About The Competition

EPYC

Short Film Awards


EPYC Short Film Awards is a competition for a short film (feature, documentary or animation) within the Giffoni Macedonia Youth Film Festival. 

The first edition of this Awards event will take place in October 2023, as part of the eleventh edition of Giffoni Macedonia Youth Film Festival.

The EPYC Short Film Awards aims to encourage professional and amateur filmmakers, especially young authors from the Balkan region, to create short films for young audiences that promote peace and reconciliation, regional integration, democracy, European values and human rights.


If you want to submit a short film for the EPYC Short Film Awards, your film will have to be:

  • Film produced not earlier than January 2020
  • Film dedicated to young audience aged 10+ or 14+ 
  • Film with focus on topics and messages that promote peace, human rights and European values and/or advocate against violence, hate and discrimination on any basis. 


For short films focused on other topics, please submit directly to Giffoni.mk

Awards & Prizes


  • Best EPYC Short Film Award* (800€)  
  • EPYC Youth Award for short film from young author** (500€)
  • EPYC Balkan Award for short film by authors from the Balkan region*** (500€)

* Authors of any age from any country are eligible to participate in the competition. 

** Young authors up to 28 years (born in 1995 and later) are eligible 

*** Balkan region eligible countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,  Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkeye.

Rules & Terms


  • Deadline for admission of films: June 30,2023
  • Film categories: fiction, documentary, animation.
  • Topic of the film: topics and messages that promote peace, human rights and European values and/or advocate against violence, hate and discrimination on any basis. 
  • Films duration: Maximum 20 minutes
  • Production date of the film: The submitted film should be produced after January 2020. 
  • The files of the films should be in one of these formats: AVI, MP4 or MOV and minimum in HD video quality (1080*1920)
  • The selected films should be uploaded in its original format with English subtitles and a separate SRT file.
  • Selection terms: The selection will take place under the unquestionable judgment of the Festival’s Staff who will communicate the results exclusively via FilmFreeway, no later than September 15, 2023.
  • Note: In order to promote the film in competition, it is essential that the production company give their authorization for a maximum of 30” of scenes taken from the film to be broadcast on television or internet.

If selected, the screening copy of the film must be provided in digital format. No hard copies will be accepted.

All the films in competition will be screened in original language with the addition of hard coded or electronic English subtitles and/or with the addition of electronic Macedonian subtitles.

- The prints must be subtitled in English if they come from non-Anglophone countries.

- In the case of DCPs please consider the time needed to carry out tests and download or upload them. The copy must arrive within September 21st 2023. 

- Any file for the official screenings can be sent to epyc@giffoni.mk by September 21st 2023.

Costs & Commitments


- Submission for EPYC Short Film Awards until the end of the regular deadline is free of charge.

- Entrance into one of the competitive sections entails unconditional acceptance of the Festival’s regulations. It is strictly the applicants (authors, producers, distributors or any other subjects’ responsibility) to guarantee that they are authorized to submit the films for EPYC Short Film Awards.

- This list of regulations has been drawn up in both Macedonian and English language. If problems of interpretation should arise the version in Macedonian will prevail.

- The management of the Festival is allowed to make decisions that are not foreseen in the above regulations and to change the regulations in special cases.

- The Court in Skopje will be considered as the competent authority for any controversy.