The fourth Ningbo International Micro Film Festival will be held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 15-16, a press conference said on Thursday.

The festival began accepting submissions on Sept 25, and as of Oct 27 a total of 590 entries had been received, including 67 scripts and 523 films, the most on record.

Twenty-five submissions have been nominated for 12 different awards, including the Golden Snail Award for Best Short Film, Best Female Short Film Award, Best Animated Short Film Award, Best Director Award and Best Screenplay Award.

This year, the film festival’s jury is chaired by Wen Jun, director and former chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards. The 11 judges are composed of screenwriters, directors, photographers, producers, investors, industry experts and scholars from home and abroad.

The cash prize for the Golden Snail Award for Best Short Film has been raised to 100,000 yuan ($14,925.3), five times the amount last year.

In addition, the organizers, along with several film companies, will offer two award winners no less than one million yuan each for script incubation and long film shooting.

The event is co-sponsored by the Publicity Department of the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee, Ningbo Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ningbo Municipal People's Government, Ningbo Radio and Television Group and the Nottingham Film and Television Industry Alliance.