Welcome to The Fifth Colchester Independent Short Film Festival 2025 , set in the historic city steeped in tradition of the arts dating back to pre Roman times

The 5th Colchester Indi Short Film Festival will be on Saturday 10th May 2025. It will be run for one evening concentrating on film presentations, awards and networking.

Our goal is to find talented filmmakers and help them promote their work.

We accept short films , max length 25 minutes , from all genres with one main award , The Colchester Indie Short Film Festival Best Film , in addition to an award for second place and a special mention

Colchester , the historic city that never sleeps, is a hotspot for filmmakers who want to promote their independent projects. Your film will be reviewed by our screeners team and the highest scored ones will be selected as Official Selection receiving corresponding Laurels. Then, our jury will choose the winners for either category and they will receive the Official Laurels and Certificates.

FESTIVAL UPDATE 25/11/24 from the Anglian Community Trust

We've relaunched our film competition again this year, in association with the Colchester Independent Short Film Festival. Young people, between the ages of 11 – 21, are invited to submit a 2-4 minute film to reflect on the challenges and problems they have faced during their lives.

We want to learn about the issues young people experience, so we can share them with health professionals in the voluntary and statutory sectors, who can help work out ways to address their problems in the future.

Please submit your initial ideas, via email, to rodneyappleyard@hotmail.com by 6 December, 2024 and we will advise you on your next steps

One category :The Colchester Indie Short Film Festival Best film award,
, second place award with plus the special mention category.

Any genre , max length 25 mins

Films must be of maximum duration 20 minutes

Entry fees are non refundable

In order to submit a film, you must own the rights or have permission from the owner.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Really special independent short film festival that celebrates local Colchester and Essex talents. Well done to Nick and his team for making this year's one to remember. Looking forward to next year!

    May 2023
  • Keith Large

    Really great Festival. Full of fantastic films and a friendly welcome in the beautiful Curzon Cinema in the beautiful city of Colchester.

    May 2023
  • An amazing evening, so great to be at an actual live event. Everyone was incredibly friendly, and it was fantastic to be able to see my all of the films in such a great venue. Thank you for selecting Ghostlight as an entry!

    May 2022
  • Steve Downey

    Excellent film festival. Well done to Nick and everyone else involved. Very well organised and superb communications. Our film "We are the Lost Girls" looked great on the big screen and we were awarded a "Special Mention" prize.

    May 2022
  • Acacia Khonji

    I enjoyed this festival very much. It was held at the Curzon Cinema in Colchester, itself wonderful with comfy seats, great food, and the festival was packed. The films were very entertaining and high quality and presented impeccably by the organiser Nick Pelas, who kindly gave my film Letitia a special mention. Thank you for a lovely time.

    May 2022