Call for Entries - 2026 Festival

Are you European? Did you make your first short film in 2025-2026? Do you dream of seeing it screened on the big screen at a major festival? Register your film for the Brest European Short Film Festival from Monday 2 February on Short Film Depot!

Film submission deadlines:
31 March 2026 for films copyrighted in 2025
8 June 2026 for films copyrighted in 2026

• Festival submissions are reserved for European first films.

The following are considered first films:
– A self-produced first film,
– A professionally produced first film (the filmmaker may have made a school film or several self-produced films previously),
– A school film (the filmmaker may have made several films as part of this school).

• Festival submissions are reserved for live-action fiction films.
• Films must not exceed 30 minutes in length.
• Submitted films will be considered for all Festival programmes across all sections:

• Competitions

– The Europe competition is reserved for first films produced or co-produced mainly in Europe.
– The France competition is reserved for first films produced or co-produced mainly in France.
– The Brittany competition is reserved for first films shot and/or produced in Brittany.

• Brest off

Brest Off are non-competitive programmes featuring first films with a a copyright date of 2025 or 2026, all based around a specific theme.

• Création en Cour(t)s, Special Screenings and Carte Blanche

These non-competitive sections bring together screenings honouring filmmakers who have previously been selected to Brest, film genres (Panorama Animation, dedicated to animated films, and OVNI, dedicated to experimental cinema), production companies and programming workshops. Second and third films from all years, selected through prospecting (not through submissions), are included in these sections.

• Young Audiences

Since 2026, there has been no call for films dedicated to the Young Audiences sections. These programmes, designed for school or family audiences, are not reserved for first films. They bring together short films from submissions (first live-action films) and prospecting (animated films and/or second films and beyond).