Short Com festival looking for sketch and film submissions

The Short Com film festival, which will take place in August, is now looking for short comedy films by emerging filmmaking talent.

The organisers say: "Short Com prides itself on curating the funniest short films by emerging filmmaking talent from around the globe and is on a mission to find the funniest short films in 2019."

The festival will return to the Edinburgh Cameo Cinema in August, during the Edinburgh Festivals.

The popular festival returns after a mini-hiatus. Creative Director and founder Chris Aitken explains that the break was supposed to be to allow him to spend time focusing on himself, but he jokes that the gap "resulted in absolute no personal progress and made my LinkedIn profile look rather meek".

Short Com has partnered with Festival Formula and Final Draft, resulting in a $500 prize on offer for the funniest film.

The underlying belief of Short Com is that there is a wealth of comedic filmmaking talent out there under appreciated by the industry, and also the best way to watch short films is in front of a live audience.

The festival has a track record of showcasing emerging talent, and has previously screened programmes in Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, London and Glasgow. BAFTA nominated director Ben Mallaby says: "Short Com was one of the first festivals to lend their support to my films and I've always been appreciative of the work they do to raise awareness of emerging filmmakers."

A keen advocate for suicide prevention charities, Short Com has also raised over a thousand pounds for charities such as CALM and Scottish Association for Mental Health.

Short Com is one of the few festivals which will accept submissions that have already been showcased online. They explain: "Short Com accepts that short films and sketches have a life online and are essential to the career of onscreen and off-screen talent, thus we do not discriminate if a film has a life online. We are looking for the very best funny sketches and narrative short film."

To enter, films must be no older than March 2018 and the final deadline is 1st June 2019.

In terms of what they're looking for, they also explain: "We operate that the shorter the film the better, it's easier to programme a shorter film than one that is longer. Although our 'Vision' programme strand does look toward films that demonstrate a sense of narrative and directorial flair."

To find out more about Short Com and how to submit, visit ShortCom.co.uk

BCG Pro members can get $5 off their entry fee. Use the code found in Opportunities Hub.