Buntingford Shorts will return for its 10th year! Submissions will open in Autumn 2026...

Buntingford Shorts provides a unique opportunity for young people to have their work viewed and critiqued by industry professionals (in previous years we have had Paul Cornwell of various Derren Brown productions and also Paul McEvoy, director of FrightFest UK), along with networking opportunities on the finale evening. Submitters who are students are welcome to submit school/university coursework or any of their other creations from any genre listed below, we love to see the wide range of ideas and inspirations everyone has to offer!

We encourage submissions from filmmakers with a micro-budget and non-professional actors. We do not disadvantage those without access to high-end resources.

Check out our website / YouTube channel to view previous winners - https://www.youtube.com/@buntingfordshorts

This year we will be hosting our festival over 2 nights:

Saturday 11th April 2026 - Open to any young filmmaker currently residing in Hertfordshire and surrounding counties. This awards evening will be hosted live in-person at Christ Church URC Buntingford with judges present to give direct feedback to the filmmakers and award prizes (see below). The evening will be recorded and posted to our YouTube channel after the event.

Evening Format - All 5 shortlisted filmmakers will be invited up in turn to discuss the inspirations behind making their film and any anecdotes from the creative process. Each film will then be shown in full before our panel of judges provide live feedback to the filmmaker. Once all 5 films have been shown the judges will make their final decisions as to the top 3 placing local films and award each of the winning filmmakers with their prize money. In addition, the festival committee will also award two special awards to the best films from school-age submitters (one currently studying in primary and one currently in secondary education).

Sunday 12th April 2026 - Open to any young filmmaker from around the world. The finals evening will be streamed live via our YouTube channel (and will be available on demand for the month of April) with clips from shortlisted finalists in each category. Judges will also be present and give feedback / prizes to any shortlisted entrant. Winning films are streamed in full for the audience to enjoy.

Evening Format - Each category will be visited in turn and excerpts of the 3 shortlisted films will be shown. After this our panel of judges will provide live feedback to filmmakers watching live via our YouTube channel. We will then announce and show the winning film in full. All winning filmmakers will be contacted after the event regarding their prize money.

Awards & Prizes

Hertfordshire (and surrounding counties) Evening - Saturday 11th April (and available on demand via. YouTube thereafter)

Entrant submits their film of any genre from those listed under worldwide evening to 'Local Award'. All local submitters will automatically be considered for the worldwide categories.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 placing films, and to two committee chosen school-age submitters.

Worldwide Evening - Sunday 12th April (and available on demand for one month thereafter)

Cash prizes will be awarded to the best film in each of these genres:
Drama (includes action, historical, narrative, political and social)
Comedy
Documentary
Animation
Music and Sound
and Horror (includes thriller and suspense)

Please get in contact if you are not sure which genre your film falls into.

Rules & Terms

General Terms:

A) At time of submission, the filmmaker must be 26 years old or younger.

B) All filmmakers under the age of 18 must seek permission from a Parent, Guardian or Teacher before submitting to Buntingford Shorts

C) Teachers uploading a quantity of films on behalf of their students may submit at maximum three films in total.

D) Your film must be between 30 seconds and 15 minutes in length

E) Each film may only be submitted to one category, however, the judges will consider it for other categories if it is eligible and if it is in the film's benefit to do so. Submitters to the local category may also submit to one of the international categories.

F) It is the responsibility of the filmmaker to ensure that their film uses original content that does not infringe any rights or copyright of third parties. This includes, but is not limited to, music, archive footage, images and literary material. For copyright laws, it is very unlikely for us to shortlist films that do not meet these conditions.

G) Submissions in any language other than English must be submitted with English subtitles.

H) Buntingford Shorts does not pay screening fees, by entering a submission via filmfreeway.com you acknowledge that the festival will not pay to present your work.

I) Buntingford Shorts reserves the right to close categories early ensuring our volunteer reviewers have sufficient time to judge each film.

For Shortlisted Finalists:

J) You give us permission to use your full video, photographs of the filmmaker and any other relevant materials at the screening finals (detailed in the awards and prizes section) and for pre/post event promotion on social media.

K) All submitters must provide an A4 portrait poster, trailer of up to 30 seconds and download access for their film should they be selected as a finalist. If the provided deadline is not met then the place as a finalist will be forfeited.

33 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Max Zaina

    A lovely festival! I had a great time seeing everyone's films. The staff and people running it have a real appreciation and respect for all the filmmakers' work who submitted!

    Highly recommended!!

    April 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks Max! We thoroughly enjoyed being able to show Arash the Archer, a very worthy 2nd place indeed!

  • David Pervin

    Прекрасный фестиваль. Быстро отвечают, идут на встречу. Спасибо большое им

    April 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you David! Fish is an excellent film, a very worthy Horror winner indeed!

  • Screen Alliance Wales

    Brilliant festival for those looking to get their shorts shown to a wider audience. Communication with the team was great.

    April 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much! We really enjoyed showing Everything is Waves- a brilliant insight into blind surfing!

  • Joshua Mitchell

    A brilliant festival, with a thriving local and international community. Truly a must-submit for any up and coming directors! A huge thanks to Jake and the team for selecting us to screen at the 2026 event, it was a stand out!

    April 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Joshua! We really enjoyed having you at our local showcase. We’re also so pleased to have awarded Bingo its first award!

  • Melle Windig

    Thank you so much for screening Cell Buddies at your international showcase We are truly honored to be part of your program and really happy with the thoughtfull jury comments! We hope your visitors enjoyed the screening as much as we enjoyed being part of your event. Thanks for supporting independent stop motion animation!

    April 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Melle, we've loved having you and your team on board. We're excited to see how Cell Buddies gets on in the rest of its festival run :)