The inaugural Attic Theatre International Film Festival is organised by the Attic Theatre, a group of actors, film-makers and technicians who are captivated by the medium of film.
Our aim is to encourage excellence in film-making and to present the medium of movie to our audiences through a free weekend-long event. We invite submissions from around the world.

Newcastle Emlyn serves a wide area across three counties in South West Wales – Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.

We have an eighty seat auditorium in a grade-2-listed historic building in the centre of town with a full size screen.

The official selection for the festival will consist of approximately 40 short films in competition. Screenings will be divided into sessions of 4 to 6 short films. Although award categories have been established, there will be no separation of genre into specific screening sessions.

Please email us if you have any questions.
Thanks.

The Festival Categories:
Drama
Best Made in Wales
Experimental
Animation
Cinematography
Documentary
Black & White
Music
Environmentalist
ATiFF award

If there is no film that reaches the quality required for the above categories no award will be made.

All projects officially selected will receive the Festival’s official laurel and the custom certificate of achievement according to their final status in the competition. All category winners will receive an ATiFF statuette.

Please read all rules and requirements before submitting your project:

1. Registration Conditions
Film premiere status is not required at this event.
Films made at any time are eligible for entry to the Festival.
The maximum running time of a submission must not exceed 20 minutes.
If there is no film that reaches the quality required for the above categories no award will be made.
Every non-English/Welsh film with dialogue must be submitted with English subtitles if necessary.
Films that are NOT allowed to compete are: video clips, promotional films.

2. Submission and selection
• Film submitters must register and submit their film online at www.filmfreeway.com.
• Registration opens on December 10th 2022 and the final closing date for submission of films for consideration is July 30th 2023.
• Submitted films must be of sufficient quality for projection. Those which are not of sufficient quality will not be considered. Rough cuts and incomplete projects will not be accepted.
• Submitted films must be Mp4 format, with a maximum file size of 10GB, and maximum video height of 720 pixels. The aspect ratio must be preserved.
• Entries may be promoted through our social media and website. For this purpose we require that submissions include a synopsis and, where available, downloadable poster, trailer and any other promotional material. Please also provide a link to your website, instagram, facebook or similar.
• Submission of a film does not guarantee inclusion in the festival.

We will inform you whether your film has been selected for the competition before September 15th 2023.

All films selected for the Festival will be shown to a live audience. We will promote the festival as widely as possible on social media and in the press.

4. Rules, terms and entrant’s obligations
Submission and entry into the Festival implies full acceptance of all rules, terms and obligations.
Attic Theatre International Film Festival (ATiFF) accepts all forms and genres of films up to 20 minutes in length. Multiple entries are allowed for each filmmaker, and each entry may be entered in multiple categories. Films will only be judged in categories for which they are submitted.
After acceptance of the film to be shown at the Festival it cannot be withdrawn from consideration for, or entry into, the Festival.
The organisers of the Festival acknowledge the producer and/or director of the film are the owners of the musical, filmic and textual rights of the works included in the film. The Festival organisers will not be held responsible for the content of the film.
The Festival cannot be held responsible for the quality of screening of the film if it does not comply with the technical conditions stated above.

By submitting their film, the director/producer/submitter agrees that:
i. they own all the rights to the film or are acting on behalf of the owner of the rights.
ii. they freely assign the rights to show the film during the Festival.
iii. they are duly authorised, on their own behalf and on behalf of all other persons or entities who have any ownership rights or interests (including, without limitation, intellectual property rights) in or relating to the film, to exhibit the film at the Festival.
iv. the submitted work does not violate or infringe any copyright, patent, privacy right, publicity right, trademark, service mark or any other personal or property right of any person or entity.
v. submissions are an original work of the submitter and their team and not based, in whole or part, on another author’s work (unless underlying material is in the public domain)
vi. the submitted work does not constitute or include a defamation of any person or entity and the submitter will not submit any content that is libellous, obscene, pornographic, sexually, racially, culturally or ethnically offensive, harassing, intimidating, threatening, hateful, discriminatory, or abusive.
vii. by submitting the film, the submitter gives permission for ATiFF to use trailers, film extracts, and still images drawn from the film, and posters and other materials, for promotional purposes. A short synopsis and digital still photo is required for all entries to be used by the jury and for promotion by us before, during and after the Festival.
viii. ATiFF reserves the right, at any time, without notice and without limiting any and all other rights we may have under these rules and terms, at law or in equity, to remove and delete the submitter’s entry to the festival.
ix. the submitter agrees to indemnify and hold harmless ATiFF, its management, juries, subsidiaries, agents, sponsors, affiliates, etc. from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to legal fees, and court costs) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the films entered into the competition.
x. entry fees are non-refundable.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • I am very happy that I was able to be noticed by the judges in this festival.

    Thank you very much for your good communication.

    October 2023
  • Caroline Juler

    It's wonderful to have this event so near us, and I thoroughly enjoyed being in the audience - the theatre building is worth a visit just for itself. I was very proud to receive a Highly Recommended award for Naturewise Community Forest Garden (A Forest Garden for Cardigan) and loved watching the other films on offer.

    October 2023
  • Robbie Robertson

    Such a wonderful experience working with this awesome new festival. The correspondence and encouragement was overwhelmingly positive and we were so honored to win a Best Drama award for our short film COMMON AS RED HAIR. I highly recommend this festival and hope to visit this awesome theatre when I am in the UK! Thank you!

    October 2023