Rough Cut | Film Festival

- Rough Cut

Launched in 2010, Rough Cut is an international short film competition for budding filmmakers across film genres. Past winners have gone on to study film and have careers in the industry!

Rough Cut returns !

Date of Festival : Thursday, April 24, 2025
Submission deadline for all films : Friday, April 14, 2025

- Rough Cut Film

ROUGH CUT

Submit your film to be part of New York City's international short film festival for students.

The Jury Prize winner will have the incredible opportunity to be included in the program of Francophone Short Films in Harlem Festival and have their film screened at Maysles Cinema and both Columbia and NYU Maisons Françaises!

Students submit films via this website and are invited to a special screening event at the Lycée Français de New York on Thursday, April 17 at 5pm.

A jury of film professionals, faculty, students and past winners give awards in four categories:

Best Animated Short
Best Documentary Short
Best Narrative Short
Best Experimental Short

The audience will also be given the opportunity to vote for its

favorite movie.

For further details, please contact roughcut@lfny.org.

ROUGH CUT GUIDELINES

For students age 11 to 18
Films must be written, filmed and created by the students
Maximum 10 minutes in length
School-appropriate subjects only
Films in languages other than English are welcome, but they must be subtitled in English

Click here for full list of rules and regulations.

SHORT CUT GUIDELINES

Short on time ? Take the Short Cut to Rough Cut !

For students (and their teachers) who love to create films, have an eye for comedy, but don't have time, make a 30-second, "short cut," integrating the following guidelines:

Shot 1: A scene in a Grand staircase
Shot 2: A close up of hand(s)
Shot 3: A Tilting Up and Down Camera Shot

Full list of rules and regulations.