Each year the competitive section presents a careful selection of recent internationally produced short films, with an emphasis on fiction, animation, documentary, experimental films and music videos, in both formats - film and video.

A selection of the most recent Portuguese films is also presented in this section which offers an ideal opportunity to find ways into the international sphere.
Work in Progress is a versatile programming section comprising Portuguese premieres of feature films (Portuguese or foreign productions), numerous video installations by artists whose careers started in cinema and short film and several projects which explore new languages associated with moving pictures and sound.

Theme and author retrospectives consisting of cinema cycles, exhibitions, film and video installations which try to give an unusual or as wide a dimension as possible be it of an author or of a theme.

The Vila do Conde Shorts besides being a broad film and moving images programming scene is also a privileged forum for welcoming film industry professionals who have an opportunity to research and explore a catalogue with over 2500 entries representing all types of cinema genres in the well-established Short Film Market.