Short film is any film not long enough to be considered a
feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits".
[1] The term
featurette originally applied to a film longer than a short subject, but shorter than a standard feature film.
The increasingly rare term
short subject means
approximately the same thing. An industry term, it carries more of an
assumption that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a
feature film.
Short is an abbreviation for either term.
Short films can be professional or amateur productions. Short films are
often screened at local, national, or international film festivals.
Short films are often made by independent
filmmakers for
non profit, either with a
low budget,
no budget at all, and in rare cases big budgets. Short films are usually funded by film grants, non profit organizations,
sponsor, or out of pocket funds. These films are used by indie filmmakers to prove their talent in order to gain
funding for future films from private investors, entertainment companies, or
film studios. Short films do qualify for
Academy Awards if screened in
Los Angeles.