Boston Short Film Festival
The Leading Short Film Festival in Boston
The Bigger Screen champions independent filmmakers and festivals with funding, exposure, and global connections—putting the spotlight exactly where it belongs: on bold, original voices.
The Bigger Screen champions independent cinema by making film more accessible and inclusive—for both creators and audiences. Each year, countless powerful, beautiful films go unseen due to barriers like cost and limited distribution. We aim to change that.
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We support filmmakers through grants and opportunities, and we open doors for audiences regardless of background. From narrative shorts to experimental and underground films, we celebrate all genres—especially those that challenge, enlighten, and inspire.
At The Bigger Screen, the film is the star—not the red carpet. Our mission is to build intimate, inclusive communities where bold voices can shine and audiences can discover stories that might otherwise remain untold.
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Supporting Film Festivals
We partner with over 25 respected international film festivals—from Ann Arbor to Venice—to foster community, creativity, and connection. These intimate events offer filmmakers and audiences a space to engage meaningfully, free from industry pressures.
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Local Filmmakers Program
To encourage emerging voices, we waive festival submission fees for local talent. With over $20,000 in annual support, this program opens doors for around 2,000 filmmakers worldwide to enter the global film scene.
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Tarkovski Grant
Our Tarkovski Grant supports independent filmmakers of all genres with festival fee waivers and recognition. Since 2019, we've provided over $2,638,500 in support, helping thousands share their work with international audiences.
https://www.thetarkovskigrant.org/
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Connecting Cultures Program
Each year, we select 30+ countries based on cultural and humanitarian factors, enabling filmmakers from underserved regions to submit work to partner festivals for free. This program fosters cross-cultural dialogue and inclusivity in cinema.
https://www.connectingculturesprogram.com/
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Filmmaker Exposure Program
Getting noticed is one of the toughest challenges for indie filmmakers. The Bigger Screen helps amplify your voice through Final Cut Magazine. Share your story—new projects, awards, or interviews—and our editorial team will refine it for maximum visibility and impact
https://www.finalcutmagazine.com/.
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Inclusive Audience Program
We keep screenings free or low-cost to ensure broad access—especially for students, seniors, and low-income attendees. With $30,000 in admissions support annually, we believe film should be for everyone.
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Climate-Neutral Film Events
The Bigger Screen is committed to reducing the environmental impact of film festivals. We encourage our partners to minimize waste, limit printed materials, and choose venues accessible by foot, bike, or public transport.
Through our collaboration with Treeplan.org, we offer tailored carbon offset packages. Based on calculations from MyClimate.org, even a small festival generates COâ‚‚—but planting 100 trees per event offsets this impact over the trees’ lifetime. Since the start of this project, partner festivals planted over 50,000 trees.
Together, we aim to make cinema not just powerful—but sustainable.
Partner Film Festivals:
The Bigger Screen has supported one or more editions of the following film festivals.
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Brussels Independent Film Festival
Super Shorts London Film Festival
Super Shorts New York Film Festival
Super Shorts Los Angeles Film Festival
Amsterdam Independent Film Festival
Verona International Film Festival
Bruges International Film Festival
Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival
Ghent Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival
Doc.Berlin Documentary Film Festival
Doc.Boston Documentary Film Festival
Doc.London Documentary Film Festival
Doc.Sydney Documentary Film Festival
Toronto Arthouse Film Festival
New Jersey Independent Film Festival
Somerville International Film Festival
Ghent International Short Film Festival
Cannes International Film Week
QueerCine International Film Festival
Lisbon International Film Festival
... and more coming soon
Climate Neutral Film Events
The Bigger Screen cares about the impact of organising film festivals has on our carbon footprint. Therefore we encourage our film festival partners to thoroughly examine their event organisation. To reduce the use of printed material, reduce waste and to make event locations accessible on foot, by bike and/or public transport.
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Next to these efforts we've teamed up with Treeplan.org to work out custom made compensation packages to further limit the impact to a 'climate neutral' level.
To compensate its impact and depending on the size of the festival a certain number of trees are being planted with one or more of the over 14 tree cultivation projects which are supported by Tree Plan.
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Based on a study using MyClimate.org, a small film festival (3 days, 50 seats) produces approximately 0,707 ton of CO2.
This includes the duration of the event, the number of participants, the number of staff, the heated area, the air conditioned area, how the participants arrive at the event, whether the participants had overnight stays, catering, the power consumption and how much of this is green energy, printed material, use of plastics, use of recyclable material and the produced waste.
One tree absorbs up to 1 ton of CO2 during its life time.
As the positive effect of a tree take a life time we decided to multiply this with 100.
100 trees for a small film festival.
All partner festivals combined planted 10,000 trees for the year 2022.
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Trees are amazing organisms. Every tree captures carbon dioxide and generates oxygen for other people, plants, and animals on earth. Depending on the size and type of tree, a single mature tree can produce enough oxygen for up to 18 people!
However, did you know that humanity destroys 18 million acres of forest every year. That’s billions of trees that are being wiped out year-after-year for building materials, paper manufacture, or to make room for cattle grazing or infrastructure development. At Tree Plan, we want to turn that around. It’s our goal to be part of the solution, ensuring that healthy forests and abundant clean air are available for the coming generations.
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More information on Tree Plan: www.treeplan.org
The Tarkovski Grant, a history of supporting one another.
When selected by a partner film festival, you'll get a FilmFreeway submission fee waiver package that's worth at least $500 USD and grants you free submission access to 20+ film festivals. The current festival partners include iconic festivals such as the Brussels Independent Film Festival, the Venice Film Week, Super Shorts, Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival, Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festivals… among many others.
This not only saves you a lot of money, but it also recognizes your work as something to watch for during the selection procedure, making a selection with another partner film festival more likely - but of course, never guaranteed.
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The program started in 2015 by supporting 169 filmmakers. Then the support was extended to 430 filmmakers in 2016, 444 filmmakers in 2017, 351 filmmakers in 2018, 422 filmmakers in 2019, 474 filmmakers in 2020, 611 filmmakers in 2021, 654 filmmakers in 2022, 950 filmmakers in 2023 and in 2024 the support was granted to 772 filmmakers.
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The average value of The Tarkovski Grant is about $500 per filmmaker, bringing the total value of support until 2024 to a whopping $2,638,500 or approximately an annual support of $263,850.
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Measuring this financial impact is certainly an important aspect to shining a light in the dimly lit corners of independent film production, and it should not be understated how much this opportunity should not be passed up by any up-and-coming independent filmmaker. What cannot be measured though is the size and scope of the waves that these opportunities create. Similar to a stone skipping across a pond, these waves coexist in harmonious and even sometimes beautiful ways.
Surpassing Embargoes and Crushing Censorship
The Connecting Cultures Program supports thousands of underprivileged filmmakers each year in their challenging journeys as independent filmmakers. Surpassing financial embargoes and crushing censorship.​​
​One of our feature programs is the Connecting Cultures Program. As we, at The Bigger Screen, strive to connect people and cultures, this is where our focus is. Each year, filmmakers from at least 30 countries are invited to submit their film to our program for free. When selected by the Connecting Cultures Program, a filmmaker will then receive the option to submit their work to a range of partner festivals all over the world, completely free of charge. This opens the door of film exposure to those who may not otherwise be able to enter.
contact.
The Bigger Screen is a project by
Velvet Room BV
Rue des Anciens Etangs 40
1190 Forest (Brussels)
Belgium, EU
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The Bigger Screen has ongoing projects based in Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Portugal, Brazil and Australia.
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The Bigger Screen runs in association with Velvet Room, Cinematory, Final Cut Magazine, FilmFreeway,
Brussels Independent Film Festival, Super Shorts Film Festival London/New York/Los Angeles, Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival, Venice Film Week, Verona International Film Festival, Doc.Berlin, Doc.Sydney, Doc.Boston, Doc.London, Bruges International Film Festival, Boston Short Film Festival, New Jersey Independent Film Festival, Toronto Arthouse Film Festival, Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, Lisbon International Film Festival, Obskuur Ghent Film Festival, Somerville International Film Festival, Toronto Film Week, Obskuur Film Festival, Festival Ecra, Ghent International Short Film Festival, Cannes International Film Week.