Sunderland Shorts Film Festival 2023

After 7 days and over 160 shorts films and music videos Sunderland Shorts Film Festival 2023 is at an end, but what a year it has been!

2023 was our biggest and most ambitious year yet, and while it wasn’t without its challenges from venue closures and the effects of Storm Babet, it brought some of the biggest highlights of the whole Festival we have had since we launched back in 2015.

We opened this year with a phenomenal selection of films at Seventeen Nineteen from our friends at the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives followed by a conversation from Emma Nagouse (BBC Radio 4’s You’re Dead to Me) and Graeme Thompson MBE (Royal Television Society) chaired by Graham Relton. The week continued with over 20 screenings at a tour of local venues including the Fire Station, Arts Centre Washington and a sold out closing night at Pop Recs. As well as our genre focused screenings, this included a special showcase from local production company Candle and Bell in celebration of their 10th anniversary and recent collaboration with Sky Arts, a collaboration with the BFI Academy, Film Hub North’s Northern Exposure, a comedy night with fantastic stand-up from Felt Nowt and a live performance from YMP at our Music Video showcase. For the first time we also held a relaxed screening run in collaboration with Beacon Films CIC where we shared some of their new work alongside a selection from OSKA Bright Film Festival.

In addition to our biggest selection of screenings yet, we had several networking events and industry workshops, including on Film Festivals and Mental Health with Rebekah Louisa Smith and a Screenwriting Masterclass from Len Collin (Eastenders, The Bill, Sanctuary), with this we were happy to welcome our highest ever audience numbers across the week!

This year Sunderland Shorts received BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) Qualifying Status as well as entering the Top 100 Best Reviewed Festival on industry site FilmFreeway, these are huge honours for us and it really means a lot being recognised for our work in sharing the best films here in the North East.

Along with our dedicated volunteers who make the festival such a success every year, we were also joined by guest judges Mina Anwar (Actor & Director), Len Collin (Writer & Director), Samantha Castro (Filmmaker & Founder of the Newcastle Film Club), Frankie Francis (Musician & Presenter), Gavin Williams (Writer & Director), Carol Lynn (Filmmaker & Lecturer) and Andy Dawson (Writer & Podcaster), who we were delighted to have with us in helping pick our winning films. You can see which films were chosen as our 2023 winners at: sunderlandshorts.co.uk

We’re excited to continue bringing exciting screen opportunities to the region along with Film Hub North as part of the Sunderland Spotlight project and as we continue to plan for next year’s edition of the film festival.

Until then, thanks kindly for your support and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Chris J. Allan
Festival Director | Sunderland Shorts Film Festival