Submit Your Short Film!

Vancouver Island Short Film Festival is now accepting short film submissions for their 2026 festival.

The 21st annual VISFF will take place on April 17th and 18th, 2026, at the Malaspina Theatre on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of Snuneymuxw First Nation in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

VISFF will feature three programs: two evening programs and a Youth Showcase on Saturday afternoon. All programs will feature incredible short films from British Columbia and around the world, followed by a Q&A with the attending filmmakers. The evening programs will conclude with the Goldie Award Ceremony, and the Youth Showcase will end with the Youth Goldie Award Ceremony. The festival will be livestreamed online so you can watch from anywhere. Tickets will be available later in the year.

The VISFF defines short films as having a running time of 20 minutes or less, including credits, and accepts films of any genre, with the exception of previews, advertisements, or music videos. (Films previously screened at the VISFF are not eligible for re-entry in subsequent years.)

In its continued support of local filmmakers, VISFF reserves two spots of its program for Vancouver Island filmmakers. There is a limited number of entry fee waivers for non-local filmmakers; to find out more email our Submissions Coordinator Greg at submissions@visff.com. For all other filmmakers, the entry fee is in effect until the midnight deadline on November 15th, 2025

To see all the VISFF film rules and to submit your film, visit us at https://filmfreeway.com/VISFF

VISFF looks forward to screening an incredible curation of short films that will captivate, inspire, and entertain our audiences from our home in Nanaimo and around the world!

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Media contact: Caileigh Broatch, Show Coordinator – show@visff.com,