Film / News
Competition bonanza for local filmmakers
Actual and aspiring local filmmakers have plenty of opportunities to fulfil their ambitions this month, as Bristol’s world-renowned Encounters short film festival and the ever-enterprising Bath Film Festival are both calling for entries.
Encounters is seeking entries in all genres for its 23rd annual bash. Winners can bag up to £10,000 in cash prizes, but perhaps more importantly the festival is an established gateway to the Oscars, BAFTAs, European Film Awards and the Cartoon D’Or. To be eligible, your film must have been completed after 1 Jan, 2016, and be no longer than 30 minutes in duration. You have until June 2 to make your submission, but there’s an early bird deadline of March 31 with a reduced entry fee of just £20. The entry form can be found here.
Over in Bath, they’ve launched a bunch of contests. The 2017 FilmScore competition challenges 14-19 year-olds to write an original score for one of four short animated films. You can sign up for it here, and the deadline is May 1.
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Bath also has two annual Internet Movie Database awards, offering an industry leg-up. For the IMDb Script to Screen Award, entrants are invited to submit a script for a short film of 10 minutes or less in duration. The top five entries will be selected by the Creative Writing team at Bath Spa University. This shortlist will then then performed by drama students in front of an audience and industry judges. One overall winner bags £5,000 in cash and £1,000 worth of equipment hire to turn their script into a film. The deadline is May 14. Further details can be found here.
Finally, the IMDb New Filmmaker Award is aimed at discovering and promoting emerging talent. It’s open to anyone who’s made a short film of between one and ten minutes in duration and has had no previous distribution. Once again, the winner gets £5,000 in cash and £1,000 worth of equipment hire, and the first deadline is May 14. Go here for more info.
The Encounters Festival runs from September 19-23.
The Bath Film Festival runs from November 2-12.
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