Pull Out Your Phones! Cannes Partners with TikTok, Will Host #TikTokShortFilm Contest

Huge news, filmmakers—TikTok has become the official partner of the Cannes Film Festival. This partnership promises a new view of the prestigious festival with unique behind-the-scenes content from TikTok creators, as well as a new opportunity for up-and-coming filmmakers with a brand-new short film contest.

TikTok announced the partnership this week via its website. The social media app has a flourishing #filmtok community where creators share film analysis, reviews, how-to videos, and behind-the-scenes content.

"People turn to TikTok to be entertained, express themselves or discover something new, and they share an authentic and rewarding sense of community unlike anywhere else,"  said Lee Hunter, General Manager Australia and New Zealand, TikTok. "We're excited to partner with the Festival de Cannes to deliver creative ways for our community to be inspired, moved, and entertained, bound by a shared love of video and cinema."

Thierry Fremaux, General Delegate, Festival de Cannes, said in a statement:

"We are delighted to partner with TikTok to share the magic of the Festival with a wider, much more global, and just as much cinephile audience than ever before. For several years now, the Festival de Cannes has been connecting with the next generation of film enthusiasts by offering them the opportunity to experience the Festival through our '3 Days in Cannes' program. With this collaboration—which is part of a desire to diversify the audience—we're looking forward to sharing the most exciting and inspiring moments from the Festival and seeing the Festival reimagined through the lens of TikTok creators and its community. We look forward to discovering all this with great eagerness and curiosity."

#TikTokShortFilm

Perhaps the most exciting bit of this news is that TikTok is launching #TikTokShortFilm, "a global competition to inspire creativity and support emerging talent."

Starting this week, creators are invited to share their short-form films with the TikTok community. Here are the rules for the competition:

• The length of the video must be between 30 seconds and three minutes.
• The creation must be completely original, created and owned by the filmmaker.
• The short film must not be a music video, stand-up video, personal vlog, or a reality video, but a scripted story in any genre.
• Users must obtain the rights to any music used in the short.
• Entrants must be over 18 years old.
• The video must be public and use the hashtag #TikTokShortFilm.

See the full list of rules here. Users can also look at the Discover page in the TikTok app for more details on how to enter.

Submissions close April 8, 2022, with winners announced at the end of April.

Three winners will be selected by a jury to win a cash prize and a trip to Cannes in May. Submissions will be judged in three categories: Grand Prix, Best Script, and Best Editing.

Cannes will be held from May 17 to 28, 2022.