The 12th London Kurdish Film Festival 2021

The London Kurdish Film Festival is excited to announce that the upcoming 12th Edition will be going ahead in the new year, taking place in March 2021! This is a highly significant edition as LKFF will be celebrating its 20th anniversary!

With only a few months remaining, until we launch the upcoming Kurdish Film Festival, we have activated our FilmFreeway account call for entries. You will have till the 25th of January 2021 to submit your films to us!

Established in 2001, the London Kurdish Film Festival was the first festival of its kind and has grown to become the biggest exhibitions of Kurdish films outside of Kurdistan. The 12th LKFF will mark 20 years of delivering high-quality films from across Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Films that were often made under the most difficult political conditions. LKFF is a film festival that aims to celebrate and highlight under-exposed and under-represented Kurdish films from all over the world.

Faced with the challenges of this year, LKFF managed to persevere and successfully deliver the 11th edition completely online back in August 2020. This edition was dedicated entirely to short films and garnered well over 200,000 combined views within the 10-day online event. With 53 short films, 31 live stream Q&A sessions with 36 participants, 2 panel discussions and 2 workshop masterclasses, this festival travelled the globe and invited an unprecedented amount of new audiences who came together to enjoy a shared experience of Kurdish cinema.

For this upcoming 12th edition, LKFF will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, marking the birth and growth of this long-standing film festival as well as celebrate the last 20 years of Kurdish cinema. With the current developments of COVID-19 still uncertain, LKFF will be going ahead with a highly secure online showcasing, including some in-venue cinema screenings in London. Further information regarding the film festival exhibition will be detailed in the new year.

The categories of film submissions include feature-length Fiction, Documentary, Animation and Short Films. Submissions must be of films that were completed within the years 2019-2020. However, any feature-length titles from 2018 will also be considered. The regular submission deadline will be on the 25th of January 2021. We encourage all applicants to submit their films through FilmFreeway (https://filmfreeway.com/LondonKurdishFilmFestival), which is a film festival portal, as early as possible. For more information on how to submit to the festival, please visit www.lkff.co.uk.

This year will be the first edition that LKFF will announce seven awards! These are as follows:

*Roja Zer Best Feature Fiction Film Award

*Mehmet Aksoy Best Documentary Award

*Yılmaz Güney Best Short Film Award

*LKFF Honorary Award

*Best Male Actor Award

*Best Female Actor Award

*Jury Special Mention

More information with regard to the Competitions, Awards and Prizes will be announced soon at our official website www.lkff.co.uk

London Kurdish Film Festival

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Regular Submission Deadline: MONDAY 25th January 2021
Late Submission Deadline: MONDAY 1st February 2021

*PLEASE DO NOT APPLY IF YOU DO NOT MEET THE CRITERIA*

1. Submissions are open to Kurdish and non-Kurdish filmmakers whose film work is about the Kurds, Kurdistan or Kurdish issues and stories.

2. The submissions for 2021 is open to short and feature-length Fiction, Animation and Documentary films completed within 2019-2020. Any feature-length titles from 2018 will also be considered.

3. Any short film submission must be no longer than 30 minutes, including the title or end credits.

4. The film must have English subtitles available.

5. Submission of films is limited to a maximum of two per person.

6. All films submitted into the competition will be watched, deliberated and selected by a selection committee formed by LKFF Management Committee before shortlisted into the competition.

7. Films submitted to any other competition can also enter the LKFF Yılmaz Güney Short Film Competition.

8. LKFF reserves the exclusive right to use part of the film as marketing and promotional material that supports the competitions and content of LKFF.

9. LKFF reserves the right to refuse any entry for any reason at its absolute discretion.

10. The decisions of the selection committee judges and LKFF are final. No correspondence or discussion will be entered into concerning any decision.

11. LKFF reserves the right as a Kurdish focused film festival to highlight and celebrate the different regions of Kurdistan within all published film information, i.e. South, North, East & West Kurdistan.

12. The entrant must submit only his/her own original work and agrees and confirms that this will not infringe on copyright or any other rights of any third party.

13. All mailing costs for submissions belong to the entrant. The London Kurdish Film Festival does not pay for any expenses towards sending submissions to the competition.

14. Submitted copies cannot be returned to the Entrant. Copies of all submissions will be kept in the London Kurdish Film Festival Film Archive.

15. No responsibility is taken by LKFF for loss, damage or delay to films entered.

16. LKFF reserves the right to seek and issue publicity on behalf of the entrant. By entering the Competition, the entrant agrees to participate in publicity as appropriate in the context of the Competition.

17. The film is made at the entrant's own expense and LKFF shall not be liable to reimburse any expenses incurred in making an entry.

18. The entrant must ensure that all contributions to his/her film or recordings or other submissions and any copyrighted material included in the short film (including music) have been cleared for all purposes of the Competition and these Terms and Conditions.

19. LKFF accept no responsibility for any misuse of intellectual property rights.

20. LKFF will hold the right to exhibit a film at no financial gain and for educational purposes at educational institutions in the UK to promote Kurdish films and filmmakers.

21. Acceptance of these Terms and Conditions is a condition of entry and receipt of an entry by LKFF (submission) amounts to acceptance of the Terms and Conditions.

DECISION-MAKING PROCEDURE
The selection committee of individuals selected by the LKFF festival management committee will watch the preview copies at the earliest possible opportunity. Directors, producers and distributors will be informed of the committee's decision 6-8 weeks before the festival begins. At the end of the selection process, LKFF may also select some of the films which have not been selected for the competition by the selection committee to be screened in the film programme/s out of the competition. All entrants will be notified of these decisions in due course.

London Kurdish Film Festival (LKFF)
For General Enquiries please email info@lkff.co.uk
For Submissions and Programme please email program@lkff.co.uk

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thanks to All Members of London kurdish film Festival❤❤

    May 2021
  • Luqman Qasemi

    It was the first time I saw an online festival so well. He had a very good order. I had a documentary at this festival and I am very happy as a Kurd to be able to see other Kurdish films in good quality. Good luck. زووووووور سپاس. بژیت

    May 2021
  • feyzi baran

    It was a very good festival process. A very successful team

    May 2021
  • Mohammad ferajzadeh

    سڵاو رێزی تایبەت بۆ بەرێوەبەرانی فێستیڤاڵی کوردی لەندن.سەرەرای هەبوونی وایرۆسی کڕۆنا فێستیواڵەکە زۆر بە باشی بەشێوەی ئانلاین بەڕێوە چوو هیوادارم هەردەم سەرکەوتوو بن. خۆم بە بەختەوەر ئەزانم کە دو فیلمی من لەم فێستیواڵە پێشاندرا .

    May 2021
  • Cengiz Akaygün

    Thank you it was a great experience . I hope , our next meeting will be in real life ;)

    November 2020