About Us

Tampere Film Festival is an international short film festival that gathers filmmakers, students and film lovers together annually in March.

The festival was founded in 1968 and is organised by the association Tampereen elokuvajuhlat – Tampere Film Festival ry. The festival’s main sponsors are the City of Tampere, the Finnish Film Foundation (SES), Yleisradio (YLE) and AVEK.

Tampere Film Festival is one of the three largest short film festivals in Europe, alongside Clermont-Ferrand (France) and Oberhausen (Germany). The festival is recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations FIAPF and is a member of Short Film Conference ISFC.

The festival’s screenings and events attract approximately 20,000 visitors each year. Nearly 900 accredited film industry professionals attend the festival, it has around 40 staff members and over a hundred volunteers. The festival screens roughly 400 films in more than 100 screenings.

The five day festival takes place every year in Tampere, Finland. The main venues in 2025 were Finnkino Cine Atlas, Arthouse Cinema Niagara, Olympia and Finlayson area.

The Tampere 56th International Short Film Festival takes place between 4–8 March, 2026.

The art of cinema is the starting point of everything at Tampere Film Festival. The festival’s mission is to make the world a better place, one short film at a time, and to showcase artistically first-rate content.

The festival programme consists of competitions, special programmes, and both public and industry events. In addition to short films, the festival showcases feature-length documentaries, silent films, and occasionally feature-length fiction films. The guiding principles in selecting programme content for the festival are the aesthetic, ethical, as well as the stylistic and narrative qualities of the films.

The Competitions

The festival is internationally renowned for its outstanding International and National Competitions. Each year, more than 7 000 films are submitted, of which around 110 are selected and screened at the festival.

The International Competition is for short films only. The main prize consists of the Festival trophy “Kiss” and the 5000 € Grand Prix. In addition, there are category prizes and special mentions. Tampere Film Festival is one of the Oscar®, BAFTA and European Short Film – Prix Vimeo qualifying film festivals.

The National Competition showcases both short films (under 30 min) and feature-length documentaries. The main prize in both series is 5000 €, and in addition to these, there are other prizes and special mentions. The Tampere Film Festival National Competition is one of the most important platforms for Finnish filmmakers.

The newest addition is the Generation XYZ Competition. Premiered in 2021, the competition focuses on short genre films. The main prize is 2000 €, along with special mentions.

Special Programmes

The festival treats the audience to film treasures that cannot be seen anywhere else. In addition to the National and International Competitions, the curated Special Programmes lie at the very heart of Tampere Film Festival. These showcase outstanding Finnish and international short films and feature-length documentaries.

Every year, in addition to the Special Programmes curated by the festival’s artistic team, the festival works closely with several film industry organisations and associations to present screenings such as AV-arkki, Kino Euphoria, EFA Shorts, Kino-TAMK and ELO, as well as Finnish Film Archive screenings in cooperation with the National Audiovisual Institute KAVI. Some of the screenings include Q&As, where filmmakers discuss their work and answer questions from the audience. Every year, unique special screenings are also included, such as live-accompanied silent films, church screenings or video mapping on buildings.

Events

Complementing the festival week’s screenings, there are numerous events for both the public and film industry professionals. The themes of the screenings are explored further in panel discussions and seminars, and various clubs and parties wrap up the festival days.

For filmmakers and other film industry professionals, the festival offers a tailored programme including networking, workshops, and seminars.