Subject of eager experimentation and speculation since its debut in January, the Twitter video-sharing service Vine has shown that looping, six-second clips may be poised for more than an obligatory 15 minutes of fame. As users continue to test and tweak the app’s possibilities, the Tribeca Film Festival has provided a platform to showcase creativity within the medium with its inaugural Six Second Film Festival.

According to Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming, the idea for adding Vine to the festival lineup came out of conversations festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal had with actor Adam Goldberg, widely recognized as one of the most popular Vine users. 

“We’re always looking to do new and exciting things with storytelling, and wanted to look at how these new tools are inspiring filmmakers, especially young filmmakers” she says. “When you’re telling stories in a visual medium, it can results in bigger stories later.”

Viners submitted more than 400 entries in the Genre, Series, Auteur, and Animate categories, 40 of which were submitted to judges, who selected these winners on April 26.

The winner of each category will receive $600 (a hundred bucks for each second). Terranova feels the app’s built-in limitations—users can’t really edit, leading to a quick-cut style of recording – are more of a creative constraint than a challenge, requiring lots of premeditation.

“There’s something really challenging about it,” says Terranova. “So much creativity is about play, and Vine is another form of play right now.”

Animators took to the app quickly, but she sees comedy and other styles becoming an emerging focus.

“In six seconds you can achieve something with the tools of sound and video,” she says. “You can generate feeling, emotion, the wow factor. When people find a tool they’re excited about, their natural energy is expressed in the story they’re telling. Indie filmmaking is very drama heavy. [With Vine,] you don’t get a six second Blue Valentine.”

Entries to the Six Second Films Competition can be viewed on the Tribeca Film Festival website.