The festival is a marvellous opportunity for filmmakers – Reel Film

Harrogate Film Festival’s internationally acclaimed filmmakers’ competition is back for the third year running. The competition gives filmmakers a platform to showcase their work, network with contacts within their industry and receive some deserved recognition – something we love to see going on!

The festival accepts film shorts in the genres of drama, comedy, sci-fi, horror, animation, crime and documentary. This year, the Festival received over 500 submissions, from 50 countries across the world.

In 2018, the Festival attracted filmmakers from as far afield as Canada and this year, filmmakers are attending from the USA, Spain, Sweden and France. There is also fantastic local support for the event, with many filmmakers from across the UK and regionally. Including six from within Yorkshire and two from Harrogate itself!

Previous award-winning filmmakers of the Harrogate Film Festival have gone on to achieve tremendous success. David Gilbank, who won the ‘Audience Choice Award’ in 2017, was able to secure funding after he was promoted at the event, enabling him to make his short film into a feature. His film has now completed its cinema run and is available on Amazon Prime. Javier Badillo, from Canada, who won the Audience Choice Award in 2018, received a grant from the Canadian government to produce a feature film – the premier of his film is planned to take place at the Harrogate Film Festival in 2020.

The festival has a whole range of other events... Critically acclaimed filmmaker Mark Cousins is holding a special event, there's a number of children's screenings, film experiences and workshops with industry experts!

We're filming the whole Festival - look forward to seeing you there!