About the festival

The BOO International Short Film Festival is a Prague-based festival of contemporary European short films, which brings together short films, audience engagement, audiovisual education and a European industry programme.

BOO was established in 2025 through the merging of two film festivals: ELBE DOCK (European short films and documentary debuts, Ústí nad Labem and Dresden, 2018–2024) and Young Film Fest (European short films for children and young people, Prague, 2017–2024). It thus builds on several years’ experience with European short films and working with diverse audience groups. BOO aims to create a space where different generations of audiences, filmmakers, cinema operators, educators and other professionals from across Europe can come together through film. The festival is closely linked to Prague’s Kino Kavalírka and also serves as a laboratory for new ideas and projects from across Europe.

Contemporary European short film

The programme is based on a curated selection of significant contemporary short films – including fiction, documentary, animated and experimental films. BOO showcases films by established filmmakers as well as new talents, and follows works screened at major international and European festivals.

The two main competitions – the European BOO and the Czech-German BOO – are judged by juries comprising film professionals. Alongside these, the festival offers programmes tailored to different age groups – from the youngest viewers through teenagers to older audiences.

Audiences are not just recipients of a ready-made programme. They are involved in the selection of films, discussions, workshops, juries and other festival activities. The festival has long been developing formats based on a peer-to-peer approach, in which people of the same generation or professional group share their experiences. BOO works with children, young people, adults and older people, and explores how a film programme can be created together with the audience, rather than merely for them.

BOO combines screenings with reflection, workshops and practical work with audiovisual production. Alongside programmes for children and young audiences, it also aims at teachers, educators, cinema operators and others who work with audiences. The festival showcases new methods of audiovisual education, European examples of both good and bad practice, and creates a space for testing and further developing these approaches.

Alongside short films, it focuses especially on audience development, film and audiovisual literacy, testing and new ways for cinemas to engage with audiences. It brings to Prague the expertise of organisations and specialists from various European countries, while also showcasing projects emerging from the Czech scene. BOO serves as a platform for long-term European collaboration, the exchange of expertise and the creation of new projects.

Main festival venues:

Kino Kavalírka (Plzeňská 210, Prague 5)

Ponrepo Cinema (Bartolomějská 11, Prague 1)

KP Smíchov (Na Doubkové 8, Prague 5)

MeetFactory (Ke Sklárně 15, Prague 5)