CALL FOR ENTRIES #REGARD30

REGARD - Saguenay International Short Film Festival will hold its 30th edition from March 18th to 22nd, 2026.

REGISTRATION FEES
• Early bird (June 1st to September 15th, 2025): 40$
• Regular (September 16th to October 15th. 2025): 45$
• Last minute (October 16th to November 1st, 2025): 55$

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
• Read and accept the rules.
• Complete the submission form.
• Pay the submission fee via PayPal.
• Submit the form electronically.

The person responsible for each submission will receive a response, positive or negative, on mid-febuary at the latest. 

Recognized as one of the largest festivals in North America dedicated exclusively to short films, REGARD's mission is to promote authors' short films whose innovative spirit results from a quality artistic approach.

Screening nearly 200 films in five days, REGARD hosts an Official Competition, a Focus Competition, a Youth Competition, and a varied selection of thematic programs. The Festival is Oscar-qualifying and also recognized by the FIPRESCI. More than $130,000 in money and services are awarded to the winners of the competitions.

REGARD welcomes more than 400 filmmakers and cinema professionals from all over the world to each edition. We also host the only Short Film Market in Québec, where networking activities, workshops, and masterclasses are free to the public and professionals.

Rules

A. ELIGIBILITY

• Only short films with a runtime of 40 minutes or less are eligible;
• All genres (fiction, animation, documentary and experimental) are eligible;
• Priority to short films that have not been broadcast for free online;
• Student productions are eligible for all sections if they meet the above criteria;
• Films that are purely or mostly of a promotional and/or didactic nature are not eligible;
• The Festival may accept late registrations if the production timeline justifies a delay.
• The person in charge of the submission confirms that they hold all copyrights and clearances needed to screen the film at a festival

B. FESTIVAL SECTIONS

1- Official Competition
The Official Competition brings together 10 film programs of all genres, with both national and international shorts. All films are eligible for the jury prize, while only world, North American or Canadian premiere films are eligible for the Grand Prize and the Canadian Grand Prize, which are Oscar qualifying.

- Grand Prize (Oscar qualifying)
- Canadian Grand Prize (Oscar qualifying)
- Jury Award
- Best Animation Short Film Award
- Best Documentary Short Film Award
- Quebec Critic Award AQCC (for international shorts)
- International FIPRESCI Critics Award (for Canadian shorts)
- Public Award - Official Competition

2- Focus Competition
In its 5 different sections, the Focus Competition offers additional space for better representation. Shoot no matter what celebrates emergence and self-production, 100% Régions supports Quebec filmmakers out of Montreal, Short & Queer is an ode to sexual and gender diversity, Americana focuses on Latin American production, and Indigenous talents shines brightly in Indigenous Perspectives, whose film selection is ensured by a committee of indigenous programmers.

We invite all indigenous creators, producers and rights holders to write to [email protected] in order to be able to submit their films free of charge.

- Shoot No Matter What Award
- Philippe Belley Award (100% Regions)
- Alanis-Obomsawin Award (Indigenous Perspectives)
- Short & Queer Award
- Americana Award

3 - Youth Competition
The Youth Competition brings together 9 programs for kids aged 3 to 17. Regarderie offers a cultural outing for daycare centers and childcare services. P'tites vues (ages 3 to 7) are presented to families during the festival and to classes from preschool to 2nd grade. Grandes vues are also presented to families and 3rd to 6th grade classes. Two programs are planned for high school students, one for the first cycle and the other for the 2nd cycle. 100% English programs are also offered.

Finally, a program is created each year by a committee of teenagers for a teenage audience and is presented exclusively in an extracurricular context. The films in this program are also eligible for the Youth Competition.

** School screenings take place during the week of the Festival and continue in a tour of Lac-Saint-Jean schools. Then, teachers have access to the films online until mid-June for educational purposes. Additional royalties are paid for all the films included in school screenings.

4-Thematic programs
Carte blanche, retrospective, focus, genre films, experimental, more than 10 thematic programs are screened every year. The main goal behind these programs is to build bridges with other festivals and countries and to foster collaboration. The selection committee draws inspiration from recurring films and themes during the year to curate programs of short films in a variety of themed categories.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES

• Only films completed in 2025-2026;
• Priority will be given to films that have not yet been made available online;
• Priority to short films that will be presented in Première;
• Only World, North American and Canadian Premieres are eligible for the Grand Prize and Canadian Grand Prize;
• Films nominated for the Canadian Grand Prize can also be eligible for the Grand Prize;
• All Canadian films are eligible for awards presented by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI);
• All international films are eligible for awards presented by the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC);
• Films submitted to REGARD in previous years will not be considered.

FOCUS COMPETITION RULES

• Priority will be given to films completed in 2025-2026;
• Priority will be given to films that have not yet been made available online;
• Priority to short films that will be presented in premiere.

Shoot No Matter What

• Competition for independent Quebec shorts, produced without any grants or financial assistance from the institutions ;
• Priority will be given to emerging filmmakers.

100% Regions

• Competition for better representation of the entire Quebec territory ;
• At least one of the key positions related to the production or direction of the film is occupied by a person based outside of Montreal.

Indigenous Perspectives

• A competition exclusively for indigenous short films ;
• At least one of the key positions linked to the production or direction of the film is occupied by a person who is a member of an indigenous community.

Short & Queer

• Competition for films featuring the realities of LGBTQIA2S+ communities;
• Priority to films made by filmmakers from LGBTQIA2S+ communities.

Americana

• Competition exclusively dedicated to films produced and/or directed in Central and South America;
• The producer.s and/or filmmaker.s of the film are from or lives in Central and South America.

YOUTH COMPETITION RULES

• All the films selected for the youth section are eligible for the Best Youth Film Award (programs for 2 to 17 years old );
• A film selected in the Youth Competition can also be considered in both Official and/or Focus Competition.

C. SELECTION PROCESS

• All films considered part of the pre-selection are judged by the selection committee; the Programming Director will make the final decision. A selection committee whose function is strictly advisory will support the Programming Director in the pre-selection and selection of films for the Festival;
• The films considered to be part of the youth competition are judged by a selection committee specific to this competition, and the the director of the youth section will make the final decision;
• A film selected in the youth competition can also be considered in Official and/or Focus competition.
• The programmers reserve the right to assign submissions to an appropriate section, that’s why it’s important to answer questions concerning Focus and Youth Competitions and the film’s premiere status.

D. IN CASE OF SELECTION

• Once the selection has been announced to the right holder, the film cannot be removed from the program;
• The Festival reserves the right to use excerpts from selected works (max. 60 seconds), pictures and trailers, solely for the Festival’s promotional purposes;
• The Festival will pay rights for all Canadian films screened at the festival;
• The festival will pay rights for all shorts shown in school screenings.

E. SCREENING COPIES

• Films selected must be sent in Apple ProRes 422 HQ format, WITHOUT BURNT SUBTITLES;
• The person responsible for the film must provide an .srt file of the film's dialogues in French and/or English;
• In the case of a selection, you will find in the selection letter all the details concerning the screening copy;

F. ATTENDING THE FESTIVAL

• Our team will get in touch with each selected filmmaker to provide all details concerning transportation, accommodation and festival accreditation;
• It is desirable that each film be represented by its filmmaker or by a representative of the film during the event, up to the Awards Ceremony;
• The Festival will pay accommodations for filmmakers whose films were selected in any of our programming sections;
• Regarding the travel fees for filmmakers out of Quebec, the Festival can provide an official invitation letter to apply for travel grants.

Indigenous Perspectives

This will also mark the third edition of the INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES section, a competition that celebrates the artistic and cinematic richness of Indigenous cultures.

This section is the result of a long-term effort aimed at building bridges between non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples, creating networking opportunities for filmmakers, and most importantly, offering a platform for Indigenous stories told by Indigenous voices.

The film selection is entirely curated by programmers Jess Murwin (Mi’kmaq, Scottish, Welsh), Rosalie Guay (Anishinaabe), and Vincent Careau (Huron-Wendat).

To be eligible, at least one of the key positions linked to the production or direction must be occupied by indigenous. Films submitted to this competition are also eligible for all other Festival’s sections. (link which leads to the description of the general call).

We will prioritize films produced in 2025-2026.

A $3,000 cash prize is offered to the winner, and all films are eligible for the Focus Competition audience award.

The deadline is December 1st. The festival invites you to write to [email protected] to obtain a waiver code to submit your film.s for free.