HBFF is Going Biennial! For 2025, we are excited to bring a whole day of SHORTS on Sunday 6th April at the beautiful Art Deco 500 seat Hebden Bridge Cinema. The 3 day festival will be back Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd March in 2026.
We are launching a brand new competition, THE CALDERDALE SHORTS COMPETITION 2025 to reflect the theme INSIDE OUT. This competition is in partnership with Culturedale - the exciting year of Culture in Calderdale. For this new competition anyone can enter but there are some particular conditions - the short film for THE CALDERDALE SHORTS COMPETITION - INSIDE OUT must be 9 mins or less and the majority of the film must be filmed/made in Calderdale (that includes editing/postproduction). See below for rules regarding entry to both SHORT FILM competitions. Please read them carefully.
We will be accepting submissions for short films, (drama, documentary, animation). We particularly encourage narrative films. Please note: we generally don't take horror genre films.
HBFF partners with the Hebden Bridge Picture House cinema where Filmmakers and Film lovers can come together and experience the wonderful community spirit our historic town is famous for in the beautifully restored, art deco cinema.
We cannot wait to welcome filmmakers again to the beautiful Calder Valley.
See what filmmakers who attended HBFF say about their experience in 2024 and the last few years.
Ali Grant: Not Quite That, selected 2024. What a fabulous festival! We travelled all the way from Vancouver and it was worth it! Louise and Jay and the team made us feel so welcome, from beginning to end. The line up of films were fabulous and the audiences were great. I'd highly recommend this festival and hope to be there again one day!
Jan Dunn, Winner best Short, 2024. What a lovely festival and such a great setting. We were so proud to have been selected and superb programming.
Julia Zlotnick, 'Seeking Thomas' 2nd Prize 2024. What a wonderful festival to be a part of! Thanks so much to the team for having such a thoughtful approach and creating such a welcoming and wonderful environment with an incredible line up of films. Very grateful to have Seeking Thomas play, and ecstatic to have won an award. Can't wait for the festival to return and have the chance to watch some more great films and events and to return to Hebden Bridge! Not one to miss out on!!!
Matty Reese: 'How to Build a Life'. Audience Award, 2024. Absolutely wonderful festival. Louise and the team have created something very special here. I should think it won't be long until you can expect to see Hebden Bridge FF receiving a BIFA accreditation and beyond. Thank you from our whole team for including 'How to Build a Life' for inclusion in 2024's event!
Emily Burke, 'I would Like to Live on the Moon', selected 2024. Louise Wadley and the rest of the team at HBFF put an amazing festival on that I am so grateful to have been a part of with my film ‘I Would Like to Live on the Moon.’ Thank you to Louise for leading the festival with such kindness and passion for film, I felt very welcome, accommodated and celebrated. I hope to come next year and support the filmmakers selected for 2025!
Nicki McCubbing, The Mummy, selected 2024. This festival was a total joy to be a part of. Absolutely lovely hosts, great films and a beautiful place to visit. I really hope to show a film here again in the future and I will definitely return as a visitor. Thank you Louise and co.
Marnie Baxter Winner Best Short 2023 - I had a fab time at Hebden Bridge Film Festival, it was such a friendly, welcoming and vibrant festival! Thank you so much for having me, and my accomodation hosts were so lovely too. I was thrilled to win the Vocation Award for Best Short Film at Hebden Bridge Festival, the shorts programme was beautifully curated with such a broad selection of work, it was truly an honour to win. The award will not only elevate our film's profile, but the prize money will go towards the development of new work, so thank you to the Vocation Brewery and all at Hebden Bridge!
Scott and Natasha - Winner 2nd Prize - We're so thankful you helped arrange accommodation for us, please thank all the team from us. We had a great time and it was lovely to receive the runner up prize for Finding 'Appiness in HBFF 2023. We'll look forward to next year's festival!
BAFTA winner Nicole Taylor writer of the smash hit Wild Rose said “The friendliest festival on earth! We were made so welcome by everyone involved in the Festival and indeed the whole town. The atmosphere on opening night was electric and ever since I’ve been looking for an excuse to return to Hebden Bridge!”
BIFA nominee Steve Sullivan, winner of HBFF Audience award for Being Frank said “HBFF is simply the friendliest festival I’ve ever been too. The festival and cinema staff went out of their way to make my screening a success, from getting a near capacity audience to attend through to even helping me run my merch stall. It’s a beautiful town, populated by passionate cineastes and I can’t wait to return.”
2021 Short Film 1st Prize winner Hannah Currie with 'We Are All Here':
Screening at Hebden Bridge Film Festival was such a warm, welcoming and positive experience that was so appreciated after a difficult year. Despite the pandemic they made amazing efforts to get our films seen and to connect us with other filmmakers - a stand-out experience that I won’t forget! Louise and Jay’s passion for film is so clear and I was inspired to be amongst so many other incredible films in the short film competition. The festival really reminded me of the importance of independent film and cinema and why we must fight to keep it alive.
And from Iranian filmmaker Marziyeh Riahi the Shorts 2nd prize winner for Driving Lessons:
"Thank you so much, jury members for this award. Thank you, festival team. I'm really proud of this award. Receiving this award during this most unusual time was very promising for me. I hope that all those who work in cinema under any title anywhere in the world will not lose hope. Stay safe and strong!"
-Marziyeh Riahi from Tehran
Note: we are proud that HBFF is an F – Rated Film Festival. F-Rating is given to any film written by a woman, directed by a woman or featuring women in significant on-screen roles. Any film that meets all three criteria is awarded a Triple F-Rating. There is no requirement for films screened at HBFF to be F-rated, however we aim for at least 50% of films to be so. We also follow the BFI diversity standards - focusing on underrepresentation on screen, behind the camera and in film audiences, in relation to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+, religion or belief, socioeconomic background and geographical location.
HBFF SHORT FILM COMPETITION
HBFF Best Short (1st prize) : £500 (jury prize)
HBFF Best Short (2nd prize/runner up) : £300 (jury prize)
Audience Award for Best Short
CALDERDALE SHORT FILM COMPETITION - INSIDE OUT
Calderdale Best SHORT (1st prize) : £1500 in Kit Rental from PROVISION Leeds
Calderdale Best Short (2nd prize/runner up) : 1 day in colour grade post-production and 1 day in the audio finishing suite at STICKS & GLASS Leeds.
Audience Award for Best Short
Best Young Person's Short (if applicable)