Film festivals in the UK

The film festival in the United Kingdom are accordingly many of the inhabitants of the country. For example, the British Council's film department lists over 125 film festivals in the United Kingdom , including 45 in London alone . These festivals include several that are among the oldest and most important in the world.

Open air cinema at the Cambridge Film Festival

Overview and history

Non-specialized international festivals

Odeon festival venue for The Times bfi London Film Festival

In terms of viewership, industry interest and media coverage, the Edinburgh International Film Festival , The Times bfi London Film Festival and the Leeds International Film Festival are by far the three most important classical film festivals in Great Britain . Founded in 1947, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (as part of the Edinburgh Festival ) is the longest continuous film festival in the world. Originally only documentaries were shown here. The The Times bfi London Film Festival in London is the only film festival in the UK at the international film producers association FIAPF accredited and had its first edition already in 1956. The most recent meeting among the Big Three with Established in 1985, the Leeds International Film Festival in the northern English city of Leeds . There are also a number of other non-specialized international film festivals in the UK. The best known are the Cambridge Film Festival (since 1981) and the Bradford International Film Festival (since 1995) organized by the National Media Museum in Bradford , as well as the Foyle Film Festival in Northern Ireland , which has been held in Derry since 1987 and also through its competition for the Best All-Ireland Short Film is of interest, and the Belfast Film Festival , which emerged from the West Belfast Festival in 2000 .

Short film festivals

Many European countries have experienced a surge in the number of short film festivals since the 1990s . The UK is no exception. Almost every major British city now has at least one short film festival. The international Can Film Festival in Leicester is considered to be the oldest continuous British event of its kind . It was originally founded in 1996 as a platform for films from the East Midlands . For comparison: The Oberhausen Short Film Festival in Germany has been held since 1954, the Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand in France since 1981. Following the example of Tropfest in Australia , the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival was founded in London in 1999 . Only British short films are shown. Emergeandsee specializes in short films by students from all over the world . The festival first took place in London in 2000, in Budapest since 2001 and in Berlin since 2002 . Three other short film festivals that have developed into internationally acclaimed events within a relatively short period of time are the Hull International Short Film Festival in Kingston upon Hull (since 2000), the Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol (since 2001) and cinem @ tic in Birmingham (since 2003). International short films on an annually changing topic have been shown at Betting on Shorts in London since 2005 , with the audience betting which film will be determined by the jury as the winning film. Since 2007 this festival has taken place in several cities in Europe, including Berlin.

Documentary film festivals

Sheffield , the fifth largest city in England, has hosted the UK's premier international documentary film festival , Sheffield Doc / Fest , since 1994 . It also has a film market. Since 2006 there has also been a large documentary film festival in Oxford with Britdoc , which however focuses particularly on British filmmaking.

Animated film festivals

There are only around twenty film festivals in Europe that are accredited by the Asifa International Animated Film Association. The Bradford Animation Festival and Aurora are two of them. Aurora has been held in Norwich since 2005, while the Bradford Animation Festival , founded in 1994, is the UK's oldest animation festival . Like the Bradford International Film Festival , it is hosted by the National Media Museum. Two other international animation film festivals are worth mentioning, both of which first took place in 2004: the London International Animation Festival (LIAF) and the FLIP Animation Festival in Wolverhampton , which only showed cartoons from the West Midlands in the first year and only developed into an international festival in 2005.

Regionally specialized festivals

The regionally specialized festivals make the geographical origin of the films shown an exclusion criterion. The Celtic Media Festival , which has been taking place in different locations since 1982, focuses on film, television, radio and new media from Scotland , Ireland , Wales , Cornwall and Brittany . The Latin American Film Festival in London has existed since 1990. It is one of the longest-established film festivals for films from Latin America in Europe. The Commonwealth Film Festival (since 2002 in Manchester ) specializes in films from the Commonwealth . Feature and short films from Cornwall, but also many international films, have been shown at the Cornwall Film Festival in Falmouth since 2002 . The Northern Lights Film Festival , which has been held in Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead since 2003 , specializes in films from the Nordic countries , the Baltic States , the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland . In the capital London in particular, many smaller regionally specialized film festivals have sprung up in recent years, covering regions from Australia to Cyprus .

Festivals specializing in film genres

Among the film genres, it is especially the horror , fantasy and science fiction films around which a rich festival culture has developed across Europe. The film festivals of Sitges , Brussels and Porto are excellent examples of this . There are also three large international festivals of this kind in Great Britain in addition to several smaller ones, albeit of a more recent establishment date. The Dead by Dawn Horror Film Festival in Edinburgh has been showing horror feature and short films since 1993. In London there has been the FrightFest for fantasy and horror films since 2000 and the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film for fantasy and science fiction films since 2002 . Mountain films are also well represented at UK festivals. The northern English city of Kendal has hosted the Kendal Mountain Film Festival since 1999 and the Scottish capital has hosted the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival since 2003 . There are also a number of smaller festivals specializing in film genres in the UK.

Thematically specialized festivals

Specializing in the content of the films shown is often accompanied by a particular socio-political claim of the respective festival. The following selection lists only a few of the most famous themed film festivals in the country. The international Wildscreen Festival in Bristol shows documentaries on the subject of the environment and nature. It first took place in 1982 and is one of the most influential events in this niche worldwide. Most European capitals have festivals for films with a gay content . The London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival is one of the oldest of Year 1986th Like The Times bfi London Film Festival, it is organized directly by the British Film Institute. In Liverpool , since 2004 and within a relatively short period of time, the Outsiders Film Festival has also established itself as a major festival on this topic. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch organizes Human Rights Watch International Film Festivals around the world . The first festival of this name took place in New York in 1994 , followed by London in 1996. Feature films, documentaries and animated films on the subject of human rights will be shown . Independently of this, there has been an international human rights documentary film festival in Glasgow since 2003 with Document . Feature films, short films and documentaries on the subject of Judaism have been presented at the internationally oriented UK Jewish Film Festival in London since 1997 . With feature films, short films and documentaries, the organizers of Bite the Mango in Bradford have been promoting intercultural awareness since 2002 . The Oska Bright Film Festival in Brighton specializes in films by people with learning disabilities in the UK. The festival, which has taken place since 2003, is also organized by people with learning disabilities.

Festivals for children and young people

Comparable to the situation in Germany , but unlike in some other Western European countries such as France, film festivals for children's and youth films play a major role in the United Kingdom . First and foremost is the Cinemagic World Screen Festival for Young People , which has been held in Belfast since 1989. Well-known international festivals for children's films are Showcomotion in Sheffield (since 1999) and the London Children's Film Festival in London's Barbican Center (since 2005).

Other major specialized festivals

The Raindance Film Festival in London (since 1993), with its name resonating with the American Sundance Film Festival , specializes in international independent films. With Birds Eye View there is an international festival for short, feature and documentary films by women since of 2005. Actually not a pure film festival, but a festival for digital media that is partly similar to the Ars Electronica in Linz has been LoveBytes in Sheffield since 1994 .

Film awards

The following awards are presented as main prizes at the UK film festivals mentioned in this article.

Film festival	Main prize (s)
Aurora	Aurora Awards
Belfast Film Festival	Jameson Short Film Award / Maysles Brothers Documentary Award
Betting on shorts	Betting on Shorts Award
Birds Eye View	No competition
Bite the mango	The Golden Mango Award
Bradford Animation Festival	Grand Prix
Bradford International Film Festival	Shine Award
Britdoc	Britdoc Best British Feature Documentary
Cambridge Film Festival	No competition
Can Film Festival	Best in Festival Award
Celtic Media Festival	Spirit Of The Festival Award
Cinemagic World Screen Festival for Young People	Best Feature / Best Short Film
cinem @ tic	Overall Festival Winner
Commonwealth Film Festival	Audience Awards
Cornwall Film Festival	Delabole Slate Audience Award
Dead by Dawn Horror Film Festival	Audience Awards
Document	Unicef ​​Films for Lives Award
Edinburgh International Film Festival	McLaren Award / Michael Powell Award
Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival	Best film
Emerging Sea	Jury Award London
Encounters Short Film Festival	International jury award
FLIP Animation Festival	Open Shorts Award
Foyle Film Festival	Light in Motion Awards
FrightFest	No competition
Hull International Short Film Festival	International Award
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival	No competition
Kendal Mountain Film Festival	Grand Prix
Latin American Film Festival	Audience Award
Leeds International Film Festival	Golden Owl Award
London Children's Film Festival	First Light Young Jury Film Prize
London International Animation Festival (LIAF)	Grand Jury Prize
London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film	Best feature
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival	No competition
LoveBytes	No competition
Northern Lights Film Festival	Orange North Star Short Film Award
Oska Bright Film Festival	Oska Bright Bespoke Award
Outsiders Film Festival	No competition
Raindance Film Festival	British Independent Film Award
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival	RSSF Awards
Sheffield Doc / Fest	Grierson Awards
Showcomotion	UNICEF UK Film Awards
The Times bfi London Film Festival	Sutherland Trophy
UK Jewish Film Festival	Audience Award
Wildscreen Festival	WWF Golden Panda Award

At The Times bfi London Film Festival , the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique , the international association of film critics, awards a Fipresci Prize every year, as at several film festivals around the world .

literature

• Forsyth Hardy: Slightly mad and full of dangers. The story of the Edinburgh Film Festival . Ramsay Head Press, Edinburgh 1992, ISBN 1-873921-01-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 17, 2007. 
2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 23, 2007. 

See also

• British film history

Web links

Commons : UK film festivals  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files