Lancaster's own premiere, longest running short film festival is an exciting and friendly event in the historic City of Lancaster in the North West of England. Our festival, and screenings are held at the city's very special "Dukes Cinema".

Our small independent team continues to champion UK short film, and we aim to have a special focus on supporting Lancashire Filmmakers. We accept submissions from all UK based short film makers with the following categories; "LA1Shorts Best Film" for UK wide submissions, a locally focused "Lancashire Audience Choice Award" for Lancashire Filmmakers only, and new for 2024, "LA1Docs" for short documentary films which we will screen at new venues around the city.

Everyone has to start somewhere with basic kit and skill, so we like to support grass roots filmmakers, offering advice where necessary if we think your film suits our event.

To submit to LA1Shorts your film should be "MADE IN THE UK" and have a maximum length of 16 minutes. If you enter the "Lancashire Audience Choice" category you must have a Lancashire postal address, or your film must be made in Lancashire. We prefer your film in DCP but will offer support when we can.

This festival offers selected films a screening opportunity in front of a packed auditorium at Lancaster’s renowned Dukes Cinema. We aim to allow networking and chat with other filmmakers pre screenings in our gallery - and we hand out awards at the end of the evening. We look forward to seeing your film, and meeting you!

Awards & Prizes

We show all "selected for screening" short films at the Dukes Cinema, Lancaster. This screening event will be open to filmmakers and the general public.
The "LA1Shorts Best Film" will be decided by a judging panel. Everyone attending the screening will have the right to vote for their favourite film for the "Lancashire Audience Choice Award". Both the “LA1Shorts Best Film” and "Lancashire Audience Choice" winners will be announced and rewarded that evening. We wish we could screen everything, but we do our best wish a varied and quality selection.

Kindly supported by The Dukes Theatre, Atkinsons, Film Hub North.

Rules & Terms

All films should be 16 minutes or less in length.
Entries must be UK based short film.
Only Lancashire LA postcodes or filmed in Lancashire, are eligible for the Audience Choice Award.

The entry fee taken when submitting your film on the Film Freeway website is non-refundable.

If possible please provide your film in DCP format.

All films will be viewed by a selection panel made up of industry professionals. All shortlisted entries selected to be screened during the festival will be notified as early as possible prior to the festival date.

All category winners will be notified on the night during the festival once all entries have been screened, and on Film Freeway.

All selection & judging decisions are final.

Please upload your film via the Film Freeway website.
Films and Digital marketing materials should be made available to be used for our marketing purposes asap.

Any conflicts of interest between filmmakers & the selection panel should be declared to the film festival organisers IMMEDIATELY.

I have read and accept the Rules and Terms of the LA1 Shorts Film Festival.
I will provide the festival with any additional information required pursuant to these Rules and Terms.

I authorise LA1Shorts to exhibit my film if selected. I confirm that an exhibition copy will be made available in a required format for screening during the festival.

I certify that I hold all necessary rights for the submission of this film/video to LA1Shorts and that all rights and clearances have been made. This film is not subject to any litigation nor is threatened by any litigation.

By Agreeing to these Rules and Terms, I transfer to the LA1Shorts Film Festival the right to use excerpts of the submitted film, its stills, and trailers, for the purposes of publicity and marketing of the film at the festival, and for other non-commercial uses related to the promotion of the festival.

16 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Aaron Kara

    A wonderful festival that was very welcoming to first-time local filmmakers like us. Steve and the team were supportive and the communication was excellent throughout. It was awesome to see our film 'Wild' on the big screen - the Dukes is a fantastic venue for it - and a lovely surprise to win the Lancashire Audience Choice award on the night! Highly recommend this festival.

    June 2023
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thanks for the kind words Aaron, and well done to you and the team of folks you put together for "Wild". This was probably our best year yet for LA1, so we look forward to welcoming you and other filmmakers back again next year!

  • Bobbie-Jo Glendinning

    Was an absolute pleasure to have my experimental film selected for LA1Shorts. Such a brilliant experience with lots of friendly people around! Thank you!!

    June 2023
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Congratulations on your first film festival Bobbie-Jo. Thanks for submitting and attending the festival, and we hope you have more success with this and future projects!

  • Nick Tinsdeall

    A very special night. So welcoming and supportive of newbies like myself before the night, and then to see my effort up on the big screen with good sound quality as well, was fantastic. Thank you everyone.

    June 2023
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thanks Nick, really lovely to meet you and see all your efforts played out at our screening! So glad you enjoyed the evening.

  • Simon Sylvester

    A brilliant wee festival in a brilliant wee cinema. Absolutely loved seeing The Potter's Field on the big screen, and so good to have some networking opportunities out of the cities. Huge thanks to Steve and the LA1 team.

    June 2023
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thanks for the kind words Simon, we loved seeing your film in our Lancashire Audience Choice category. It's always a pleasure to support local filmmakers and give them a platform to screen their work. Good luck with your future endeavours!

  • Iain Cash

    I had a great time at this festival, very friendly, supportive, and made some great links. Fabolous venue and great to see the film on the big screen. Recommended.

    June 2023
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Many thanks Iain, it was great to see your work at our event and so pleased for the result. Many congratulations and best of luck with your future projects. Hopefully we'll see you here again!