It's a short film festival, entirely free. Concept is simple: to propose a short film of 2 min 20 on a imposed theme each year.
The ambition is to support video creation and to encourage the emergence of new talents.
This very short format is explained by determination to reduce constraints of movie making to the maximum and to be the most accessible possible, that makes it possible to propose an opportunity to create.
To participate, you just have to submit your movies on this website that broadcasts all shorts in competition.
Thiscontest is open to all individuals, based in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Minors must obtain permission from a parent or guardian to enter the Contest. The Organiser may require written parental consent before awarding a prize.
To participate, you must register on www.festivalnikon.fr/nl during call for films period, then complete your profile, information about your film and upload it before closing date for entries.
No other way of participation will be taken into account (sending a DVD, by mail, transfer link, Youtube link, multi-festival website...).
To take part in the 1st edition, you must send your films via the festival website only before January 15, 2026 noon (12:00 CET). No other means of participation will be taken into account.
The time of receipt of your registration on the dedicated server and the time of start of the file upload are taken as proof, and it is not necessary for the film to be validated by the organization before this deadline. It may take several days for all the films received to be examined.
The last step of the entry form invites you to check your film and validate it. In the last few days before closing, it is possible that the video player displaying your film for validation suffers from a large number of downloads at the same time (black screen, no sound, jerky image, etc.).
What to do if you encounter this problem? Simply check the source file you're sending carefully, and if it doesn't have these problems, we invite you to confirm the upload.
If a problem is identified by our team, we'll check it during the viewing process to validate your film.
You have to submit as many videos as they would like, as long as they are related to the theme. Each director can upload as many videos as they would like, as long as they are related to the theme and duration.
The length of the video must be between 120 and 140 seconds including credits. As video players used to show films sometimes round length up to the next second, an additional second will be tolerated.
No exclusivity is imposed by the festival, however to guarantee that the works submitted are recent, the first broadcast or streaming of the video on any platform must not be earlier than 1 January 2023.
All films containing spoken content must be submitted with English subtitles.
The film must not involve third parties directly or indirectly without their authorization. Furthermore, the film must respect the law, public order and not be contrary to public decency.
See our technical recommendations and the rules for more information.
It's not forbidden to include violence or nudity in your movies, however some rules must be respected to validate online broadcast and to ensure that potential viewers of your work are warned.
Proposed content must not contain pornographic messages or incite to crime, hate, violence, suicide and racism.
If your content contains scenes that are unsuitable for all audiences, we request you to include a warning introduction message to alert viewers. Finally, an age restriction can be imposed by the organization directly on video player to provide an additional level of protection and prevent distribution of this content to vulnerable audiences.
To take part as a director under 18, you need to obtain a signed authorization from your legal representative, which must be provided if requested by the organization.
If you wish to involve minors in your film:
If you want a child to take part in the project, you naturally need to start by asking the child's legal representatives for authorization. You'll also need to provide them with the script, as well as an explanation of what the child will have to do, how much he or she will be paid, and the shooting schedule.
It is also important that a person designated by the project owner and the child's legal guardians provide permanent supervision, that filming does not interfere with the child's schooling, and that health and safety conditions are fully respected.
To find out more, please consult the relevant information per country:
If upload of your film doesn't not work, check that your file respects recommendations and try again with a better internet connection, wired if possible.
If it still doesn't work, contact us at nikonfilmfestival.eu@nikon.com. We'll tell you alternative procedure to follow.
Yes, it is possible to submit your film to other festivals during or after the Nikon Film Festival Benelux.
There is no imposed exclusivity, we invite participants to share these films as much as possible.
The Jury's decisions will be based primarily on the following criteria :
Evaluation of the films in competition is a whole, no criteria has priority over another.
A preselection of films will be selected by a committee made up of several members of the Organiser’s staff and industry professionals.
Your thumbnail can be customized at any time once your entry has been validated. It will be used as a preview image in the integrated video player. It should preferably have the following characteristics:
You can change it at any time by logging into your director's area.
Yes, you need to upload a vertical poster in the particitation form to have a visual that presents your film on the various pages of the site that list the films and series in competition. This poster can also be used by the Nikon Film Festival to publicize selected films and other events.
Here are the recommended formats for optimal display:
You can modify it at any time by logging into your director's area.
You can download the logo and the official poster in our press area.
Yes, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for post-production or the creation of all or part of the images and music of a proposed work is tolerated. It must, however, be clearly and prominently mentioned in the film's credits to inform the viewer.
We encourage filmmakers to use content modification or generation tools in an innovative and responsible way. This use will also be mentioned to the pre-selection committee and jury, as this criterion is likely to be considered in deliberations.
To comply with YouTube rules, you must specify whether your content is modified or synthesized. This includes realistic sounds or visuals created with AI or other tools. If you select “Yes”, a label will be added to your content to inform the viewer.
Origin of this generated content may be requested for any verification of compliance with third-party intellectual property rights. It is therefore essential to check conformity of the tools used for this purpose.
Warning: in the event of doubt or undeclared use, the participation may be refused.
No, we recommend that you use an original composition or royalty-free content. For this second option, please ensure that web and cinema distribution is authorized, as some royalty-free content is not suitable for all uses or formats.
⚠️ If you wish to include copyrighted content in your video, you must request prior authorization or verify the rights of use associated with this work. In case of a claim, you may be asked to hide or replace the copyrighted music. As a reminder, you alone are responsible for the rights associated with your works.
The Nikon Film Festival broadcasts all movies via the YouTube video player, without monetization so without any advertising.
In the majority of cases, this content uses original music and images or licenses to justify webcasting. However, it can happen that certain films contain content protected by copyright that has not been justified or is awaiting verification, in which case the copyright holders are able to force ads and recover all associated revenues.
This is a common rule on YouTube, and the Nikon Film Festival does not have any power to remove these automatic advertisements. The only solution is to contest these claims by providing proof, which is what we try to do for all concerned content.
The number of videos viewed on the Nikon Film Festival website is not displayed in real time, but is updated every 60 minutes.
YouTube regularly readjusts the number of video views to ensure that it is as close to reality as possible. It then removes incorrect views that do not come from a real user or do not reflect the genuine interest of a real user. These can be fraudulent, artificial (robots or looped playback) or even involuntary (duplicates, unidentified views).
Examples of incorrect video traffic:
YouTube's systems analyze traffic to your videos to determine whether it's valid or not, regardless of where the traffic comes from or how it's generated. Don't worry, this is a normal, automatic process carried out by the view verification algorithm on all videos.
It's important to understand that this doesn't necessarily mean you're using abusive methods, as there are many robots constantly circulating on the YouTube platform, generating artificial views independently of the creators or the channel. For more information on how views are counted, see the following question.
Youtube counts views according to three main criteria: time, IP address and cookies.
Youtube systematically checks views. It uses complex algorithms to count views of more than 30 seconds. The counter is automatically triggered while monitoring the person viewing the video. Automatic playback is not taken into account.
With IP address control: Youtube counts only one view for each device, regardless of the number of viewers.
The view counter can be stopped at any time to update the exact number of views, but also to check for artificial views. The counter stops for the first time, usually when a video reaches its first 300 views. After that, the counter updates every two or three hours.
To check that metrics are real and accurate, YouTube may slow down, interrupt or modify the counting of interactions, or even ignore low-quality plays. Nikon Film Festival website, for its part, displays number of views communicated by YouTube and updates it every 15 minutes.