submissions a year, and we award $40,000 worth of cash and prizes directly to the filmmakers annually.
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