Cheltenham International Film Festival (CIFF) will mark its seventh anniversary in 2025.
This year the film festival runs from 19 – 28 September and we welcome film submissions for feature length films, narrative and documentary, as well as short films, narrative and documentary.
All films are watched by a selection panel, diverse in makeup. Films selected for the festival allow filmmakers access to new audiences in the town which has been home to arts festivals through the decades and is home to many celebrities who live in the area.
CIFF has attracted many well-known and celebrated names including Dame Judi Dench, Mike Leigh, Sir Stephen Frears, Ken Loach, Monica Dolan, Timothy Spall, Patricia Hodge, Pattie Boyd, Stephen Cookson, Patricia Hodge and the singer/actor Lulu.
And we thank the actor, Simon Pegg, for his continued patronage of the film festival.
Among other filmmakers who have attended, we have been delighted to welcome emerging directors on the threshold of their first film and others who have made their mark and attracting attention - directors such as Carol Morley, Alice Lowe, Nora Fingscheidt, Tom Berkeley, and Marescotti Ruspoli.
We also now have an active CineYouth programme working with local institutions of education engaging young people in the culture of cinema and the art of filmmaking.
For the past four years, there has been one award and that is BEST FILM. It is open only to emerging filmmakers with their first or second feature film.
The BEST FILM is selected from a short list of six or seven films designated as ‘IN COMPETITION’. ‘IN COMPETITION’ films are selected by a panel from all the films to be screened during the 10 days of the film festival.
In 2023 we were delighted to have as Chair of the panel, Sara Putt, who is Chair of BAFTA. In 2024, the Chair was film festival director, Leslie Sheldon.
Previous winners:
2024 - We Have Never Been Modern - Czech Republic (Matěj Chlupáček)
2023 - Riceboy Sleeps - Canada (Anthony Shim) & Exodus - Lebanon (Abbe Hassan)
2022 - Olga by Swiss director Elie Grappe
2021 - I Never Cry by Polish director, Piotr Domalewski