Film Festival Deadlines (Week Commencing 14th November)

1. Berlin Independent Film Festival : 17 November 2022

The Berlin Independent Film Festival is at the epicentre for low-budget filmmaking in Europe. While the Berlin Independent Film Festival is not connected with the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale), BIFF runs at the same time, and not far from the European Film Market and draws on all the film industry power gathered in Berlin for those events. BIFF takes place at the Babylon Cinema in downtown Berlin. As well as a offering plenty of screening opportunities for indie films, BIFF is developing into a crucial business hub for the low-budget film industry. BIFF hosts workshops and networking social events where attending filmmakers help each other out with marketing advice and EFM tips.

2. Leeds Queer Film Festival : 18 November 2022

Leeds Queer Film Festival will take place over four days in March 2023. We screen short and feature length films in all genres. We are currently the only queer DIY festival in the UK and have been running since 2005.
They create spaces to showcase queer cinema with a focus on independent and DIY films and screen films that elevate and prioritise the voices and work of those most marginalised within our LGBTQ+ communities. 

3. Cardiff Mini Film Festival : 21 November 2022

Cardiff Mini Film Festival has been taking over unusual venues to screen film since 2012. To ensure any newcomers to the industry aren’t obliterated by any high budget production companies, they separate fiction programming into high budget and low budget, so please ensure you tell them what your budget was for the actual making of the film (marketing and distribution excluded). You can expect to watch a film in a coffee shop vault, a shopping centre basement, an antiques market, themed bars and any other fantastic unusual venues.

4. Manchester Film Festival : 21 November 2022

Manchester Film Festival is proud to be a BIFA qualifying festival and one of the Top 10 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway. MANIFF is a nine-day celebration of film, with all films screened in a cinema with full surround sound and crystal-clear visuals. All attending filmmakers are invited to take part in post-screening Q&A’s, red carpet interviews and nightly after parties. All in-competition films will come from open submissions submitted through FilmFreeway and the festival will end with the annual awards ceremony, with winners chosen by previous MANIFF alumni and MANIFF’s programming team.

5. The UK Film Festival Script Competitions : 23 November 2022

UKFF are well known for successfully connecting scriptwriters to the film industry and getting the films made. With 6 of their winners’ scripts made into films (1 of which won an award at Sundance and 2 that went on to win Crystal Bears at the Berlin Film Festival as well as 4 others that have subsequently gone on to be multi-award winning at film festivals around the world including Aesthetica, Bilbao, Galway and Underwire.) The films have been Official Selection in 41 other festivals and several have gained prestigious distribution deals. There are 2 currently in preproduction and a further 4 have been optioned. Unlike other script competitions UKFF doesn’t just give awards or money as a prize but aims to get their winning scripts into production.

5. Brooklyn Film Festival : 30 November 2022

BFF is a festival for and by independent filmmakers. The organizers bring to this annual event 25 years of festival experience. BFF accepts submissions in six categories: Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Experimental, and Animation. Many of our award-winning films have been picked up for theatrical releases, nationwide broadcasts on PBS and HBO, and to be nominated and awarded by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the American Academy Awards. BFF is also a proud Canadian Screen Award qualifying festival.

6. London Film Week : 2 January 2023

London Film Week is a film festival taking place in the very heart of London from 4 — 10 December 2023. The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms. Projects are accepted from British, European and Worldwide territories.

They work all year round to re-imagine the cinematic experience and explore how art can unite communities.