An essential part of making your short film is to have it screened at a festival. A festival could be the filmmaker’s ticket to success and the breakthrough they need into feature film making. There are countless festivals in Britain and many more around the world which offer a chance for filmmakers films to be seen...
‘Encounters Short Film Festival’ is one of the longest running short film festivals. Based in Bristol England, in 2001 it joined ‘Animated Encounters’ and now showcases creative productions, using cutting edge animated technology that helps to make animation such a popular and successful form of film worldwide.
Encounters is supported by many different sponsors, which in return are advertised on their webpage. Some of these companies are the National Lottery, HP, Films@59, Watershed, South West Screen and the Bristol City Council.
Based in London, ‘the Soho Short Film Festival’ is not only a stage for films to be seen, but has an activities centre around the festival which has become a way that professional filmmakers and upcoming film enthusiasts can work alongside one another. This provides experience for the both. The actual film award system is spilt into different categories; the International Award, the Long Form Award, the Broadcast Design Award and the Newcomer Award are some of these.
Much like Encounters, the Soho Short Film Festivals are also supported by different sponsors. Universal, Facebook, Rushes, Daily Motion and Sony are just some of these.
The ‘Leeds International Film Festival’ is the largest film festival in England outside of London. Held in November at various venues around the city of Leeds, it shows over 200 films from around the world, both commercial and independent. Much like the ‘Soho Festival,’ Leeds has many different categories for aspiring filmmakers to win.
The festival also plays host to the ‘Leeds Young People's Film Festival,’ an event which is now in its tenth year and it has now become so popular that it has shown premieres of big blockbuster movies, such as The Butterfly Effect, Finding Nemo and Finding Neverland.
The ‘Kino Film Festival’ also recognised as the ‘Manchester European Short Film Festival, is another platform for talented filmmakers from the UK. Following the success of many winners from this festival making the leap to feature filmaking, the Manchester International Film Festival will now support the recognition of low budget and independent new feature films. This festival is funded by many different companies, some of which are, The Lottery, The Arts Council England, Manchester City Council, Parcel Force, Baby Cow, Northwest Vision Media, the BBC Film Network and the Cultural Diversity Network.
Other key national festivals for short films are...
• The Times BFI London Film Festival, sponsored by the Daily Times Newspaper.
• The Telluride Film Festival, where each year tributes are paid to directors and actors who have fundamentally changed the world of film.
• The BBC British Short Film Festival.
• There are also many more.....
Key international festivals for short films are...
• The Cannes Film Festival, a private festival founded in 1946 and based in France, which is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals.
• The National Screen Institute based in Canada, which is an organization that provides a continuum of career-long professional development for Canadian film and television industry professionals.
• The Over The Fence Short Film Festival, an Australian based festival which primarily focuses on comedy – As their website states, “A film that is driven by or ultimately concludes with an excellent sense of humour.”
• The Cleveland International Short Film Festival, the largest film festivals in Ohio, USA which was first held in 1977, currently screens over 300 films each year.
• The Edinburgh International Film Festival based in Scotland, is an annual fortnight event held each June. Since it begun in 1947 has now become the world's oldest continually running film festival.
• London Film Festival
• Moscow International Film Festival
• Cyprus International Short Film Festival
• L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival
• San Sebastián International Film Festival
• Strawberry Shorts
Key international festivals for short films which include categories, or are primarily run for young students are...
• Titular Head
• The Shortie Awards
• Campus MovieFest
• Fresh Film Festival
• Cinequest Film Festival
• City University Film Festival
• Ivy Film Festival
• Sacramento Film and Music Festival
