TikTok, official partner of the Festival de Cannes, has launched the second edition of the #TikTokShortFilm, a competition of short films in vertical format.

From now until 29 March, emerging artists and enthusiasts are invited to take part in the competition by submitting their original video creation of more than one minute. After registering their application through the form available on the application, and publishing their original creation with the hashtag #TikTokShortFilm on their TikTok account, the films will be submitted to the users vote.

The 40 most popular videos by the public (based on the number of views and engagement) will then be proposed to the professional jury. The jury will select three winners in the following categories: ‘Grand Winner’, ‘Best Script’, and ‘Best Direction’. They will be invited by TikTok to the 76th edition of the Festival de Cannes to receive their prize on 23 May. The winners will also receive an endowment of €10,000 for the ‘Grand Winner’ category, and €5,000 for the ‘Best Script’ and ‘Best Direction’ to support their next project.

The hashtag #TikTokShortFilm has more than 9.5bn views on TikTok.The first edition of the competition highlighted four creators, with very different styles, who embody the richness of the TikTok community. Among them, the French creator Claudia Cochet won the ‘Best Script’ award with her activist film ‘Princesse Moderne’, denouncing violence against women.

“Winning the ‘Best Script’ award not only gave me confidence as a writer-director, but also gave me credibility in the film industry,” said Cochet. “I have been able to direct and write for large groups on TikTok, and I have recently co-written two feature films thanks to the visibility that the award has given me, one of which should start shooting in April. Since then, Ive also directed the pilot of a multiplatform series that Im now looking to produce and have been invited to many short film festivals to talk about my experience as a director on platforms like TikTok.”