Hollywood Cloud Student Film Awards 2026

Want to showcase your talent, capture the audience's attention, and win our competition? Then you've come to the right place!

The competition is open to filmmakers who are still actively studying or who completed their studies less than 3 months before the submission deadline.

How to participate:

We are looking for short films with a maximum length of 4 minutes. There are 3 topics to choose from.

For each topic, the hollywood.cloud team will create a shortlist of 15 films and select a winner in each category. An Audience Award is also planned for all shortlisted films. Viewers can vote for their favorites online.

To ensure that all participants benefit from the competition, peer review is mandatory. Each participant must watch three short films assigned to them and provide constructive feedback.

Topics and formats:

Offline.
Why we remain silent.
You.

Each person may submit one entry per topic. The entry must be previously unpublished and created exclusively for this competition. Languages: German or English (silent films are also possible). Format: MP4, otherwise there are no further specifications. Implement your project however you like!

It must be possible to convert the footage into a standard cinema format at a later date, as the winning entries and selected shortlist entries will be screened as part of our festival on October 16, 2027.

Categories:

Best Performance – Leading Role
Best Performance – Supporting Role
Best Director
Best Story

Awards:

All winners will benefit from coverage in the international media!

The winners selected by hollywood.cloud will be promoted with a media package worth a total of €2,000, giving them valuable visibility and public recognition.

The winners of the Audience Awards will be promoted with a media package worth a total of €1,000 and can also look forward to valuable visibility and public recognition.

All winners will receive a certificate.

The winning entries and selected shortlist entries will be screened as part of our festival on October 16, 2027.

Submission period:

Short films can be submitted between

July 1–7, 2026 (Early Bird)
July 8–August 10, 2026 (Regular)
and August 11–31, 2026 (Late).

During these periods, you will find the online submission form on this page.

Entry fees:

Early Bird: € 12
Regular: € 20
Late: € 28

The amounts apply per submission.

Other information:

The competition takes place exclusively online. The festival on October 16, 2027, is open to the public and will take place in Villach, Austria.

We have set up a separate group for questions and exchanges with other filmmakers.

Terms and conditions of participation & legal information:

By submitting your entry, you automatically agree to all terms and conditions of participation in full!

The competition is open to filmmakers who are still actively studying or who completed their studies less than three months before the submission deadline.

Entries must be previously unpublished and created specifically for this competition. The use of AI is prohibited.

The competition takes place exclusively online. By participating, all entrants warrant that they own all rights to the submitted works and that no third-party rights are infringed. Entrants undertake to indemnify and hold harmless the organizer (hollywood.cloud, Dr. Astrid Holzmann-Koppeter) in every respect.

Submitters grant the organizer unlimited rights of use in terms of time and space, which are exclusive until February 2027 and non-exclusive thereafter.

The entree fees will be charged per submission. The amount must be received in our account by September 22, 2026, at the latest.

No cash alternative to the prizes. The media packages will be implemented or commissioned exclusively by the organizer without further consultation.

Each participant (m/f/d) undertakes to participate in peer review. This must be completed before the shortlist is published, otherwise the work will be automatically disqualified.

Each participant undertakes to visit the website regularly and check their emails (including the spam folder) to ensure smooth communication.

To participate in the competition, you must register for free on our website. By registering, you automatically become a member of our community, known as the Hollywood Cloud. By actively participating in our community, you collect bonus points (“Stars”) and can exchange them for great rewards at the end of the year (e.g., movie tickets or participation in online-workshops, etc.).

We reserve the right to exclude entries and individuals from the competition or our offer without giving reasons. There is no legal right to participate.

Subject to change or cancellation! In the event of cancellation or changes, there is no entitlement to damages or compensation of any kind.

All costs incurred in connection with participation in the competition and/or the festival event—in particular travel, accommodation, and meal expenses—must be borne by the participants themselves. The organizer will not cover any costs associated with participation. There is no legal entitlement to reimbursement of expenses.

The terms and conditions and privacy policy of hollywood.cloud also apply.