Instagram Partners With Toronto International Film Festival For Digital Shorts Competition

Instagram, which recently expanded its maximum video length to 60 seconds, is set to partner with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on a new digital shorts competition.

Called the TIFFxInstagram Shorts Festival, the competition will invite both nascent and established filmmakers the world over to submit original films that are up to 60 seconds in length. Beginning today, applicants can enter by uploading their films to Instagram using the hashtag #TIFFxInstagram and filling out a submission form here. Applications close on July 20.

The festival will choose 30 finalists to be showcased on TIFF’s website as well as via a dedicated Instagram account from August 8 to 17. The winner will ultimately be named on August 18 by an esteemed six-person jury including Selma director Ava DuVernay; Xavier Dolan, who directed Adele’s Hello music video; and stop-motion animation artist Rachel Ryle

. In addition to a Judge’s Choice award, the film that receives the most likes on Instagram will receive a Fan Favorite award.

“More than 500 million people are using Instagram each month for visual inspiration and creative expression, including video,” said Instagram COO Marne Levine in a statement. “Over the last six months, the total time people spent watching video on Instagram has increased by 150%.”

“Our collaboration with Instagram is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the work of filmmakers from all over the world and discover up-and-coming talent through the world’s largest creative digital community, showcased by the world’s largest public film festival,” added TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling. TIFF officially kicks off in September.