It was during COVID-19 times, with people barricaded in their homes and all film festivals and cultural institutions on hold, that the short film platform THIS IS SHORT was launched. Curated by the six European film festivals Vienna Shorts (Austria), Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (Germany), Go Short (Netherlands), Short Waves (Poland), IndieLisboa (Portugal) and the Uppsala Kortfilmfestival (Sweden), it began streaming its first shorts on 1 April 2021, reaching short film fans from over 50 countries over the course of three months before returning for a second run in spring 2022.

Although COVID-19 restrictions are no longer an issue, the organisers haven’t decided to retire their online project. The "online festival" inspired the year-round follow-up project: a streaming service for short films curated by the festivals mentioned above. It will be available starting 20 November 2023 and active throughout the year.

Besides the six mentioned players who will act as curators, THIS IS SHORT is a project of the European Short Film Network (ESFN), supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA strand of the European Union, and was developed by the Dutch company ThisWayUp and designed by the Polish design studio Uniforma. It is a non-profit project to support European and international short films and filmmakers.

In a joint statement, the festival members emphasised that the service “is aimed at the curious and film fans, the audience of arthouse cinemas and festivals, everyone who makes films and everyone who wants to discover talent. It's about great cinema in all its brevity." Furthermore, they stressed that the focus of the platform would be the short format only. It “has always been and still is the most important source of innovation for the art of film and filmmaking."

THIS IS SHORT will start with 100 films from around 30 countries in the main programme. During the run of the participating festivals, they will regularly add new films in the coming weeks and months. The programme will offer shorts on current topics, award-winning films and retrospectives. Outside of the festival selection, submissions for THIS IS SHORT are not possible. 

The films will be available without regional restrictions as much as possible and will be shown in their original language with English subtitles. After a free trial period of two weeks, a monthly subscription costs €4.99, and an annual subscription €49.99. Some of the first shorts already confirmed for the platform are 27 by Flóra Anna Buda, Acid Rain by Tomek Popakul, Atlantics by Mati Diop, Flores del otro Patio by Jorge Cadena, Flowers Blooming in our Throats by Eva Giolo, LAKE OF FIRE by Art Collective Neozoon, Small Town by Diogo Costa Amarante and ULTRAVIOLET by Marc Johnson.