The Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is BAFTA-Qualifying and takes place in York, UK. It is one of the UK’s largest and most revered film events. We love independent film. It is at the heart of everything that we do. Our programming and curation are innovative and expansive. We believe that great film is transformative, and creativity should be shared.
In 2020, the festival found a new virtual home for its 10th Anniversary Edition, allowing audiences to discover new cinema and engage with industry practitioners from the comfort of their home. The expansive programme featured over 500 films as well as over 100 live industry events, welcoming some of the industry’s most prominent and respected practitioners.
World Class Filmmaking
Innovative Curation
The 10 Anniversary Edition featured an expansive curated programme of film content spanning 12 genres of short film, 360 project and features.
Presented by leading organisations, these specially curated guest programmes explore the breadth of cinema, offering a new way of looking at the world.
You run a fantastic festival and I really enjoyed the chat and it was so insightful for me to hear about Mick and Eddie’s experiences too.
I just wanted to pass on a huge thanks from us at Regent’s! The festival has been a great experience for us, both personally and professionally!? I’m looking forward to spending the rest of the month watching some great short films!
ASFF is my favourite short film festival. Good people. Good energy. And always so well organised and curated.
I would love to be involved with the festival in the future – It’s a great initiative.?I must say I was blown away with the online set up and set up was and how professionally it was run. Hats off to the team.
You’re killing it with this festival. It had been such an awesome experience and I can’t believe how many of your audience members have been reaching out to me and posting about about my film – I can’t thank y’all enough for the platform and sharing it with such a large audience. It really means the world.?
ASFF2019 was fantastic to be involved in, once again. Having spent the day seeing some great and diverse films spanning numerous genres, once again my VFX masterclass was well attended by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowd, with a great Q&A to finish the session…looking forward to coming back next year!
As a first time attendee at Aesthetica my first thought at the end of the festival was “What took me so long?” Between the diverse screening programme, master classes and numerous opportunities to meet filmmakers and fellow programmers I got to experience first hand the community bound by ou mutual love of cinema.
It was a fantastic experience for me as a filmmaker and for my film too – to experience the face of an audience in a massive cinema. The almost full audience, emotional moment and extremely supportive staff. Thanks for programmers for organising such a celebrational festival. Definitely submitting again.
Can’t speak highly enough of the festival. The organisation and communication was top notch. And All the venues were great. Met a lot of great filmmakers and industry contacts. Next years festival is already in my diary.
It was my first time attending ASFF, and what a buzzing hive of talent it was! I’ve made some wonderful discoveries of the next generation of storytellers, and am privileged to have been able to participate in talks, pitches and judging some of the official competitions!
I had a great time, love the festival, it’s so exciting seeing so many new filmmakers walking the streets and at events, really inspiring.
Aesthetica Short Film Festival is one of the few film-focused events that I attend for its entire duration. It brings together several film genres, such as fashion, music, advertising and experimental, giving me the chance to get to know new talent and stay up to date with what’s going on in the industry.
It was an enormous pleasure to be involved in Aesthetica. I really enjoyed it and found the whole thing deeply impressive, and it was lovely to have such an enthusiastic audience!