Nightpiece Film Festival 2026 (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

GENERAL RULES & ETHOS - 2025/2026

Please read carefully.

Entry and acceptance to the Nightpiece Film Festival is considered as follows.

Section A
GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATED PROGRAMME (ALL SUBMISSIONS from 2021 onwards)

All Entry Categories

1. From 2021 your short film can be submitted with no restriction on screening status,
however, publicly released films (e.g. already live on YouTube) are discouraged. In assembling the programme, films are selected and notified before the official notification date.

1.(a) X.com (formerly Twitter) is our preferred social media platform via the @nightpiece handle. Consistently updated information on the event is posted here through the year.

2. Short Films must be less than 15m00s in length.

2.(a) Excessively long or slow final credit sequences are discouraged.

3. Your film or production company is assumed to run its own respective Social Media campaign for the film. Acknowledgement and announcements of your film's inclusion in the programme is an essential process of the wider marketing campaign and should be a priority for your film. We reserve the right to de-select your film if you do not make basic efforts to promote your work in EdFringe.

4. For general guidance, films should align with the following statements:

- Be of a rating that roughly aligns with ‘BBFC’ Classifications e.g. PG / 12A / 15 / 18
- Be of clear narrative construction.
- Be of a technically screenable quality.
- Be made after Summer 2023.

5. We reserve the right to de-select your film if it falls a basic Quality Control (QC) review. Poor quality audio - where dialogue is unintelligible or overly processed with noise-reduction - is usually the biggest reason for a rejection on this basis.

5. (a) We reserve the right to de-select your film if we do not receiver a screener in our correct preferred format at least 14 days before the potential screening date of your film.

6. Our preferred specs for the screener are as follows:

Resolution: 1920x1080 16:9, HD (2k)
3840x2160 16:9, UHD (4k)
Audio: Stereo
Format: Quicktime ProRes 422 (HQ) as .mov or H.264 exported .mp4
Frame rate: 23.98fps, 24fps or 25fps

-Do NOT submit odd aspect ratios (e.g.1920x806). If the ratio is odd put your finished film in a 1920x1080 HD or 3840x2160 UHD container and submit this.

-Do NOT submit .mxf files - these are known to create import issues.

-Please submit a STEREO mix.

If selected, please supply films via:

-WeTransfer.
-Google Drive.
-Or set 'downloads enabled' on a private Vimeo link.

7. If picked as an early selection, we need an excerpt of your finished film for the trailer before 1st June 2026. (These dates subject to change year on year as per Festival requirements)

8. The early selection is usually announced early June to coincide with EdFringe Programme launch day, however additional selections are made beyond this point up until the latest deadline advertised. (These dates subject to change year on year as per Festival requirements) We leave room in our schedule to select late entry films.

9. We expect to see a direct acknowledgement of your acceptance of the film into the programme no more than 14 days after the selection notification from FilmFreeway. In the case of 'late' selections we need confirmation within 48hrs.

9. (a) If you DO NOT acknowledge your film's inclusion it is highly unlikely we will screen your film.

10. Please include a LOGLINE and or SYNOPSIS in your FilmFreeway application.

11. We reserve the right to reject short films that do not meet the key criteria as detailed above.

12. Films that are solely generated and prompted by AI are not accepted. Any use of AI elements in the creative construct of any given film is highly discouraged.

Section B
OVERVIEW GUIDANCE

By submitting to the festival the contributor declares that he/she has obtained all necessary rights and permissions to present the film at Nightpiece Film Festival.
The filmmaker must own or have cleared copyright of all aspects of the submitted film. This includes all music and images used. Nightpiece Film Festival accepts no responsibility, financial or otherwise, in regards to clearing copyrighted material.

By submitting a film for consideration to Nightpiece Film Festival the filmmaker/production company grant NFF the right to screen the film throughout the duration of the festival in any capacity and to use the material submitted for promotional purposes prior to the festival.

Section C
FILMMAKER ATTENDANCE

1. As EdFringe has returned to normality post-Covid we heavily encourage Filmmaker attendance. Edinburgh Fringe is a massive creative event but it is expensive. As participant or punter, advance planning is required to get the most value out of it. As in any large festival, Nightpiece Film Festival is one event out of thousands. Pre-Covid 2020, we provided complimentary filmmaker tickets for each selected entry, however, event costs have increased out of proportion to our submission fee structure. This means filmmaker complimentary tickets can no longer be offered.

Section D
PRIZES & INCENTIVES

1.Unless specifically announced, no travel or accommodation expenses, incentives
or prizes of any form are offered to Filmmakers participating in the Nightpiece
Film Festival.

Section E
COVID-19 CONSIDERATION

1.Whilst we no longer see the Covid-19 Pandemic influencing our daily lives in the way it did, we remain vigilant to future situations. Should the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe be cancelled, contingencies/change of venues etc. will be announced as the situation unfolds. We still managed to run a 2020 event in England and the 2021 event returned to EdFringe so our efforts are always focused on presenting a live event. As per our experiences of recent years, we will inform filmmakers of difficulties as we face them.

SECTION F
DATELINES

1.The 2026 datelines indicated are subject to change or revision until EdFringe programme launch.

NIghtpiece Film Festival (Revised August 2025)
Festival Director, Al Carretta