Leiden Shorts
Leiden Shorts is an annual short film festival held in the city of Leiden, The Netherlands. Leiden Shorts (previously known as Leiden International Short Film Experience) was founded in 2009 as a cineclub and has grown to become one of the Netherlands' largest international short film festivals. Founded in 2009, LISFE (Leiden International Short Film Experience) was created by 5 cinema-loving expats. While they were studying at Leiden University, the first and oldest university in the Netherlands, they felt that short film was grossly underrepresented as an art form and sought to create a space where short film could truly be appreciated as a medium. From their love of short film, a cineclub was born. Held in sporadic locations, it was an open space for cinephiles of all genres. Above all, this cineclub shone a new and open spotlight on short films. Today, what was originally a one-day festival has grown into Leiden Shorts, one of the most prominent short film festivals in the Netherlands. Fourteen editions later, the now 4-day festival has gone from screenings in Leiden’s underground art spaces to collaborations co-hosted by Leiden’s cinemas. Next to the main festival, Leiden Shorts is involved in cultural events throughout the year in collaboration with several organisations in Leiden and its surroundings. Examples are Leiden International Film Festival (LIFF), Leiden Observatory, RAP, Vrijplaats Leiden, Cultuurmaand, Nacht van Ondekkingen and Museumnacht Leiden. Leiden Shorts is a member of Talking Shorts. Since 2012, the festival has three categories of awards – General Award, Student Award and Audience Award. In 2020, a National Award was created, and the General Award was renamed International Award. The juries for the National, International, and Student Awards are generally composed of scholars, filmmakers and other film professionals alike. The audience votes during the festival and the results are announced on the last day of the festival. During the festival's retrospective edition in 2023, the Retrospective Audience Award was awarded to three films with the highest audience rating. = Best Professional Film Jury Award: Spitted by Kiss (dir. Milos Tomić), Czech Republic Best Professional Film Audience Award: Tanghi argentiny (dir. Guy Thys), Belgium = Best Professional Film Jury Award: Efecto Domino (dir. Gagriel Gauchet), Cuba and Germany Best Professional Film Audience Award: Edgar (dir. Fabian Busch), Germany = Best Professional Film Jury Award: Casus Belli (dir. Yorgos Zoi), Greece Best Professional Film Audience Award: Teclópolis (dir. Javier Mrad), Argentina Best Student film Audience Award: Bastagon and the Rainbow Princess (dir. Marc Schlegel), Austria Jury Honorable Mention: Air (dir. Fabrizio Fracassi and Florian Graf), Switzerland = Best Professional Film Jury Award: Bread (Ekmek) (dir. Koray Sevindi), Turkey Best Professional Film Audience Award: The Hour's Home (A Casa das Horas) (dir. Heraldo Cavalcanti), Brazil Best Student film Audience Award: Assemblé (dir. Miguel Ferraez from Universidad Anahuac), Mexico Best Student film Jury Mention: Grandmothers (Abuelas) (dir. Afarin Eghbal from the National Film & Television School), UK Jury Honorable Mention: The Counting Device (Numărătoarea manuală) (dir. Daniel Sandu), Romania Jury Honorable Mention: The Star (Hviezda) (dir. Andrej Kolencik), Slovakia = Best Film Jury Prize: DYKWLI (Do you know what love is) (dir. Leni Huyghe), Belgium, 2012 Best Film Audience Award: Los Retratos (Portraits) (dir. Iván D. Gaona), Colombia, 2012 Beste Student Film Juryprijs: Adem'in kuyusu (Well of adem) (dir. Veysel Cihan Hızar), Turkey, 2012 Jury Honorable Mention: Marze shekaste (Broken border) (dir. Keywan Karimi), Iran, 2012 = Held at Scheltema Leiden General Award: Baghdad Messi (dir. Sahim Omar Kalifa), United Arab Emirates and Belgium, 2013 = Held at Meelfabriek Leiden Audience Award: Mama Agatha (dir. Fadi Hindash), Netherlands, 2014 General Award: Symphony no. 42 (dir. Réka Bucsi), Hungary, 2014 = Held at Haagwegvier Leiden Audience Award: Within Four Walls (dir. Hyo Kaag), Netherlands, 2015 General Award: Allegory of the Jam Jar (dir, Boris Kuijpers & Ruth Mellaerts), Belgium, 2015 = Held at Het Leidse Volkshuis Student Award: Digital Immigrants (dir. Dennis Stauffer & Nortbert Kottmann), Switzerland, 2016 Audience Award: Watu Wote (All of us) (dir. Katja Benrath), Germany, 2016 General Award: Il Silenzio (dir. Ali Asgari), Italy and France, 2016 = Held at Kijkhuis Student Award: Fast Alles (dir. Lisa Gertsch), Switzerland 2017 Audience Award: Why I Wrote The Bible (Pourquoi J'ai écrit la Bible) (dir. Alexandre Steiger), France, 2017 General Award: 5 Years After The War (Cinq ans après la guerre) (dir. Samuel Albaric, Martin Wiklund, Ulysse Lefort), France, 2017 = Held at Kijkhuis Student Award: Weltschmerz (dir. Jesper Dalgaard), Denmark, 2018 Audience Award: The Fathers Love Begotten (dir. Ian Thomas Ash), Japan, 2019 General Award: Between the Shadows (dir. Alice Guimarães & Mónica Santos), France and Portugal, 2018 = Held at Kijkhuis Theme: Climate (In)Justice Student Award: Here and There (dir. Melisa Liebenthal), France and Argentina, 2019 National Award: Baba (dir. Sarah Blok & Lisa Konno), Netherlands, 2019 Audience Award: Invisível Herói (Invisible Hero) (dir. Cristèle Alves Meira), Portugal, 2019 International Award: Carne (Flesh) (dir. Camila Kater), Brazil, 2019 = Held at Kijkhuis Theme: Rooted: Dutch Multicultural Society Student Award: Filipiñana (dir. Rafael Manuel), Philippines and UK, 2020 National Award: Dear Chaemin (dir. Cyan Bae), Netherlands, 2020 Audience Award: White Eye (dir. Tomer Shushan), Israel, 2020 International Award: Heaven Reaches Down the Earth (dir. Tebogo Malebogo), South Africa, 2020 = Held at Kijkhuis Theme: Between Fact and Fiction Student Award: Ob Scena (dir. Paloma Orlandini Castro), Argentina, 2021 National Award: Minimal Sway While Starting My Way Up (dir. Stéphanie Lagarde), Netherlands, 2021 Audience Award: From the Balcony (dir. Aris Kaplanidis), Greece, 2021 International Award: It’s Raining Frogs Outside (dir. Maria Estela Paiso), Philippines, 2022 = Held at Kijkhuis and Nobel Theme: Re-Thinking | Re-Showing Retrospective Audience Award (the three films with the highest audience rating, in alphabetical order): Love, Dad (dir. Diana Cam Van Nguyen), Czech Republic, 2021 | My Uncle Tudor (dir. Olga Lucovnicova), Belgium, Portugal, Hungary and Moldova, 2021 | Sisters (dir. Katarina Rešek Kukla), Slovenia, 2021 Official Webpage Official Instagram Account Filmfreeway Page Q&A: Leiden Shorts, 2012 Leidschdagblad