Entries for our 2021 festival are now closed, and we have made our selections. Laurels are now available, so you can add them to your films and posters!

Thank you so much to all the filmmakers, from thirty-five countries around the world, who submitted a total of 269 films...nearly twice as many as last year.

Once again, we have been thrilled by the standard of filmmaking. Our judges are facing some tough decisions in making their awards! If you missed out on the opportunity to take part in our festival this year, we will be back in 2022.

Now we have made our selections for 2021, we can't wait to show you the films. This year, we are holding an in-person event in Ealing over the weekend of December 4-5. The full programme will be published soon. In the event of a new lockdown, the festival will take place online, as it did last year, but we're keeping our fingers crossed!

At our inaugural festival in 2020, the award for Best Film went to the Iranian filmmaker Seyed Gholamreza Nematpour.

His film Ava’s Silence also won the Narrative Drama category and received high praise from our judges. In addition to the awards in eleven different categories, we made a special Lockdown Award, recognising the difficulties faced by filmmakers during the pandemic.

The People's Choice award went to Luca Pappalardo from Sicily, with his film 'I wait for the dawn'. Luca is a 19-year-old student at MetFilm School in London. Three thousand people made their choice from sixty films screened on our website.
https://www.ealingfilmfestival.com/selections/

Ealing Film Festival was established in 2020 - the most difficult of years - to showcase the talents of a diverse range of up-and-coming filmmakers. We received 160 entries from twenty countries on five continents. Our judges are all industry professionals, whose honours include awards from BAFTA, the Royal Television Society, the Emmy Awards, and the Academy Awards.

Ealing has a long association with the film and television industry. The famous Ealing Studios are the oldest in the world still in regular use. We want our festival to shine a spotlight on new talent. And we hope people of all ages - and every social and cultural background - will join our growing community of filmmakers.

Awards & Prizes

We accept entries from all over the world, exclusively via FilmFreeway. You may submit more than one film, and each film can be entered in more than one category. Please read the rules below for further important details.

Laurels will be awarded for all Official Selections and for all category winners, including special commendations at the discretion of the judges. The category winners will be reviewed by our jury, and one film will be named the overall winner of the festival.

We will screen as many Official Selections as circumstances permit, either as part of an in-person event, or using our online platform. But we cannot guarantee to show every film because of the large number of entries we receive. However, we hope to invite the makers of some of our winning films to take part in a Q&A session, in person or online, depending on the kind of festival we are able to run in December.

Details of prizes for the winning filmmakers will be announced later.

Here are the categories for our 2021 festival...

Narrative / Drama
Documentary
Comedy
Horror / Suspense
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Animation
Environmental / Green
Experimental
Performance
Student Film
Smartphone
Homegrown (Films by people living in Ealing, or made within the borough of Ealing)
Lockdown Award (Films about the Covid-19 pandemic, or made during lockdown)
Phyllis Crocker Award (Recognising an outstanding achievement by a filmmaker identifying as a woman)

The winners of each category will be considered by the judges for the overall award of ‘Best Film’ in the festival.

In addition there will be a People's Choice Award, decided by audience votes.

Submissions open: February 22, 2021
Submissions close: October 4, 2021
Notification date: November 1, 2021
Festival date: December 4-5, 2021

Rules & Terms

1. Entrants must be 16 years old or over at the time of submission.
2. We are looking for short films, ideally no more than fifteen minutes. We will give you a little leeway but twenty minutes is our cut-off point. Less is more!
3. Films must be the original work of the entrants and must have been produced since 1 January 2017.
4. Ealing Film Festival does not accept films promoting a product or company.
5. Entrants must have obtained clearance for all copyrighted music and any other copyrighted material used in their films.
6. Written permission must have been obtained from all the people actively appearing in the film. This is usually done by way of a release form.
7. Any entry not in the English language must have English subtitles embedded in the film.
8. Entries should be submitted electronically only via FilmFreeway.
9. To be considered for the 2021 competition entries must be received by the final deadline of October 4, 2021. Filmmakers can submit more than one film, and each film can be entered in more than one category. At the discretion of the judges, a film may be considered for an additional category or award at no extra cost to the entrant.
10. Your status on FilmFreeway will acknowledge the receipt of your submission.
11. Filmmakers whose work is 'Officially Selected' will receive notification by email by November 1, 2021.
12. Details of the Official Selections will be posted on the Ealing Film Festival website. Please note that selected films should be made available for event screening and streaming online.
13. Ealing Film Festival reserves the right to refuse entry for any reason at its absolute discretion.
14. The decision of the judges is final. We will not enter into correspondence or discussion concerning any decision.
15. As well as awarding laurels for Official Selections and the winners of the categories, there will be an overall prize for the Best Film of the festival.
16. The entry is made at the entrant’s own expense and Ealing Film Festival shall not be liable for reimbursing any expenses incurred in making an entry.
17. Ealing Film Festival and associated parties accept no responsibility for any misuse of intellectual property rights.
18. Ealing Film Festival has the right to use images and a maximum of 45 seconds from selected films for promotional or festival screenings or on the Ealing Film Festival websites or for press or media purposes. Occasionally EFF may wish to screen a selected film outside of the festival, in all instances permission will be sought from the filmmaker in advance.
19. Ealing Film Festival has the right to use the film for its archive film library for viewing by other film festivals and organisations.

11 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • zi gan

    I'm glad that the work can be selected. This is a beautiful experience. I know this is not a simple decision. It makes me happy and gives me more courage to move forward. Thank you again. I will support you as always!

    December 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you. We're glad we can support you as a creative artist.
    Stay tuned for an announcement for our EFF2022.
    All the best,
    Annemarie, Alan and Peter

  • Joseph Kennedy

    A very good first year of the festival! Thank you again for selecting my entry as 'Best Student Film'. I hope to enter again next year.

    February 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Great, & very well done! The entries are now open for this year's Festival - closing deadline is not until October so if you have got more films please do send in, and tell your friends!

  • Keishi Suenaga

    Ealing Film Festival is a very good film festival.
    Film Festival staff also supports very heartwarming.
    They constantly supported me by e-mail and social media.
    I would love to enter again next time!

    January 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thankyou Keishi, great to hear and we look forward to seeing more of your work. Good luck with other Festivals!

  • Brian Wallace

    Very proud to have been part of their inaugural year. Quality of films selected was excellent, and we were humbled to be among them. Communication was outstanding, and we even picked up some twitter followers as a result of being selected.

    Some of the most impressive judges I've yet encountered--legit industry heavy hitters--and they've built a lot of support within Ealing, particularly among political, economic, and cultural leaders.

    2020 was a tough year to start an ambitious new film festival, and they set the bar very high. Once things return to normal, there's no question this festival will continue to grow and prosper. I wish them and all their future participants every success.

    January 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thankyou so much Brian - that means a lot! Really great to be able to do this and see such fabulous work from so many creatives. Onward for 2021... and beyond and hopefully soon in real life! Keep making films!!!!

  • Nils Lane

    Great festival to enjoy interesting movies :)

    January 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Many thanks Nils, there was lots of great stuff, thankyou for being part of our first festival. Keep making films and hope to see you in our future festivals. Best of luck .