Sunderland Shorts Film Festival
A 7 day celebration of cinema in the North East!
Our festival is an inclusive community for filmmakers and film lovers since our launch in 2015 and we are dedicated to showcasing the best short films from around the world here in the North East of England.
We are proud to be a BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) Qualifying Film Festival as well as a “Top 100 Best Reviewed” event on FilmFreeway from over 13,000 festivals worldwide.
As an international film festival, we’re passionate about bringing the best new short films and music videos to our audiences. We welcome submissions from around the globe, across the country as well as championing homegrown talent from here in the region. In our curation process we make sure every film that has been submitted is carefully considered by our reviewing and programming teams in a fair and rigorous manner.
Sunderland Shorts continues to provide unmissable film experiences for our guests including a wide variety of screenings featuring a diverse range of films and genres, as well as networking and industry events, masterclasses and workshops. In previous years these have included industry leading names including BFI Network – Film Hub North, Aardman Animation, BBC Writers Room & North East Screen.
We welcome filmmakers from all levels of their career journeys from emerging to established talent, as we know how important providing a supportive community is in the development of creative work. It is important to us to screen work underrepresented communities while championing themes of equality, diversity and creativity.
All attending filmmakers are invited to take part in Q&A’s following every screening as well as being invited to our closing award ceremony, and all selected films will be eligible for our Awards and various prizes.
“AMAZING festival and fabulous champions of short filmmaking! Thank you for being so wonderful, for the great social media shout-outs and communication. Programming was first-class, with a truly sensational line-up of films 🙌 Highly recommend”
Annette Westood (Director – This Little Girl)
Sunderland Shorts
Awards & Prizes
All selected films will physically screen in competition and will be eligible for our awards which are decided upon by a jury of industry experts, our reviewing panel, and our festival audiences.
We welcome all forms and genres of short films – our competition programmes combine fiction, documentary, animation and experimental/artists’ moving image where diverse stories from different perspectives and experiences can be shared. All selected films will be eligible for awards in their genre category.
All selected films will receive an official festival laurel, with honourable mentions and winning films receiving an additional corresponding category-based laurel.
We will be awarding a variety of different winners across the film festival recognising:
Category Awards:
– Best Drama
– Best Comedy
– Best Animation
– Best Documentary
– Best Young, Emerging and Student
– Best Horror
– Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy
– Best Art & Experimental
– Best Music Video
– Best VR & Immersive
– Best Debut Film
– Best International Fim
Special Awards:
– Judges Recognition Award
– Audience Choice Award
– North East Recognition Award
“A great festival, brilliant at supporting filmmakers and really makes an effort to be inclusive in selecting films. A real pleasure to work with and to attend.”
Beacon Films
Introducing our partners
Supported by
