Heads up, filmmakers! This is your chance to share Korean culture in your life! The Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in the Philippines has officially opened its 2026 Student Short Film Competition in an effort to sustain cultural exchange between the Philippines and South Korea.
Now on its second run, the 2026 Student Short Film Competition revealed this year’s theme, “Kwentong Korea,” which encourages interpretations of Korean media’s effects on a person’s cultural outlook, be it through drama, movies, books, poems, and other forms of art.
The competition invites students currently enrolled in any undergraduate or graduate program in the Philippines to test their skills in filmmaking and submit original short films that have not yet been submitted to other major local or international film festivals.
The contest is open to all genres, such as narrative, documentary, animation, or experimental, with a 7 to 15-minute runtime and dubbed or subtitled in English. Participants are given 6 months to conceptualize and produce their entries, with the submission period ending on June 30.
The winning team will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to South Korea to attend the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which showcases new films and rising directors to the global film industry. In addition to the grand prize, the top three short films will be showcased during the annual Korean Film Festival on August 2026.
For more information and updates to the contest, visit the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines’ website and Facebook page.