Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) is a film festival held in Tehran every year in October with a focus on short films.
Considered the most prestigious film festival in Iran, the festival was first founded in 1983. Since 2020, it has become a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards and the winner of the Grand Prix becomes eligible for consideration by members of the AMPAS.
Organized by the Iranian Youth Cinema Society, Tehran International Short Film Festival has acted as a global platforms for emerging talents from all around the world. Previous winners at various editions of the festival include internationally-acclaimed artists such as Academy Award nominees Jasmila Žbanić, Ashvin Kumar, Patrick Vollrath, Jérémy Comte, Meryam Joobeur, Bill Morrison, Golden Globe nominee Payal Kapadia (filmmaker), and Academy Award winners Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani.
History In 1983 the festival was first created as a section of the Fajr Film Festival showcasing 8mm and 16mm films. The event then became its own independent festival and was subsequently renamed the "Youth Cinema Festival" and later the "International Youth Cinema Festival", hosting works by young artists across three categories: film, photography, and screenwriting.
With the festival’s increasing specialization in 2003, it adopted the title "Tehran International Short Film Festival", which it has retained ever since, exclusively focusing on short films from Iran and around the world. Since 2020, this festival has become the first and only short film festival in Iran where shorts can qualify for Academy Award consideration.
The 43rd Edition of TISFF will be held between 19 and 24 October 2026 in Tehran, Iran.
Awards Consisting of two different sections, the festival offers the following awards, each decided by a separate panel of juries:
National Competition Best Film - Previous winners include: Amir Shahab Razavian, Mehrdad Oskouei, Bahman Ghobadi, Mohsen Amiryoussefi, Shahram Alidi, Houman Seyyedi Special Jury Prize Audience Award Best Fiction Short Best Documentary Short Best Experimental Short Best Animated Short Best Original Screenplay Best Adapted Screenplay Best Cinematography Best Editing Best Artistic Achievement
International Competition Grand Prix - The winner becomes eligible for Academy Awards consideration. Previous winners include: Ashvin Kumar, Tomasz Bagiński, Constant Mentzas, Piotr Domalewski, Meryam Joobeur Best Fiction Short Best Documentary Short Best Experimental Short Best Animated Short Best AI Short Emerging Horizons Award
Editions
1st Edition
Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammadali Asna'Ashar Morterza Pourazhari, Hojatollah Seifi, Hamid Dehghanpour, Majid Javanmard 1-11 February 1983
2nd Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammadali Asna'ashar Mohammad Etesami, Seyfollah Daad, Hamid Dehghanpour, Mahmoud Nazaralian, Naser Abdollahinegar 1-11 February 1984 Award Film Name Recipient Best Short Film The Other Amir Shahab Razavian
3rd Edition
Festival President Juries Event Date Saeed Hajimiri Behrouz Afkhami, Kamal Tabrizi, Javad Salimi, Mohammad Afarideh, Mahmoud Arjmand 5-11 February 1985
4th Edition
Festival President Juries Event Date Saeed Hajimiri Ebrahim Hatamikia, Kamal Tabrizi, Saeed Hajimiri, Mohammad Afarideh, Mahmoud Arjmand 27-31 March 1986
5th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Parviz Samadi Moghaddam Ebrahim Hatamikia, Dariush Arjmand, Abolfazl Jalili 26-31 March 1987
6th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Parviz Samadi Moghaddam Majid Gharizadeh, Farhod Saba, Karim Zargar, Mahdi Rahimian, Mohsen Sheikhi, Mahmood Arjmand 26- 31 March 1988
7th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Parviz Samadi Moghaddam Ebrahim Hatamikia, Abolfazl Jalili, Iraj Taghipour, Manouchehr Khoshmaram 28 March - 1 April 1989
8th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Parviz Samadi Moghaddam Rakhshan Banietemad, Mahmoud Kalari, Ali Moallem, Ensieh Shah Hosseini, Behrouz Gharibpour, Mohammadali Hosseinnejhad 27-31 August 1990 Award Film Name Recipient Best Short Film In His History Mehrdad Oskouei
9th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Vahid Toofani Abolfazl Jalili, Mohammad Afarideh, Mahmoud Arjmand, Alireza Zohadi 9-13 September 1991
10th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Vahid Toofani Nader Ebrahimi, Jahangir Almasi, Abdollah Bakide, Mohammadali talebi, Masoume Ansari 29 March - 1 April 1993
11th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Vahid Toofani Houshang Moradi Kermani, Jahangir Almasi, Hamidreza Ashtianipour, Mohammad Sharifi, Ali Shidfar 28 March - 1 April 1994
12th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Vahid Toofani Mahmoud Kalari, Hamidreza Ashtianipour, Esmail Rahimzadeh, Dariush Norouzi, Mohammadjafar Sadeghi, Aliakbar Ghazinezam 28 March - 1 April 1995
13th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammad Hossein Sufi Mahmoud Kalari, Hamidreza Ashtianipour, Aliakbar Ghazinezam, Naser Gholamrezai, Mohammadjafar Safi 18-23 July 1996
14th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammad Hossein Sufi Majid Majidi, Kamal Tabrizi, Jahangir Almasi, Javad Shamaqdari, Mohammad Kasebi 5-10 April 1997
15th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammad Hossein Sufi Nasser Taghvai, Kamal Tabrizi, Bahram Dehghani, Ahmad Alasti, Keyvan Jahanshahi, Gholam Heidari, Mohammad Davoodi, Mojtaba Raie, Ahmad Talebinejhad 13-17 April 1998
16th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Jafar Sanei Moghaddam Majid Majidi, Kamal Tabrizi, Kiumars Pourahmad, Mahvash Sheikholeslami, Ali Mohammad Ghasemi, Mohammadali Talebi 29 September - 3 October 1999 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film Life in Fog Bahman Ghobadi Best Fiction Short My Hometown, The Marsh Mehrdad Oskouei Award (International Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film I Am But a Doll (Iran) Parivash Nazarieh Best Fiction Short An Eternity (South Korea) Kim Dae Hyun Best Documentary Short Internal 55 (Poland) Estav Amirfabiki Best Animated Short Twin (Finland) Milia Ahula
17th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Jafar Sanei Moghaddam Nasser Taghvai, Kianoush Ayari, Reza Sobhani, Ahmad Alasti, Ahmad Zabeti Jahromi, Zaven Ghokasian, Zita Karvalhosa, Asako Fujioka 26 October - 1 November 2000 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film Cinema Dog Shahed Ahmadloo Award (International Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film Yomut: a House, a Tribe (Iran) Farshad Fadaian Best Fiction Short Charsho (Iran) Mahvash Sheikholeslami Best Documentary Short Rojgiran (Iran) Mehrdad Oskouei & Ebrahim Saeedi Best Animated Short Moon Man (Germany) Chris Steiner & Arvid Weibel Best Experimental Short Musical Piece for Four Stairs and One Person (Germany) Olaf Giur
18th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Jafar Sanei Moghaddam Majid Majidi, Rakhshan Banietemad, Mohammad Reza Aslani, Reza Mirkarimi, Ali Moallem, Mario Vitalone, Constantine Pasallis 23-28 October 2001 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film If the Walls Could Talk Nader Sheikholeslami Award (International Competition) Film Name RecipientBest Film Naked of Evil (Greece) / Drooped in Water (Turkery) / Butterfly on the Shoulder (Iran) Ari Bafalouka / Anwar Ardam / Parvin Donyafar Best Fiction Short Meska Sprawa (Poland) Slawomir Fabicki Best Documentary Short Black House (Bangladesh ) Tariq Shahyar Best Animated Short Values (USA) Van Phan Best Experimental Short Camouflage (England) Jonathan Hudson
19th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mojtaba Eghdami Kambuzia Partovi, Alireza Shoja Nouri Jafar Sanei Moghaddam, Alireza Raisian, Mohammadreza Jafari Jelveh, Parviz Samadi Moghaddam 21-26 October 2002 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film Caravan Mohsen Amiryoussefi Award (International Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film Two Women (Iran) Amir Rezazadeh Best Fiction Short Leonard (Scottland) Brian Kelly Best Documentary Short We Live at the Edge (Belarus) Victor Alirus Best Animated Short Clown (Russia) Irnia Onira Best Experimental Short 17 Minutes (Poland & England) Lala Rashij
20th Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammad Afarideh Kamal Tabrizi, Mohammad Davoudi (screenwriter), Alireza Shoja Nouri, Reza Maghsoudi, Ahmad Alasti, Peter Vien, Erich Reyes, Sigo Tono, Silon Marit 20-25 October 2003 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film The last Uncounted Village Shahram Alidi Best Fiction Short The Trouble of Being a Boy Jamil RostamiBest Documentary Short The Window Behzad RasoulzadehBest Experimental Short The Dragonfly Storm Shahram Mokri Award (International Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Fiction Short Ferdinand (Estonia) Andrei Loop Best Documentary Short Red Rubber Boots (Bosnia) Jasmila Žbanić Best Animated Short Hole (Iran) Vahid Nasirian Best Experimental Short Mojgan (Korea) Kim Hue Ho
21st Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mohammad Afarideh Masoud Jafari Jozani, Soheila Najm, Manouchehr Tayab, Akbar Nabavi, Mojtaba Raei, Mohammadreza Sokoot, Mitzi Goldman, Andrey Kalpakchi, Christian Braad Thomsen 17-22 November 2004 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film I Speak to God Kaveh Bahrami Moghaddam Best Fiction Short That Poopak MozafariBest Documentary Short The Wall Arash KordsaliBest Animated Short Contrast Vahid Nasirian Best Experimental Short The Dream of a Dragonfly Mahdi Asadi Award (International Competition) Film Name RecipientBest Film Little Terrorist (India) Ashvin Kumar Best Fiction Short That (Iran) Poopak Mozaffari Best Documentary Short Land of Mist (Denmark) Suvi Andrea Helminen Best Animated Short Kerji (Germany) Jan Touring Best Experimental Short Road Martin Meija
22nd Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Mojtaba Eghdami Kianoush Ayari, Reza Mirkarimi, Hamid Khozouie Abyane, Bijan Mirbagheri, Habibollah Kasesaz, Mohammadmahdi Asgharpour, Michael Hannigan, Montserrat Givio Valez, Yuka Pekalakso 15-20 November 2005 Award (National Competition) Film Name Recipient Best Film The Case of Helias Mohammad Ali Farsi Best Fiction Short My Boots Safi YazdanianBest Documentary Short Tis I, Darius Vahid BagherzadehBest Animated Short The Screaming Room Sheida Zarrinfam Best Experimental Short Anti-Memories Kooroush Farzanegan Award (International Competition) Film Name RecipientBest Film Fallen Art (Poland) Tomasz Bagiński Best Fiction Short Role (Iran) Farshid Azari Best Documentary Short Resident Permit (France) Tatyana Soboleva Best Animated Short Room (South Koera) Yu Seok Hyun Best Experimental Short A Man. A Road. A River. (Brazil) Marcellvs L.
23rd Edition Festival President Juries Event Date Nasser Bakideh Mehrdad Oskouei, Mohammad Reza Aslani, Kambuzia Partovi, Akbar Alemi, Mojtaba Raei, Hassan Bolkhari, John Stanley Wachowski, Stavros Hassapis, Nicolas Gilberg, Lessad Jomoosi 21-26 November 2006 Award (National Competition) Film Name RecipientBest Fiction Short White Mountains Taha KarimiBest Documentary Short Zero Degree Orbit Mahmoud RahmaniBest Animated Short Mahboobeh Ali Asghar rasooli Best Experimental Short Limit of A Circle Shahram Mokri Award (International Competition) Film Name RecipientBest Film Dillema (Netherlands) Bormis Paul KaniBest Fiction Short Oxford Circus Esteban Gitton Best Documentary Short As Is Their Wont (Belarus) Galina Adamovich Best Animated Short Delivery (Germany) Till Nowak Best Experimental Short Cross Tie (Brazil) Joel Pizzini
24th Edition