Short Short Story Film Festival
The Short Short Story Film Festival is a competitive international festival of films that tell a story in under six minutes.
The 18th edition of the festival returned to celebrate brevity in film-making in a new way, starting Monday, 24th November and running through Sunday, 7th December.
Continuing with our approach from last year, this year's festival was a unique online event, with film makers across the globe participating in both exhibiting and reviewing films.
Congratulations To Our Award Winners!
For the Heartstrings program, the winner was Lilli + Camille, from German director Iris Birke, depicting the loss of a loved one and the healing quality of flora – a space in which memory and vitality exists equally.
For the Headtrip program, the winner was Tar, from Iranian directors Fariba Farzanfar and Kaveh Sistani. In Persian, tar can mean a strand of hair or a traditional stringed instrument. The film is animated with real strands of hair, depicting a girl, her instruments, and an enraged centipede.
New Awards Process
Each program of the festival, Heartstrings and Headtrip, has an award.
As of 2024, the films were reviewed by the participating filmmakers themselves, who voted for their favorite films created by their peers.
There was also an acclaimed international jury panel of participants, continuing our tradition from our Spoiler Alert Radio film program, who reviewed and selected their favorites.
Touch here to see a list of jury members.
The jury and filmmaker votes were combined to determined winners, who will receive commissioned custom art objects created by past festival participants. Visit the awards page for more about this year's awards.
Festival Film Selections
With several hundred submissions from forty countries, it was difficult yet rewarding to select the best of the best.
In total, we accepted eighteen films, from a dozen countries on four continents. Almost all the films are US premieres or World premieres.
Touch here to see a list of festival films.
Two programs, Heartstrings and Headtrip, showcased films tightly sequenced in under ninety minutes total, each with a distinctive tone yet wide-ranging styles and topics.
The Heartstrings program was a mix of live-action and animation, and this year, for the first time, the Headtrip program was entirely animated films.
More On The Festival
To learn more about the festival concept and history, touch here.
For requirements to submit to future editions, touch here.
There is no fee to submit your film to the festival.
Music Charting
World Music
Toni (aka DJ Madame B) is a global music genre director showcasing sounds from around the world. She hosts Pacifica affiliate syndicated and regional world music shows.
She submits MergingArts Global Radio weekly charts to NACC (North American College & Community Chart) and RMR (Roots Music Report).
She is an active panelist of international charting organizations, TWMC (Transglobal World Music Chart)and RWMC (Russian World Music Chart), representing MergingArts.
Touch here to view weekly and monthly world music charts and adds.
Radio Syndication
World Music
Donne del Mondo showcases global music by women, celebrating musical women of the world. Available Saturday afternoons, it is distributed via the Pacifica Radio Network on select affiliates throughout North America.
Transworld Airwaves features a cross-cultural musical journey united in voices and rhythms. As well as syndicating on Pacifica, it broadcasts every other Sunday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 pm (US Eastern time) on WZBC 90.3 FM from Boston College in Newton/Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
You can hear more international sounds every Sunday from 8:00 am to 11:00 am Eastern, by tuning in to World Wide Waves, with rotating hosts. It can be heard on 90.3 FM WRIU, non-commercial radio broadcasting from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI.
Spoiler Alert Radio
Featuring conversations on the craft of filmmaking, Spoiler Alert Radio continues to syndicate weekly on selected Pacifica affiliates.
You can find out more about the show, including syndication information, by touching here, or visit our podcast and archive page by touching here.
Womanimation! is a festival showcasing acclaimed animated short film stories created by women from around the world.
Womanimation! News
Womanimation! is scheduled to return to MassArt in April 2026.
This will be the main festival itself, not an Encore presentation.
More details will be posted in early 2026, at which time we will accept start accepting submissions. Please do not submit films before then.
Touch here to find out more on previous versions of the festival.