SeaShorts Film Festival

SeaShorts Film Festival

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SeaShorts Film Festival focuses on short films from Southeast Asia and its diaspora, with competitions that place established filmmakers alongside emerging directors and students. Founded by filmmaker Tan Chui Mui in 2017, it is the flagship event of SeaShorts Film Society, a Malaysian non-profit cultural society. Its regional competition is complemented by a Malaysian competition and recognition for student filmmaking.

Curated strands include Shorts+, devoted to women filmmakers, Beyond Indian Shores, exploring Malaysian Tamil cinema, and Heatseeker, which presents work by students and recent graduates. Forums, workshops and masterclasses extend the programme beyond screenings. The festival moves between Malaysian settings and also maintains an archive of its online editions. The dates for the 2025 edition in Kuala Lumpur are 16–19 October 2025.

Country

Malaysia

Categories

Short, Student

Awards and prizes

The regional SeaShorts Competition awards the SeaShorts Award, the festival's Grand Prix. The Malaysian Open Competition recognizes Malaysian films with the Malaysian Open Competition Award; eligible student work is also considered for the Malaysian Student Film Award. The 2026 submission criteria allow individual technical awards, including cinematography and performance, where the relevant crew member is Southeast Asian.

Festival rules

2026 submission criteria: Films must be completed after March 2025 and run no more than 40 minutes including credits. Southeast Asian production eligibility requires at least three of the following: filming location, language, main cast, main crew or funding. The SeaShorts Competition requires a Southeast Asian director; the Malaysian Open Category requires a Malaysian director. For the Malaysian Student Short Film category, the director must be a student in or from Malaysia during production. All forms of artistic and creative experimentation with short-form moving images are welcomed. Submitted work is also considered for non-competitive sections. Individual technical awards may be made, including cinematography and performance; the crew member responsible must be Southeast Asian. Projects with a strong Southeast Asian connection that do not meet all criteria may be considered individually through competition@seashorts.org. The form requires film details, a subtitled film download, a downloadable film still, director biography, and producer, director and principal crew information. Incomplete forms are not processed. The published submission deadline is 23:59 GMT+8 on 4 June 2026.

Contacts

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