Terms & Conditions
VOD platform for cinematic short films
Genre
Short films must be in one of the film genres listed below. In the documentary section, we focus entirely on “Art & Society”, a program dedicated to contemporary artists.
- Dark Comedy: Blend morbid subjects with humor.
- Drama: Complex relationships and emotional conflicts.
- Experimental: Explore new artistic possibilities.
- RomCom: Romance, humor, and charming dialogue.
- Thriller: Suspense, tension, and psychological intrigue.
- Urban Fiction: The struggles of disadvantaged communities.
Certain film genres are excluded, such as action, horror, science fiction and westerns, due to their high production costs or frequent use of low-quality special effects. As for animation, it’s a niche market that, ultimately, doesn’t lend itself to the cinematic format.
Runtime
Short films must be 10-15 minutes long (including credits), post-produced in FHD h264 cinematic mode with all rights secured (including music). Mini-series must have between 2 and 5 episodes. Documentaries, however, must be between 1-3 minutes long.
Aspect Ratio
To give short films the CinemaScope look they deserve with letterboxing (black bars), we ask that you crop your Full HD 1920 x 1080 (16:9) video to 1920 x 818 (2:35). In other words, you need to crop 131 from the top and bottom of your video when editing (1080-818/2). Black bars matter.
To speed up the cropping process and repositioning of B-rolls, you can download our 2∶35 PNG letterbox overlay. Remember to delete it from your timeline so as not to interfere with the ability to dynamically change the video player display mode (default, cinema, theater, or full screen).
Description
The film description should include a brief summary of the synopsis or logline, as well as the minimum information listed below:
- Director: Name
- Writer: Name
- Cast: List of actors separated by commas
- Released: YYYY (year of release)
Thumbnail
Movie thumbnails are images designed to capture the audience’s attention before a video starts to play. They are required for publication, are in landscape mode of 1920 x 1080 pixels, in JPG format with overlay text.
Art & Society is the only film genre to feature plain thumbnails, without text overlays, as they are primarily displayed in portrait mode.
Subtitles
All short films are delivered in their original version, with English as the only mandatory subtitle. As a European streaming platform, we aim to support as many languages as possible with easy-to-translate text files saved in VTT format. However, it is up to the publishers to translate the additional subtitles at their own expense. Subtitles are accessible from our video player as a list with multiple languages to choose from.
Scoring
Short films must achieve an overall score of at least 70% to be shown on our platform. Shorts scoring below are rejected for lack of flow. Submit yours for review.
License
Publishers warrant that all material and digital video content contained in or delivered through our platform is protected by intellectual property rights and that they have all the power and authority necessary to grant us a non-exclusive, irrevocable and royalty-free worldwide license to use, distribute and otherwise exploit such material on filmflow.org and affiliated theaters and cinemas, in any number of copies and for an unlimited period of time, and without the need for any permission or payment from any other person or entity.
TVOD
Where appropriate, short films, mini-series and documentaries are hosted on YouTube or our third-party streaming solution with premium services such as Transactional Video-on-Demand (TVOD) and film download prevention (DRM). The business model and revenue sharing of premium services are based primarily on pay-per-view for mini-series. Optionally, we reserve the right to include advertising.
If you are using a pay-per-view service (TVOD), you will be prompted to pay through your account. Prices are current at the time of publication. Registered users can access and play digital content for private use only and for a limited period of time.
SVOD
We don’t offer Subscription Video-on-Demand services (SVOD) billed periodically (monthly or annually) for one simple reason: our limited audience and niche market don’t require a constantly rotating catalog to satisfy subscriber demand. As a nonprofit, our approach is different, less competitive but just as demanding, and somewhat more collaboative in its economic model.
Refund
Except as required by law, we do not refund payments for any reason or credit unused services.
Factory
For seamless collaboration and easy file sharing, members have access to Factory, our built-in collaborative workspace, similar to Asana or Trello, that helps teams organize tasks, crowdfunding campaigns, film festivals, and video production workflows. User-friendly and free, it has no restrictions or hidden fees!
Membership
There are two types of membership or account categories, each with a different set of rights:
- Subscribers: anonymous users who watch, comment or like.
- Associates: officially accredited and verified individuals or legal entities.
Account
In order to access or use certain features or services, you must subscribe or register to create a free account. You agree to provide accurate and up-to-date information and are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for all activities that occur under your account. You may delete your account at any time through your account settings. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account if, in our sole discretion, we are concerned about a breach of these terms or comments made about you.
Push Notifications
As soon as a post is published or updated, subscribed users will receive a notification via email or web push. Web push notifications are instant messages that users receive on their web or mobile browser without having to provide an email address. However, users must be registered to receive email notifications. To unsubscribe from web push notifications, simply click on the unsubscribe button located on our homepage.
iPhone users (iOS 16.4+) must use the “Add to Home Screen” feature to enable push notifications:
- Open Safari (or Google Chrome) and go to filmflow.org
- Tap the Share button at the bottom of your screen
- Scroll down the share menu sheet that pops up
- Tap “Add to Home Screen”
- Name the shortcut “Filmflow” and tap “Add” in the top-right corner to place it on the home screen
Registration
Subscribers only need to fill out a username, email and password, while extras (filmmakers and other experts) need to update their profile picture and write a brief description of their expertise. Optionally, a cover image (1500x300px) can be uploaded from royalty-free image databases such as unsplash.
Eligibility
You must be 18 years or older to access or use our services. In some jurisdictions, the age of majority may be over 18, in which case, you must reach that age to become a user.
Identity
Where applicable, Know Your Customer (KYC) ensures a trusted marketplace for all users by verifying their identity through the collection of documents.
Agreement
By visiting or using any content or service accessible through filmflow.org and associated subdomains (hereinafter referred to as we, our, us, website, platform, service), you agree to be bound by our terms and conditions (TOS), privacy policy and all other operating rules, policies, conditions and procedures that may be published on our website.
Provision
These terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us and govern your use of the service. If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid, that provision will be severed and the remaining provisions of these terms will remain in full force and effect.
Copyright
You agree not to infringe any intellectual property rights by copying or downloading digital content or by circumventing any technological measures implemented on our platform through the use of third party software or other means, including geo-filtering mechanisms.
Disclaimer
The service is built on open-source software and content management systems and is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, with all faults and without warranty of any kind. We assume no responsibility or liability for any content posted by you or any third party. Offensive content of any kind is prohibited. We reserve the right to determine what constitutes inappropriate content and to remove such content at any time without notice. If you do not agree with any of these terms, do not use or access our service.
Translation
Where applicable, the content has been translated for your convenience using an automated translation tool based on generative artificial intelligence (AI). Despite our efforts to ensure accurate translations, errors may still occur. If you notice any inaccuracies, please refer to the official English or French version. You can also report any errors via our messaging service. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated.
Juridiction
Any dispute or claim arising out of these terms should first be resolved informally by contacting us. Any subsequent dispute shall be governed by Swiss law and settled by commercial arbitration service in Geneva, Switzerland, provided that the claim must be filled within one year after it arises, that the arbitrator may not consolidate the claims of more than one person, that the French language shall prevail, whether oral or written, that the arbitration may be conducted virtually, and that the fees and all other expenses of the arbitration shall be borne by the claimant.
Taxes
You acknowledge that you must comply with your obligations under the income tax laws of your jurisdiction. We may withhold up to 30% to cover unforeseen taxes or require you to prepay any taxes that are assessed and payable.
Amendments
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of these terms from time to time, without notice and without liability to you. You should therefore regularly visit this page to review the latest updates.
Questions
If you have any concerns about these terms, you can send us a message.
© Filmflow
Updated July 6, 2026