Aspen Shortsfest is the spring short film festival of Aspen Film, the nonprofit that also runs Filmfest each autumn in Aspen, Colorado. Its international competition takes shorts of 40 minutes or less in four categories – animation, comedy, documentary and drama – with separate prizes for student films and very short works. Screenings with filmmaker conversations take place at the Wheeler Opera House and the Aspen Isis Theatre, with selected programs at The Crystal Theatre in Carbondale, alongside panels, workshops and school screenings.
Shortsfest is a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards, and its jury winners have gone on to Oscar nominations: Jane Austen’s Period Drama, a nominee for Best Live Action Short, qualified by winning the festival’s Jury Award for Comedy in 2025. The 2027 edition takes place on 6–10 April 2027.
Awards and prizes
The International Competition Jury presents Jury Awards for Animation, Comedy, Drama and Documentary ($2,500 each), and for Short Short and Student Short ($1,250 each); it may also give Special Jury Recognition awards.
Other prizes: the Ellen Award ($2,500), chosen by a separate jury for the film that evokes the spirit of Aspen Film’s founder; the Audience Choice Award ($1,250); and the Youth Jury Award ($1,250), chosen by local middle and high school students.
Aspen Shortsfest is an Academy Award qualifying festival; its FilmFreeway page also lists it as qualifying for BAFTA Cymru and the Canadian Screen Awards.
Festival rules
Films must be 40 minutes or shorter and are entered in one or more categories: Animation, Comedy, Documentary or Drama. For the 2027 edition, films cannot have premiered before April 2026. Films publicly broadcast or available online in the United States are not eligible; restricted online festival screenings do not count.
Only one version of a film may be submitted. Student Award entries must have been completed while the director was enrolled in an accredited film or media program. Non-English films need English subtitles, and all films with dialogue, including English-language ones, need English open captions if selected. The festival screens from DCP only; selected films without a DCP get help creating one.
Entries are submitted through FilmFreeway with an online screener and a non-refundable fee; a limited number of fee waivers is available for filmmakers who cannot pay for political or geographical reasons. Late entry requests go to the festival by email. All entrants are notified in March.
