The Soho Shorts Festival is recognised as one of the leading international Short Film festivals, showcasing both commercially produced and independent work, in awards categories spanning everything from Documentary to Music Video. 199 films across 22 categories will be screened at The Institute of Contemporary Arts, with the awards ceremony held at the Curzon Soho on 19th July. In short, very fancy and very cool.

If name-dropping were an sport, the organisers down at Soho Shorts could put their Nikes on real quick and mosey on down to the Olympic Park; there are some cracking guests present over the nine days with speakers from Fujifilm and YouTube making an appearance. The British Council will host several useful workshops, speaking on everything from funding to animation, as well as Mosaic Networking who are holding a boat party, and The Foundry presenting VFX Effects. The Awards Ceremony, if previous experience is anything to go by, will also prove a font of A-list guests and award presenters such as Ray Winstone, Basement Jaxx and Joseph Fiennes.

Rushes is a post-production company working at the top of its game, with clients including Max Factor, Tinie Tempah and Vodafone. The Festival itself is the company’s brainchild; a way of investing in the creativity and vision of newcomers, and supporting the industry from the inside out. Have a look at Rushes’ lovely post-production work on Jessie J’s latest record with David Guetta, Laserlight:

One of the most exciting bits of this nine-day extravaganza is happening on the 15th July, when BAFTA will be crashing the party. Called the ‘New Filmmakers Market’, representatives from heavy hitters such as the London Film School, the BBC and Channel 4 are positively mugged for their expertise in a day of discussions, screenings and debates, supported by an industry market and networking opportunities. With networking drinks from 5.30pm onwards to all ticket holders, as well as free screenings in the Run Run Shaw Theatre, a path has certainly been cleared for liquid courage this year, and with such high-profile people to meet, it’s probably a good thing.

It’s the Music Video Category which tends to attract the most media attention, and it’s easy to see why when you scan the list of competitors. The category merges together, on a uniquely even playing field, the masterminds behind the videos of Top 40 darlings such as Ed Sheeran (Lego House) and Duck Sauce (Big Bad Wolf) to slightly more obscure choices such as Swedish indie-pop band Miike Snow’s The Wave and Friendly Fires’ delightfully bonkers video for Hurting. With complete unknowns such as De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig also making the cut, the attention to detail on the part of the selection committee is certainly impressive.

You can find a wealth of information at the official Soho Shorts Festival website.Tickets are available for every day of the festival, including the networking parties, here.