February 8, 2023

An extra boost for ESFAA

February 8, 2023

An extra boost for ESFAA

10 festivals, 10 audiences, 10 votes, 1 winner: this is how the European Short Film Audience Award works. The ESFAA network has just got a new financial support from the European Commission’s MEDIA – Creative Europe and is already working to present new activities and projects to enhance European short films and broadcast new talents.

Since 2019, 10 emblematic European festivals come together to organise the European Short Film Audience Award (ESFAA): a selection of the very best European short films of last year awarded with a national audience award. The ESFAA network has just got an extra boost by MEDIA – Creative Europe, with a financial support for the upcoming years 2023-2024.

This European Commission’s programme aims to support Europe’s film and audio-visual industries to develop, distribute and promote European works, taking into account today’s digital environment. In addition, it encourages cooperation across the value chain of the audio-visual industry in order to scale up enterprises and European content globally, nurturing talents, wherever they come from, and engaging with audiences of all ages, specially the younger generations.

ESFAA is organised by 10 recognized European festivals. The principle is simple: 10 short films, 10 festivals, 10 audiences to charm, 10 votes, one winner chosen as the ESFAA after a one-year tour. The competition takes place between 10 short films which have already won a national public prize in the participating festivals. So, after winning the favour of their national audience, 10 short films are on a quest to win the hearts of 511 million Europeans, who are invited to vote in favour of their favourite short film. The first ESFAA was launched, along with 9 other emblematic European festivals, by the Brussels Short Film Festival.

Upcoming ESFAA screenings

ESFAA’s team is already working to present new activities and projects to enhance European short films and broadcast new talents.

The new ESFAA tour will be launched at the 26th Brussels Short Film Festival, taking place from 26th April to 6th May 2023. After winning over their respective audiences, 9 short films are now going on tour (Lviv International Short Film Festival Wiz Art, in Ukraine, could not take place due to the war impacting the country).

Meanwhile, the 4th edition of ESFAA continues its European tour: Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France), taking place from 27^th January to 4^th February 2023; Tampere Film Festival (Finland), happening from 8^th to 23^rd March and Go Short International Short Film Festival Nijmegen (The Netherlands) from 31^st March to 10^th April.