GlobalGirl Media Film Festival 2023 was a hybrid event, held in person on Sunday 17 SEPTEMBER 2023 at The Cinema Museum, Kennington, SE London, and online from 17-24 September. Our next festival is yet to be announced - make sure you put GGMFF in your Favourites, to be notified when submissions open.

Our 2023 in-person programme at The Cinema Museum included industry talks, workshops and networking, nominated film screenings and an Awards Ceremony.

Prizes included one-to-one mentoring sessions with industry professionals, BFI Future Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest industry passes, and Mubi subscriptions.

Our inaugural festival was held online in March 2021. From over 150 submissions from 42 countries, we selected 36 films to showcase, along with a selection of films by international GlobalGirl alumni from our training programmes. In 2023 we showed an official selection of 50 films online, and screened 25+ nominated and GGM films at our in-person festival.

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GGMFF is run by GlobalGirl Media UK, the charity that empowers girls and young womxn* through digital media training. Along with GGM International, our mission is to change the traditional male-dominated media landscape, bringing more underrepresented womxn’s voices to the fore - in front of and behind the cameras.

We invite submissions BY, FOR and FEATURING GIRLS and YOUNG WOMXN* that present their unique perspectives and the issues that concern them. We particularly encourage submissions of documentary films, as telling real stories is at the heart of our mission.

We’re excited to be broadening the festival scene for diverse young womxn filmmakers. Open our eyes, surprise us, disturb us, move us with your vision and insight into communities and topics that the world needs to know about.

*women, including self-identifying and non-binary people

PLEASE NOTE:
* Films that are over 20 minutes in length will unfortunately be disqualified.
* Please be sure to include gender and age of the director, who should be a self-identifying woman or non-binary person aged 14-30 (not yet turned 31 by the submission deadline in 2023).
* Student entries will only be accepted if we receive proof of your student status
* Film subject matter should reflect young women’s life experience and concerns, and feature girls or women. We don’t want to be overly prescriptive about this criterion, but at the same time won't accept films that are completely off-topic such as horror or a male-centric story

Best UK Film
Best International Film
Best Fiction Film
Best Documentary
Best Director

Prizes will include exclusive one-to-one mentorships from industry professionals, and subscriptions to streaming services

FILMS

Our primary focus is on promoting girls' and young womxn's filmmaking talent in the UK, but we also welcome international entries.

Films should be up to 20 minutes long (including credits), in drama, documentary, animation, experimental or hybrid form, completed since September 2020. We particularly encourage submissions of documentary films, as telling real stories is at the heart of GGM UK's mission and our digital media training.

GGM UK’s focus is on highlighting social issues of concern to girls and young womxn, particularly those from diverse and underrepresented communities. We welcome films that align with this vision.

Films will be judged primarily on the strength of the story and their ability to inspire or move the audience. We like films with the potential for social impact and sparking change. Attention will also be paid to originality, artistic vision and technical quality (though you don't need a special camera - a smartphone [set to shoot at the highest resolution] will do just fine).

The director should be a girl or woman, including self-identifying women and non-binary people, aged 14-30 (no younger than 14 and not yet turned 31 at the time of the final submission deadline of 4 August 2023).

Crews and cast may include males, but we favour female-dominated crews, characters and subject matter.

SUBMISSIONS

Entries must be submitted digitally. Provide a link to the film on an online platform, such as Youtube or Vimeo, along with a password if applicable.

More than one entry may be submitted. Each must be submitted with its own entry form and fee.

If selected for the Festival, an exhibition-quality digital screening file must be made available for screening. This should be in h.264 .mp4 format, via a downloadable link on Vimeo, Dropbox or Google Drive.
Films should be HD 1920 x 1080p, 25 fps format; audio 24 Bit, 48kHz Stereo.

We cannot accept films over 20 minutes in length.

Films not in the English language must have English subtitles.

Entry fee is non-refundable. GGM UK is a UK registered charity, and submission fees help us cover festival costs. In the event of our making a profit, this will be put into our charity funds.

The selection committees’ and juries’ decisions are final.

STUDENTS

** If applying as a student, you must email us a copy of your student status (NUS card or similar) along with the director name and film title, to ggmuk@globalgirlmedia.org. **

SELECTION PROCESS

• All submitted films will be reviewed by GGM UK board for eligibility (to ensure content and technical quality corresponds to the Festival conditions), and then all eligible films will be judged by an independent selection panel.

• The nominees for each award category will be determined by the GlobalGirl Media Film Festival selection panel.

• If your film is selected for the Festival, you will be notified in advance of the Festival via email.

All non-English language films must be subtitled in English.

Whilst every effort will be made to adhere to the published schedule, GlobalGirl Media Film Festival reserves the right to make changes at any time, for any reason. GlobalGirl Media Film Festival will not be liable for any costs claimed as a result of a change in scheduling.

No film may be withdrawn from the Festival programme after its selection.

Filmmakers will be solely responsible for all costs resulting from the submission of the film to the Festival, including, but not limited to expenses of any representatives of the film.

ENTRY LIABILITY

The applicant is responsible for all copyrights. She is legally authorized to enter her film in the Festival and, if selected for the Festival, authorized to give screening permission. This includes permission from a distributor or sales agent representing the film.

The applicant has secured all necessary rights for both picture and sound. The exhibition will not violate or infringe upon any rights, including, but not limited to, music, images, and content.

Submitting a film gives us permission to use publicity stills and film excerpts of up to 1 minute for use in GlobalGirl Media Film Festival marketing and publicity.

GENERAL AGREEMENT FOR PARTICIPATION IN GLOBALGIRL FILM FESTIVAL

By submitting your film, you confirm that you have read and accept the Rules and Terms of GlobalGirl Media Film Festival. You confirm that you possess all rights necessary for the screening of the submitted film at GlobalGirl Media Film Festival. That this film is not subject to any litigation nor is threatened by any litigation. By accepting these conditions, you transfer to GlobalGirl Media Film Festival the right to use excerpts of the submitted film, stills, and trailers, for the purposes of publicity and marketing of the film at the various social networks and on the website of the festival, and for other non-commercial purposes related to the promotion of the festival. You agree to indemnify GlobalGirl Media Film Festival, in the event that such rights have been not proper.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Asena Nour

    Had a wonderful experience last year with the festival organisers who shared a genuine passion and care for showcasing the next generation of women in film. The festival overall felt very welcoming, intentional and safe to hold a conversation on social issues prescient to our time. They had very carefully crafted everything from the films, jurors and insightful talks right down to the hospitality. Thank you very much to the team at GGM for hosting and honouring us with one of the major award categories of the night, we only hope the festival gets more traction and appreciation over time as there’s is very much a need for spaces like these.

    January 2024
  • Yinzi Zeng

    Really lovely film festival with industrial talks, workshops and networking, empowering and inspiring.

    October 2023
  • Kerttu Mättö

    Great festival giving voice for women and non binary. Felt like everyone was embracing all the movies and talent around them.

    September 2023
  • Kateryna Pavlyuk

    One of few festivals wholeheartedly committed to female perspectives, stories and filmmaking. An incredibly welcoming and warm festival, with great speakers and networking opportunities. Got to see some brilliant work by female filmmakers - delighted to have had my film screen among them.

    September 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your kind review - we were so happy to have you there. 😊

  • Isabel Songer

    One of my favourite festivals to date! Enjoyed a day full of fantastic films, talks, and networking opportunities. Such a lovely atmosphere with such caring and accommodating organisers. Will definitely be submitting again!

    September 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks for your lovely review! So pleased to welcome you there. 😊