Shortsfest

An Oscar®-qualifying festival

Aspen Shortsfest is widely recognized as one of the premier short film festivals in North America and a vital showcase for breakthrough filmmaking talent. Each April, enthusiastic audiences, filmmakers, and special guests from around the world gather in Aspen for public screenings, panels, workshops, and special events celebrating the art and craft of short-form cinema.

The festival’s longstanding relationship with the Academy Awards® continues in 2026 with two Shortsfest alumni films earning nominations. A nominee for Best Live Action Short, JANE AUSTEN’S PERIOD DRAMA earned its Oscar® qualification when it won the Shortsfest Jury Prize for Comedy in 2025. Another selection from Shortsfest’s 2025 edition, RETIREMENT PLAN was nominated for Best Animated Short.

Other recent Shortsfest selections to receive Oscar® recognition includes: THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA, the winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short in 2025; BEAUTIFUL MEN and YUCK!, both nominated for Best Animated Short in 2024; and THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, nominated for Best Documentary Short in 2023.

Aspen Shortsfest is also an industry-recognized incubator for filmmakers whose careers extend well beyond shortform storytelling. Notable alumni include Reinaldo Marcus Green (KING RICHARD, BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE), Destin Daniel Cretton (SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, SHORT TERM 12), Damien Chazelle (LA LA LAND, BABYLON), A.V. Rockwell (A THOUSAND AND ONE), Akinola Davies (MY FATHER’S SHADOW), Saim Sadiq (JOYLAND), Jason Reitman (UP IN THE AIR), Sarah Polley (WOMEN TALKING), Olive Nwosu (LADY), Max Walker-Silverman (REBUILDING), and the late Jean-Marc Vallée (DALLAS BUYERS CLUB).

This ongoing creative trajectory is reflected in successes at Sundance 2026 for several Shortsfest alumni. Directors Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition for NUISANCE BEAR, an expanded version of their 2021 Shortsfest selection of the same name. Eshref Durmishi starred in and co-produced the 2015 Shortsfest award-winner SHOK before going on to co-produce SHAME AND MONEY, the Grand Jury Prize winner in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Voted one of “the 25 coolest festivals in the world” by MovieMaker magazine.

Programmers

Jason Anderson

SHORTSFEST PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Jason Anderson is a programmer, writer and lecturer based in Toronto. He’s the lead programmer for Short Cuts, the Toronto International Film Festival’s annual program of short-form cinema. He’s also the director of programming for the Kingston Canadian Film Festival, the country’s largest standalone festival of Canadian movies. He’s served on juries for festivals such as Hot Docs, Vienna Independent Shorts, the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival and Nordisk Panorama. Previously a longtime critic and columnist for Toronto’s Eye Weekly and The Grid, he currently writes about film and music for such publications as Uncut, Sight & Sound and Cinema Scope. He teaches film criticism at the University of Toronto and feature journalism at Ryerson University. His first novel Showbiz was published by Toronto’s ECW Press in 2004. Raised in Calgary, he lives in Toronto with his wife, daughter and too many records.

He can be reached at janderson@aspenfilm.org

Lucy Lerner

SHORTSFEST SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER

A lifelong enthusiast of pop culture and cinema, Lucy Lerner is a programmer, curator, critic, and producer with decades of experience in the arts. In addition to her role at Aspen Film, Lucy is currently Director of Shorts Programming at The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, MT., and works as the Lead Curator and Producer for the Psychedelic Cinematheque, a program of the Psychedelic Science Conference. In addition, her diverse background includes long tenures at both Mountainfilm and the Telluride Film Festival. Raised in Chicago and living in the Mountain West, Lucy has served on numerous festival juries and currently programs for a diverse range of film festivals and conferences.

She can be reached at llerner@aspenfilm.org

Screening Venues

The Wheeler Opera House

Since 1889, the Wheeler Opera House has been Aspen’s community performance venue. From The Eagles, Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey and Sheryl Crow to locally-curated performance experiences, the Wheeler offers a remarkable movie-viewing locale that we’re proud to provide to our film festival audience.

320 E Hyman Ave, Aspen, CO 81611

Aspen Isis Theatre

The Isis Theatre opened in 1915 in the heart of downtown Aspen, in the same building where it remains today. Featuring four-screens, concessions, and diverse programming, the Aspen Isis Theatre is the only full-time movie theater in Aspen. The theater screens a mix of Hollywood Blockbusters, Independent, Music and Art-House films, and also serves as the home for many of Aspen Film’s Festival screenings, Q+As and filmmaker conversations.

406 E Hopkins Ave, Aspen, CO 81611

The Crystal Theatre

The Crystal Theatre is a single-screen, 125-seat, independent non-profit movie theatre housed in the historic Dinkel building in downtown Carbondale, Colorado. We’re proud to partner with The Crystal Theatre during our festivals to screen select programming down valley.

427 Main St, Carbondale, CO 81623

In the news

50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2026 | MovieMaker

Jun 2, 2026

Aspen Film's Shortsfest, which is also on our latest list of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World, prides itself on curating events without counter-programming to foster collaboration and connection. […]

Aspen’s 2026 Shortsfest announces winners | The Aspen Times

May 22, 2026

The 35th Aspen Shortsfest has announced its winning films. The festival, held April 7-11, was touted as one of the few Academy Award-qualifying events. This year’s edition featured 61 short films from more than 25 countries, including eight world premieres, according to organizers. […]

Documentary How to Build Trust with Documentary Subjects Before You Roll — Live from Aspen Shortsfest