The festival takes place in the only art house cinema in Iceland, Bíó Paradís, late February every year and lasts for eleven days.
The festival aims to create a platform in Reykjavík to encourage collaboration between domestic and international film communities.
Apart from the prestigious price of gaining the title the Shortfish, the winner of the competition also gets an award that aims to help said filmmaker to make future projects.
Both the international and Icelandic filmmakers attending the festival participate in Q&A screenings, panels, lectures, workshops, masterclasses and other events.
Some of the past guests of the festival include; Jóhann Jóhannsson, Rachid Bouchareb, László Rajk, Sturla Brandt Grøvlen, Iram Haq, Harutyun Khachatryan and many more.