CIRQUE du BLOBFEST: Shorty’s Short Film Contest

🎪🎬 Step Right Up, Dreamers and Daring Directors! Presenting the Spectacular Shorty’s Short Film Contest! 🎬🎪

Hear ye! Hear ye! All storytellers, thrill-spinners, and cinematic conjurers! The grandest side-show of imagination is calling your name! Enter the illustrious Cirque du Blobfest Shorty’s Short Film Contest and dazzle the crowds with your most terrifying, toe-tingling tale!

Yes indeed! Craft your miniature masterpiece and see it celebrated beneath the glittering lights of the Big Top!

🏆 Prizes and Grand Honors!
On Friday night, amid the thunderous cheers of the Immersive Screening & Run-Out Spectacular, our Ringmaster shall announce the victorious filmmakers before the assembled multitude! Each entrant shall receive one to two tickets to the Friends & Family Section of the Upper Balcony — a perch fit for proud creators and their biggest fans!

And the excitement does not end there!

On Sunday, July 12th, from 3 o’clock to 7 o’clock in the afternoon, every marvelous 2026 Shorty’s entry shall flicker to life upon the screen in a continuous exhibition of creativity! Join us in the White Rabbit Theatre, where the reels will spin and imaginations will soar! Any patron with a Sunday film ticket may step right in and enjoy the show throughout the day!

🎥✨ Now, Attend Closely to the Rules of the Ring! ✨🎥

~ By Friday, June 26, send your short film via YouTube link to film@thecolonialtheatre.com.

~ Keep your creation under three minutes — short, snappy, and spectacular!

~ This is a family-friendly carnival, dear filmmakers! If you must question whether it’s appropriate… best leave it on the cutting room floor!

~ Your tale must be Sci-Fi inspired! Riffs on The Blob, a blob of your own invention, or other cosmic creature capers are welcomed — but imagination reigns supreme!

~ In honor of Cirque du Blobfest, your film must feature a clown!

~ And heed this most important decree! Each entry must include — at least once! — the appearance of:
🎈 A Blob
🤡 A Clown
Any film failing to present both blob and clown shall be whisked from the competition without ceremony!

🌟 Judging & Awards Categories! 🌟

Our esteemed panel — comprised of Colonial Theatre staff and our noble Contest Sponsor — shall bestow honors in these distinguished divisions:

~ Under 18 Years of Age
~ Over 18 Years of Age
~ Best Animated Short Film
~ The Fan Favorite

The triumphant winners of the 2026 Shorty’s Short Film Awards will be crowned live on-stage before the Friday Night Immersive Run-Out Screening — a moment of glory beneath the spotlight!

So ready your cameras! Stoke the bonfire! Summon your blob and your clown!

And join the most marvelous miniature motion picture contest this side of the midway!

Additional Rules:

• • The Colonial Theatre is not responsible and cannot be held liable for the personal views and opinions of Blobfest contest entrants. This applies to the Costume Contest, Facade Decorating Contest, and Shorty’s Short Film Contest and any other contests occurring during a Blobfest Festival weekend.

• • Blobfest Contest entrants consent to be photographed unless they notify the theatre in writing in advance that they do not wish to be photographed during the festival year in question. The Colonial Theatre is under no obligation to publicize, utilize or share any images of contest entrants captured during Blobfest.

• • Blobfest Contest Entrants who troll, harass, bully or defame the Colonial Theatre, Colonial Staff or fellow (past or present) competitors, either in cyberspace/online or real life/offline, will be disqualified from participation in current and future Blobfest Contests.

• • Contest Entries for Blobfest should be Family Friendly. “Family Friendly” content is defined as adhering to the Motion Picture Association’s Classification and Rating Rules for G and PG rated films. A G-rated motion picture contains nothing in theme, language, nudity, sex, violence or other matters that, in the view of Colonial Theatre staff, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. The G rating is not a “certificate of approval,” nor does it signify a “children’s” motion picture. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use are present in the motion picture. A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of Colonial Theatre staff, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.

• • In any given year of Blobfest, additional rules specific to each Contest may apply and will be articulated on the Colonial Theatre’s website and in corresponding Facebook Event details.