The Festival was established in 1978 and, since 1996, it is a Municipal Enterprise, whose purposes are:

• To promote and disseminate the art of cinema, and especially of the short film, in Greece and abroad


• To develop a spirit of friendship and cooperation between filmmakers from all over the world


• To hold, in September of each year, a Greek Short Film Festival and an International Short Film Festival


• To organize screenings of Greek and foreign short films; film tributes; seminars, conferences, lectures and fora; art exhibitions; musical concerts; and theatrical performances, throughout the year, in the city of Drama, in Greece and abroad


• To collaborate with similar institutions, both in Greece and abroad, towards the fostering and development of the short film

The Film Market consists of a collection of most of the films that have been screened at the Festival in recent years, in the form of VHS videotapes. This archive includes all the data concerning the thousands of films that are available to researchers, scholars and filmmakers.