A global celebration of bold vertical storytelling. Vertical Shorts Festival elevates mobile-first films and the creators redefining cinema for the way the world actually watches.
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Vertical Shorts Festival is the first festival built entirely for portrait-mode cinema. We celebrate the filmmakers, studios, and creators telling bold stories in vertical, and we give their work a stage that treats vertical as an art form.
Selected films are featured in the Shortlist app, judged by audiences and industry professionals, and honored at a live streaming awards ceremony.
Founded by filmmakers, creators, and tech pros. #govertical
Winners receive a custom-designed modern plaque, an official festival laurel, and featured placement across our website, the Shortlist app, and our social channels.
Stories created specifically for the vertical screen. From framing and movement to pacing and composition, every project is designed to work naturally on the phone in your hand.
Films reach a global audience through Shortlist, the official festival app and are celebrated at a live streaming awards night that puts vertical cinema in the spotlight.
Enter your vertical short through FilmFreeway with your poster, trailer, and excerpt.
Selected films go live in the Shortlist app for a worldwide audience to discover.
Audiences and industry professionals watch, vote, and review every selection.
Winners are honored at a live streaming event and awards ceremony.
Audiences now watch on phones first, and a new generation of storytellers is building for that screen natively. Vertical Shorts Festival is the stage they were missing: the first festival dedicated entirely to vertical cinema and the creators pushing it forward.
From genre storytelling to standout performances and boundary-pushing vision, our categories honor the full range of talent that makes vertical cinema.
Notifications by July 31, 2027
Eric GuilmetteAmbassador
Nick RitaccoAmbassador
Brooke MoltrumAmbassador
Jeff VioletteAmbassador
Felix MerbackAmbassador
Peyton TuckerAmbassador
Kelsey MaskellAmbassadorEric GuilmetteAmbassadorNick RitaccoAmbassadorBrooke MoltrumAmbassadorJeff VioletteAmbassadorFelix MerbackAmbassadorPeyton TuckerAmbassadorKelsey MaskellAmbassadorFrom our first awards ceremony to live screenings, here is Vertical Shorts Festival off the screen.
Shortlist is the official app of Vertical Shorts Festival. Discover, vote, and review the world's best vertical short films and micro-dramas, every official selection on the screen it was made for.
Submissions are open now. Every genre, every language, every length. Go vertical with us.
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