Hollywood North International Film Festival — Vancouver Short Film Festival

Every festival

279 films from 55 countries across every festival

13 awards have gone to 10 of them — pick a country for what it sent.

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183 films● won an award across every festivalOutlines Natural Earth

All 55 countries		Films
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Poster for The Dance Forgiving HER Finding ME

Film of the week · from the jury’s shortlistThe Dance Forgiving HER Finding MECindy Myskiw · Canada · 14 minWritten and Produced by Sherry Cloutier who also Stars as Herself and Directed by Cindy Myskiw: This Autobiographical Film Touches on the Complicated Relationship between a Dying Mother with Mental Illness and her Daughter's Journey towards Healing as She struggles with Childhood Trauma. Faced with a Painful Choice, the Family Prepares to say Goodbye during the Height of the Covid Pandemic. This was all improv except the poem that was voiced over.About the film →

In the spotlight

France

5 films have come to the festival from France.

AUXILIAIRE · 25 min
HOP-LÀ · 3 min
One Aloe, One Ficus, One Avocado and Six Dracaenas · 8 min
The Austral Tested by Fire · 3 min

From the Selection Room: What Our Judges Have Learned from Hundreds of Submissions

01Decisions form in the first minuteScreeners work through large volumes in one sitting. An opening has to establish tone and signal control before it earns the rest of the runtime.

02Sound is scored before pictureDialogue must be clear without effort. Uneven levels and room noise read as carelessness, and strong images do not compensate for them.

03Scenes justify their own lengthThe strongest field each year runs five to twenty minutes. A film padded past its natural length competes worse than the tighter cut of itself.

04Endings decide what gets rememberedJudges look for a final beat that resolves, reframes or lingers. An ending that feels accidental weakens everything before it.

05Enter the category your film isFormat, runtime band and genre decide who judges the film and against what field. A documentary entered as narrative competes in the wrong one.

06The poster is the first frameProgrammes, archive pages and social feeds all lead with the artwork. A film without a real poster is harder to programme and harder to promote.

07Write the synopsis for a strangerTwo or three sentences on what happens and why it matters. Describe the film that exists, not the one that was intended.

08Consent decides where a film goesStreaming window, archive, clips for social: what is ticked on the entry is what the festival can do. Films that opt in are seen more.

The jury · HNIFF 2025