The Fort William Mountain Festival is a multi day celebration of mountains and the spirit of adventure, packed with inspirational films, speakers, workshops and exhibitions.

Awards & Prizes

Films entered into the competition that are less than 60 minutes long will be eligible for any of the following prizes:

BEST SHORT FILM - any film less than 15 minutes long

BEST MOUNTAIN SPORTS FILM - films featuring any mountain sport including climbing, snow sports, kayaking, mountain biking, paragliding, whitewater sports

BEST EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE FILM - films that depict adventure or exploration and can feature any outdoor pursuit such as cycling the length of a country or kayaking across an ocean

WILD PLACES FILM PRIZE - any film that focuses on our wild places, and shows the meaningful impact that spending time in wild places can have on individuals or groups of people

THE GREEN MOUNTAIN PRIZE - a new award for 2026 to celebrate filmmakers who demonstrate a commitment to sustainable film production practices, and inspire others to respect and protect our wild places. We feel this is particularly relevant for films submitted to a festival that celebrates our natural environment. If you think this applies to you, please get in touch via email with a short statement about steps you take to minimise the ecological footprint of your creative output

PEOPLE'S CHOICE - voted for by the festival audience from all films screened

Rules & Terms

Submission of any film or photograph to the Fort William Mountain Festival (FWMF) film competition via FilmFreeway agrees compliance, by the entrant, of the following terms and conditions.


1. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

a) All film submissions to the FWMF film competition must have english subtitles.

b) All entrants to the FWMF film competition must upload their entry to FilmFreeway. We will not accept entries that are links to YouTube or Vimeo.

c) When entering, please upload:
i. the screening version of the film
ii. subtitles in english
iii. a poster image
iv. a trailer (optional)

d) Entry fee for film submissions is £25

2 SUBMISSION FORMATING

a)Films should be encoded as “.mp4” or ”.mov” using the h264 codec.

b)Files should be less than 10GB in order to upload them to FilmFreeway.

c)Files should have subtitles in english

3. AWARDS

a) The awarding of prizes will be decided by the FWMF film competition judges.

b) Only films with under 60 minutes running time will be eligible for an award. Films longer than this cannot be shown as part of the International Film Night & Awards Presentation.

c) Finalists chosen by the FWMF film and photography competition judges will be shown to the public at the FWMF in February 2026 and related events.

4. RIGHTS AND LICENCES

a) Submissions to the film competition are not guaranteed to be shown at the Fort William Mountain Festival, but all entrants give the right to FWMF to show the film and/or photograph at the festival and related events.

b) By submitting images and films to the FWMF film competition via FilmFreeway, the copyright holder is giving permission to FWMF to use the content for promotional purposes.

c) By submitting a film or photograph to the FWMF film competition, you are confirming that:
i. all necessary permissions have been sought from contributors to the film,
ii. all royalties have been paid,
iii. all music licences for the public performance of the media has been obtained.

16 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Steve Small

    A fantastic experience to premiere our film, Find Mòr, at FWMF. Winning the People's Choice & JMT Awards rounded off a brilliant festival. Great communication throughout from Owen and the team.

    February 2026
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  • Markus Klaes

    We were at the Fort William Mountain Festival for the first time to present our film DOLORE and can only recommend it. There is a really wide range of events, a very helpful team of volunteers and a great atmosphere. It's a very nice place to get to know other levels and stories about the mountains and Scotland.

    February 2025
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  • Markus Stitz

    This year was my first year at the festival, presenting two films and speaking at Bike Night. Entirely run by volunteers the festival is very welcoming and higly recommended. It was also a great platform to meet new people and to dig in. As cycling is a sport rooted in the community, it was nice to join the local trails association to help building trails. A lovely weekend, one of my favourite festivals!

    February 2025
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  • Rob Waugh

    Fort William Fest is becoming established on the adventure festival season as a firm fixture alongside Kendal. I was delighted to be included and Amy (family session coordinator) was wonderful, both at hosting us on the day and generally being enthusiastic (and managing the full chaos that is a family friendly screening). Would definitely recommend submitting and/or attending

    February 2025
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  • Festival Formula

    We cannot recommend this festival enough! If you have a film that fits their remit they will treat you kindly, curate you with some other brilliant films, and encourage you to attend. Do it! We had our client, Tales of Jan Mayen, screen in their 2024 edition.

    March 2024
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