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.

The Film Competition is sponsored by The John Muir Trust.

Awards & Prizes

Films entered into the competition will be eligible for any of the following five category prizes:
- PEOPLE'S CHOICE - voted for by the festival audience from all films screened.
- 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; base jumping; paragliding etc.
- 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.
- JOHN MUIR TRUST WILD PLACES FILM PRIZE - Any film that pertains to our wild places and shows the meaningful impact that spending time in wild places can have on individuals or groups of people.

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.


ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

All film submissions to the FWMF film competition must have available subtitles.

All entrants to the FWMF film and photography competition must UPLOAD their entry to FilmFreeway. We will not accept entries that are links to YouTube or Vimeo.

When entering, please upload:
- the screening version of the film,
- a poster image, and
- a trailer (optional).

Entry fee for film submissions is £25
Entry for photo submissions is FREE

SUBMISSION FORMATING

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

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

AWARDS

The awarding of prizes will be decided by the FWMF film and photography competition judges.

Finalists chosen by the FWMF film and photography competition judges will be shown to the public at the FWMF in February 2025 and related events.

RIGHTS AND LICENCES

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.

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.

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

15 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
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Networking
  • 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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  • Martin Steele

    Thank you so much to Karen and the team for all their support.

    February 2024
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