While The International 2024 is taking a short break for the teams to get to the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, we have collected some of the best Steam Workshop entries that everyone could submit to this year's The International.

But before that, here's some information about the Short Film Contest 2024. Ten finalists will be screened during The International. After reviewing the ratings and discussions in the workshop, Valve will nominate the best works for the final vote in the Dota client, where the community will choose the winners. The top three films will receive prizes of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000 respectively, and the remaining ten finalists will receive $500.

The winner of the previous TI

The video of last year's winner under the nickname 4fun. The film stars a personality on Phantom Assassin. The film was made with high quality and it is clear that it was made with passion, users noted the author's hard work on graphics, sound and staging. Personally, we would rate this short film 9/10.

The best works of Short Film Contest 2024

We've watched a lot of entries in the Steam Workshop and are ready to share with you the best videos in our opinion. Who knows, maybe they will be shown by Valve at The International.

A video called Support by Nightfury Treann. It shows all the hard work of the support position in Dota 2 in a comedic form. Having watched this video, I would like to say that you should appreciate your support staff and always give them honours for their great work! Our rating for this video is 7/10. A slightly lower score for not very realistic work with the movement of the characters, but maybe it's not necessary?

One of the surprises of this year's Short Film Contest was that the HEROIC team also decided to take part in it with their video about the toxicity of so-called ‘tips’ in Dota 2. This video features a lot of locations and beautiful graphics. What else can you expect from the kings of trolling on social media? Our rating for this work is 9/10 for an interesting idea, and for many people, a painful topic.

In our opinion, the work titled Pit Fight by Quan Luong is one of the contenders for the win. This film has done a great job on graphics, lighting, sound, and production. Our rating for this work is 10/10, and that is why it is our contender for the first place and 25 000 USD. Also, according to the author, he has wanted to participate in this competition for several years, but has gathered the strength only now.

Next up, we have another comedy video called Play For Fun by WYX. In this video, the author tries to remind us that, first of all, the game should be fun, even if it is in a strange way, like a saport with a build in the cage. Isn't it fun? We gave this entry 8/10 for an interesting idea and good work with lighting.

The first animation in our selection is by Costello. Everything about this work is great, from the level of animation to the perfectly chosen music. This is one of the best animations ever created for Dota 2. In our opinion, this work is worthy of a 10/10 rating, the author has done a great job on all aspects of the film, so we think it is worthy of support.

The next one will be the work from the author of Septimus, starring Omniknight. The author has put a lot of effort into making a high-quality picture, the visual effects and framing are very well worked out, and the music is also worth mentioning. Our rating for this work is 7/10. This entry is somewhat similar to the winner of last year.

Another animated work in our selection, but in a different style. The film titled Clinkz the hero by Oharto tells us the story of a hero like Clinkz. We would like to note the good quality of the art and the appropriate musical accompaniment. We rate this work at 6/10, an interesting idea but very few animations and mostly static pictures all the time, but their quality is impressive.

The last work for today, but no less high-quality work from the author dmurio. I would like to note probably one of the most pleasing to the eye of the overall compositions. Perfectly chosen lighting, special effects and framing. A pleasant atmosphere is conveyed and therefore 8/10. This is one of those works that is worth voting for in the Dota 2 client.

Conclusion

In summary, this year's Short Film Contest at The International 2024 brought together many incredible entries, each of which showed a unique approach to visualisation and storytelling in the world of Dota 2. From comedic moments about supporters and trolling to impressive animated scenes, each entry has its own flavour. Our favourites stood out not only for the quality of their graphics and music, but also for their creative approach to revealing the nature of the characters and situations in the game. The final community vote will determine the winners, but we can already see how diverse and talented the Dota 2 community is. Don't forget to support your favourites in the Dota 2 client!