Carmarthen Bay Film Festival

Dear Friends of the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival and fellow film-makers,

We are living extraordinary times, and the ongoing and developing issue of the COVID-19 virus is placing in clear perspective on what is truly important within our lives.
The health and wellbeing of each one of us is essential so reluctantly; it is necessary to announce the postponement of all screenings, satellite events and the awards ceremony for CBFF2020.

All selected films for this year's festival will receive an email from us via the FilmFreeway platform today. We are still planning to announce this year's nominations, which will be streamed via our Facebook page towards the end of April, but this remains under review.

However, even if it is not possible to broadcast this year's nominations, their announcement will still take place as scheduled. As will the announcement and publishing of this year's CBFF2020 winners on the 28th May.

All selected films will receive their CBFF2020 laurels shortly, as will the nominated and winning films in due course. This will also ensure that all selected, nominated and winning films made here in Wales will be eligible to apply to next year's BAFTA Cymru awards and that everyone else will have their film listed on IMDb.

All of us here at CBFF are very sorry that things have turned out this way this year. We are grateful for your understanding and support as we work hard to ensure the creativity and effort of every film-maker, who has submitted their film to CBFF2020 is reviewed and honoured.

Next year is the 10th Anniversary of the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, and we are planning several special events to mark the excellence and achievements of this year's participants. They will include a special award presentation ceremony for this year's winners.

Please watch this space over the coming weeks for more details as the general situation becomes clearer.
Take care and all the best,

Kelvin Guy
CBFF CEO & Founder
Kelvin

PLEASE READ RULES BEFORE CONSIDERING SUBMITTING YOUR FILM

CBFF has once again been ranked in the top 100 out of more than 8,000 film festivals and creative contests around the world. Thanks to you that's seven months in a row.

Highly Respected BAFTA CYMRU QUALIFYING Film Festival Judged by Industry Professionals. UK & International Submissions.
Please note that we are also an IMDB Qualifying festival which means that, if your film is selected and screened you can add it to IMDB.

Carmarthen Bay Film Festival has gone from strength to strength over the years. From our first festival in 2012, we have gone from 35 submissions to well over 750 from 60 different countries for our 2019 festival. Not only have the submissions increased over the years, but the number of filmmakers and festival patrons attending has as well.
We have had filmmakers flying in from the US, Australia, Holland, Italy, France and many parts of the UK. The number of festival partners has also grown with Stradey Park Hotel, BAFTA Cymru, RTS Wales, University of Wales Trinity St. David, Felin Foel Brewery, Carmarthen Cameras and many more. The festival is now a BAFTA Cymru qualifying which means that any film screened during the festival, and made here in Wales is eligible to apply for consideration.
Our 8th festival has seen some significant changes, for the last seven years, the festival has been held at the Stradey Park Hotel here in Llanelli. The hotel has been very supportive, without their help the festival would have been unable to get off the ground. So with the full backing of the Stradey Park, we felt it was time to move on and try something new. So for 2019 CBFF was held at one of Wales’ premier theatres in the centre of Llanelli, which brought a new and exciting dynamic and feel to the festival.

It's all about fairness, our motto.
‘This festival is honest’ and will always be, a champion of independent film. Films Judge by Industry Jury,
Widely promoted Festival,
Committed to Transparency,
BAFTA Cymru Qualifying Festival

We are also very proud to have the name of John Hefin associated with the festival. With the John Hefin Award lifetime achievement award. And we are delighted that John Morgan of JM Creative accepted this award during our 2019 awards gala.

Please read the brief bio about John below.

John Hefin first became involved in television work in 1960, when he responded to a newspaper advertisement for apprentice production assistants. During the 1960s, he worked as a producer and director for BBC Wales. In 1974, he helped create the Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm, the longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC. He also co-wrote and directed the 1978 TV rugby comedy film Grand Slam, and led the 1981 drama series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. This nine-part series, a biopic based on the Welsh PM, drew on conversations with Lady Olwen, his eldest daughter, and AJ Sylvester, his secretary. In 1984, John was the director for the narration for an animated version of Prince Charles's children's story The Old Man of Lochnagar.

Following his post as Head of Drama with BBC Wales, he worked in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University. In 1988, he became the artistic director of Film Cymru (which was later renamed the Wales Film Council), entrusted with the responsibility of commissioning films from independent Welsh producers using S4C funds. He was also Chairman of the Film Commission Wales, and Chair of Cyfrwng, a Welsh media journal, and network. He retired from the BBC in 1993. In 2004, he directed and filmed part of a documentary featuring the artist Sir Kyffin Williams, Reflections in a Gondola
John was awarded the MBE in 2009, for "services to Welsh film and drama". In 2012, he was awarded the BAFTA Cymru Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television Drama.