BEESTON FILM FESTIVAL ENTRY PROCEDURE
Submissions MUST use FilmFreeway and MUST have been completed after 1st January 2023.
Submissions MUST include an on-screen viewer for selection purposes.
Films entered into the Drama (UK & International), Horror, Comedy, Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Crime, Women’s Voices, and other categories MUST be no longer than 30 minutes.
Films entered into the Animation and Emerging Voices categories MUST not be longer than 15 minutes.
The films accepted into the Festival are asked to supply for screening preferably a DCP, although .mov or MP4 digital files can be accepted too. The screening media delivery costs are borne by the applicant. Screening media will not be returned.
Payment is via FilmFreeway.
Press packs are not essential at this stage, but can be sent as digital versions via email.
If selected the screening copy should be with the festival one month before the start of the festival.
SELECTION PROCEDURE
The deadline is 31st December 2025. On receipt of the submission, the entrant will receive an email confirmation and a reference number from FilmFreeway that should be quoted on all future correspondence. Selection notification to all applicants will be as early as possible but at the latest one month before the festival.
By submitting your film, you are permitting Beeston Film Festival to screen your film and use trailers and other material without any charge or fee during the festival and subsequent screenings organised by the Beeston Film Festival, but, of course, we will confirm permission for every screening.
NB BEESTON FILM FESTIVAL IS OPERATED BY PHOENIX PROCUREMENT SERVICES LTD (PPS) WHOM IS THE RESPONSIBLE PARTY. PPS RESERVES THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME TO WITHDRAW, POSTPONE, CANCEL OR MAKE ANY ALTERATION TO (OR PART TO) THE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE OR FESTIVAL PROGRAMME WITHOUT PRIOR CONSULTATION. Postal Address: BEESTON FILM FESTIVAL, 22 The Lace Mill, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 2NN. United Kingdom. Telephone: 0750 2011547, email: john.currie@beestonfilm.com, web address: www.beestonfilmfestival.com. Beeston Film Festival is operated by Phoenix Procurement Services Ltd, a registered company limited by guarantee. No. 06365524.
CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS
1. Drama - UK only
It’s time to get serious. Life is a serious business. Film drama spans the emotional turmoil of family breakups to death, across any period you can think of. Most importantly, sharing stories from across the world will be incredibly satisfying. We can see the world through different eyes but see things that are strangely familiar, and we can connect.
2. Drama - International
As above, but for international submissions.
3. Comedy
Racine said, “Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.” Wise words indeed, but obviously, he hadn’t seen much slapstick! Chaplin combines laughter with pathos, Steve Martin too. There may be darkness, there may be farts, but whatever you do make the audience laugh!
4. Horror
So when you arrive, be prepared to scream your head off. The horror genre covers creepy to pure blood and guts and don’t we love it!!!! I’m sure we’ll see zombies, monsters, and vampires aplenty. But so often the fear provoked is within ourselves; those creepy moments are revisited through the filmmaker's haunting imagery. Cool.
5. Science Fiction & Fantasy
Science Fiction film is a genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar travel or other technologies.
Fantasy Films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds.
6. Crime
Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection, impact, and consequence. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as mystery, trash, suspense, or noir, but at the heart will be stories from the wrong side of the tracks.
7. Non-Fiction
Non-fiction or nonfiction is content whose creator, in good faith, assumes responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the events, people, or information presented. In contrast, a story whose creator explicitly leaves open if and how the work refers to reality is usually classified as fiction. Nonfiction, which may be presented either objectively or subjectively, is traditionally one of the two main divisions of narratives, the other traditional division being fiction, which contrasts with nonfiction by dealing in information, events, and characters expected to be partly or largely imaginary.
8. Animation
Wiki says, “Animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other.” Whether digital or stop-motion each year we are dazzled by the joyous joie de vivre of animators.
9. East Midlands Focus
Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire are three counties that border Beeston and are home to incredibly creative filmmakers. The Festival is proud to provide a specific platform to celebrate this wealth of local talent. Films can be submitted from any genre at all and we are the only BIFA-accredited festival in the East Midlands.
10. Pride
International stories, whether fiction or nonfiction, of love, heartbreak, art, history and justice from the LGTBQ+ community.
11. Emerging Filmmaker (Student, Low Budget, First Film)
Any genre, fiction or non-fiction, no agenda, just listening to what the next generation of filmmakers wants to say. Budget limit is the equivalent to £2,000.
12. Women Voices
This is a very open definition: films made by men but tell a woman's story in a good way, with a great leading female actor, can still be considered; as long as the film has a good mix of women and men working on the crew, and as long as they tell a good woman's story, it can be submitted.
