The international competition contains short films with a maximum length of 30 minutes without limitations concerning country of production. The international competition is divided into two sections, each with its own jury and awards. The competition Fiction & Documentary contains international narrative and documentary shorts. An impartial international jury awards the Vienna Short Film Award donated by the City of Vienna. The other section Animation Avantgarde features international innovative short animation films. The ASIFA Austria Award is awarded by an international jury. In both sections additional awards are presented.

Both tributes of VIS Vienna Independent Shorts are dedicated to individuals from Austria and abroad.  Programmes accompanied by Q&As demonstrate developments and common features of their oeuvre. The tributes make the collected works of extraordinary filmmakers, who are already highly regarded among professionals, accessible to a broader public.

The Vienna Short Film Forum aims at European initiatives and institutions which dedicate their work to the genre short film in the areas of education, financing, production and distribution. Its goal is to encourage exchange amongst of those initiatives and the facilitation of mutual future networking.

The goal of the special programmes is to generate public awareness. They consist of unconventional venues or single screenings aimed at an especially large audience. Besides they offer the possibility to try interdisciplinary approaches.