๐–๐„๐‹๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‹๐Ž๐๐ƒ๐Ž๐ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐‘๐„๐‚๐“๐Ž๐‘ ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ๐’

The London Director Awards will take place from January 13 to 18, 2026. As an IMDb qualifying festival, it will showcase more than 50 films. The event will offer numerous opportunities for filmmakers, including a networking party and the presence of special guests. The festival will also include masterclasses for filmmakers with award-winning film professionals. The festival has been attended by more than 1,000 viewers so far.

Our previous winners:
๐Ÿ† Ivana Gloria (Italy) with the film CLOROFILLA โ€“ Official Selection at the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (FIAFP accredited)
๐Ÿ† Clare Macdonald (United Kingdom) with the film A WAIT โ€“ Official Selection at the 29th Raindance Film Festival
๐Ÿ† Yasmin Afifi (United Kingdom) with the film JELLYFISH AND LOBSTER โ€“ BAFTA Winner

Our festival has showcased films produced with the BBC (This Is Gay, dir. Kirk Flash), supported by the BFI (The Leerie, dir. Joseph Daly), and created at NFTS London. Many of our festivalโ€™s selections have been featured at 50+ Academy Awards Oscar festivals. We have already been trusted by more than 15,000 filmmakers and directors from 180 countries of the world who submitted their films to our festival!

According to the FilmFreeway RANKING , our festival is among:
๐Ÿฅ‡ The TOP 100 Best Reviewed Film Festivals worldwide out of more than 14,000 film festivals
๐Ÿฅ‡The TOP 10 Best Reviewed Film Festivals in the United Kingdom out of over 1,000 film festivals
๐Ÿฅ‡ The TOP 3 Best Reviewed Film Festivals in London out of more than 400 film festivals

As the name suggests, the London Director Awards focuses on the work of film directors, recognizing the best projects that showcase strong directorial vision. Each year, the festival highlights the finest British filmmakers while also curating a culturally diverse program featuring projects from around the world and every continent. The festival also features discussions with filmmakers, film masterclasses, screenings of Official Selection films, and a prestigious Awards Gala. Guests can enjoy an engaging Networking Program, offering the opportunity to connect with award-winning directors from Cannes, Berlinale, Sundance, and Toronto.

Many film directors have found inspiration for their next projects at the London Director Awards, whether for short films or feature-length productions. Our festival has successfully motivated short film creators to embark on feature films. We have also connected filmmakers, leading to new creative partnerships that began directly at the event. By participating in the festival, you can gain valuable experiences that can shape your professional career.

๐–๐‡๐€๐“ ๐‡๐€๐•๐„ ๐Ž๐“๐‡๐„๐‘ ๐…๐ˆ๐‹๐Œ๐Œ๐€๐Š๐„๐‘๐’ ๐’๐€๐ˆ๐ƒ ๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐”๐’?

"๐ˆ๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐š ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ. ๐‚๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ฐ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ฎ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐’๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐๐ข๐ญ๐œ๐ก! ๐–๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ฆ!" Florian Guillaume, british creator of animated films

"๐€๐›๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐…๐ž๐›๐ซ๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ—๐ญ๐ก ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘ , ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ. ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง & ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž." Tom O'Flaherty, british film director, producer and editor

๐–๐‡๐€๐“ ๐‡๐€๐•๐„ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Œ๐„๐ƒ๐ˆ๐€ ๐–๐‘๐ˆ๐“๐“๐„๐ ๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐”๐’?
Movie Maker: https://www.moviemaker.com/london-director-awards-introduces-the-esteemed-jury-and-program-for-its-upcoming-festival/

IndieActivity: https://www.indieactivity.com/london-director-awards-is-thrilled-to-introduce-the-esteemed-jury-and-program-for-its-upcoming-festival/

IMDb: https://m.imdb.com/event/ev0065276/2025/1/

๐Œ๐„๐„๐“ ๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐‰๐”๐‘๐Ž๐‘๐’
Steven Mihaljevich (Australia) is a filmmaker from Perth with a background in education, media, and film. He directed The Xrossing (2020), which premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival (Oscar-qualifying) and won several awards. The film was distributed theatrically and is available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

Tom & James Collins (South Africa) are a sibling writer-director duo with backgrounds in music and environmental science. In 2021, they created the French miniseries Vaillante for UNICEF, aimed at raising awareness about child marriage. The series was broadcast on CANAL+ and screened in 12 African countries.

๐ŸŽฌ ๐’๐”๐๐Œ๐ˆ๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐…๐ˆ๐‹๐Œ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐„๐—๐๐„๐‘๐ˆ๐„๐๐‚๐„ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐…๐„๐’๐“๐ˆ๐•๐€๐‹ ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡ ๐”๐’!

๐Ÿ† ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ: ๐…๐„๐€๐“๐”๐‘๐„ ๐…๐ˆ๐‹๐Œ ๐“๐‘๐€๐ˆ๐๐‹๐€๐™๐„๐‘๐’
Best Director Feature Fiction
Best Director Feature Doc
Best Director Feature Animation
Best First Time Director Feature Film

๐Ÿ† ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ: ๐’๐‡๐Ž๐‘๐“๐’ ๐ˆ๐ ๐…๐Ž๐‚๐”๐’
Best Director Short Fiction
Best Director Short Doc
Best Director Short Animation
Best Director Short Experimental
Best Director Fantasia (Horror, Thriller, Sci-fi, Mystery, Fantasy)
Best Director Super Short Film (under 10โ€˜)
Best Director Music Video
Best Director Student Film
Best Director Series โ€“ Pilot Episode
Best Director Low Budget Short Film (under 5.000 USD)
Best First Time Director Short Film

๐Ÿ† ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ: ๐๐„๐’๐“ ๐Ž๐… ๐๐‘๐ˆ๐“๐ˆ๐’๐‡
Best British Director Short Film
Best British Director Feature Film
Best British Director Student Film

๐Ÿ† ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ: ๐„๐Œ๐๐Ž๐–๐„๐‘๐„๐ƒ ๐•๐Ž๐ˆ๐‚๐„๐’
Best Female Director
Best Asian Director
Best LGBTQ Director
Best Teeneger Director (under 19y)
Best Senior Director (56y and more)

๐Ÿ† ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ: ๐…๐‘๐Ž๐Œ ๐๐€๐†๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐’๐‚๐‘๐„๐„๐
Best Short Screenplay
Best TV Pilot Screenplay
Best Feature Screenplay

1. If the film is not in English, it must have English subtitles.
2. Multiple entries from the same submitter are accepted.
3. The film must be produced after January 1, 2022.
4. The decision of the festival selection committee is final.
5. Films that are submitted must be the entrantโ€™s original work and shall not infringe on any copyrights or any other rights of any third Parties. Contestants agree that they have obtained all required copyright permissions regarding music, sound & images. Etc presented in their film.
6. The organizers reserve the right not to award any or all of the prizes.
7. The organizers have the right to use trailers or still photos on public social networks to promote your project and our festival.
8. By submitting your project, you agree to receive marketing emails from our partner festivals.
9. A short film means a film under 40 minutes (also with credits), a full-length film means a film over 41 minutes.
10. Films that have been produced using AI must be submitted in a separate category.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Howard Lum

    Great festival! Thank you for "Last Culprit" to be the finalist. We wish you all the best!

    March 2025
  • Tom Michaels

    To say my dealings with the London Director Awards was disappointing would be an understatement. When one submits his/her films, and pays for additional categories as I did, you think
    an awards festival would follow through and adhere to what they offer within those categories, but for my self it couldn't be farther from the truth. Maybe others had wonderful experiences with London Director Awards but for myself, I would never submit any future work to them. I actually had to contact film freeway to get a refund of the amount I was duped by London Director Awards. Transparency is very important as I like to be honest and upfront with all of you, so please be very careful when dealing with LONDON DIRECTOR WARDS.

    March 2025
  • Thank you for the honor of recognizing my film The Science of Fear.

    March 2025
  • Thank you so much London Director Awards for awarding me Best Director Super Short for THE REMOVED. Absolutely thrilled to have been part of your festival!

    February 2025
  • It is a great festival that opens opportunities for networking

    February 2025