A sold out 250 seat theatre is a pretty good way to start a festival. That’s how the Edmonton Short Film Festival opened in 2013, with 18 projects picked from more than 250 minutes of submissions. It was created by Groove Soldier Productions, an independent Edmonton production company, so that local indie filmmakers could screen their work in a professional setting for friends, family and other film people.
The festival’s own history page tracks a steady climb. In 2014 it was incorporated as the non profit Edmonton Short Film Festival Ltd. It gained support from the Government of Alberta, the City of Edmonton, TELUS and Pixel Blue College, and began offering cash awards and an educational event. By 2015 independent adjudicators had joined the directors, and the festival was being held at the Royal Alberta Museum.
Then it kept adding things. In 2016 came a Saturday gala and a Sunday Family Fun Day, along with a filmmaker challenge and workshop built around mobile devices. In 2018 audiences got a virtual reality experience and Long Shorts Day.
The big date is 2022. The tenth anniversary was held at Metro Cinema, in the Garneau Theatre, and Mayor Sohi issued a proclamation honouring the milestone. A year later the gala weekend grew by a third day. The history page has an entry for every year from 2013 to 2024, so you can scroll through the growth one season at a time. Through all of it the festival says it remains “by filmmakers and for filmmakers.”
Calgary short filmmakers know the feeling of a first screening, and our posts on a Calgary short that landed two CIFF slots and the team behind the Never Seen horror short show how a small Alberta film travels. For the bigger Edmonton picture, the Edmonton International Film Festival has been running since 1986.
If you’ve got a short sitting on a hard drive, read the festival’s history page and look at what a first edition can be. Eighteen films is plenty.
Quick answers
The Edmonton Short Film Festival started in 2013. It was created by Groove Soldier Productions, an independent Edmonton production company, and its first edition screened 18 projects chosen from more than 250 minutes of submissions to a sold out 250 seat theatre.
The festival was incorporated in 2014 as the non profit Edmonton Short Film Festival Ltd. It was created by Groove Soldier Productions and describes itself as by filmmakers and for filmmakers, with support from the Government of Alberta and the City of Edmonton.
The tenth anniversary of the Edmonton Short Film Festival was held in 2022 at Metro Cinema in Edmonton. Mayor Sohi issued a proclamation honouring the milestone, according to the festival’s history page.
Sources: Edmonton Short Film Festival, History; Metro Cinema, About.
