A free, internet-based film festival sponsored by Farhang Foundation, calling on filmmakers from all backgrounds to create short films of any genre or style, visualizing an aspect of Iranian arts, history, culture, crafts, geography, cuisine, or lifestyle that will inspire and spark the audience's interest in learning more about Iranian culture.

 Farhang Foundation is a non-religious, non-political and non-profit foundation established in 2008 to celebrate and to promote the study and research of Iranian art and culture for the benefit of the community at large. The foundation supports academic activities in Southern California by funding university programs, publications and conferences. The foundation also supports cultural programs such as celebration of Nowruz and Mehregan, theater, dance performances, films screenings and poetry reading in Southern California. Farhang Foundation, in cooperation with various cultural and academic institutions plans major programs and exhibitions about Iran and its culture. For more info visit: www.farhang.org.

All submissions will be judged for creativity, quality, and originality by a jury that will include veterans and notables of the film industry.

First Prize $10,000 USD

Second Prize $5,000 USD

Third Prize is $3,000 USD

Select a video on the festival website by clicking on it. The video should then start automatically. Traditional video controls (Play/Pause, Time Bar, Volume/Mute, Full-screen) appear when the cursor is placed at the bottom of the video screen.

To watch videos on FarhangFilmFest.org, you must be connected to the Internet.

 To submit a video, you need to create an account first. Please click on ‘register’ in the Green box on the upper right side of the homepage and follow the steps. You can also login using your Facebook and Twitter accounts or you can create a new account using your email address. Thereafter, you need to click on "submit video", fillout the registration form, and upload your media file, or link it from another site such as Vimeo and YouTube. You can also send your video to us using our drop box, but you must create an account first.

It will take up to 48 hours for your film to appear on your account and on the homepage. We do not filter any movies so long as they meet the requirements of our Terms and Conditions.

NOTE: The Film Festival management team has the right to remove any videos after submission and refuse any entries, if it is deemed that the submission violates any of the Terms and Conditions set forth.

Yes. You can send us the media file or data file of your video on a CD or DVD, and we will upload the video for you. But you need to send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to receive the instructions. As of this year, this option is only available upon filmmaker's request.

NOTE: You must register for an account before sending your video file to us.

Please send us Quicktime, WMV or FLV, under 120 MB.

Please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We will respond to your inquiry within 48 hours.

Creators of each video and/or account holders must decide this among themselves and must notify the festival manager of the name(s) that should appear on the award certificate and the prize check.

No. One video per account holder is permitted. One person cannot have two accounts with two different user names.

Yes. One person can work on multiple videos; however, each person can submit only one video each year.

Although Farhang Film Festival does not filter any movies that are submitted, they do need to be non-religious in nature and refrain from endorsing or opposing any political position.

Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival believes in transparency and accepts all films that are aligned with the festival’s Terms and Conditions.  All submitted videos would be available for public viewing on www.farhangfilmfest.org.

Farhang Foundation will notify the top three finalists via the email address provided by the account holder at the time of account registration. All finalists will be invited to an awards presentation event on March 16, 2013 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, at which point they will be notified of their prize at a ceremony open to the public.