The NONDE Shorts Festival (NSF) is a real, in-person, top-quality cinema, new breed of short-film festival.
It was crafted for a new era of collaborative independent filmmakers. Born out of the principles of the NonDē movement.
The NonDe (non-dependent) movement is a new wave of independent filmmaking that is heavily anchored in social models of collaboration and driven by the power of hyper-local filmmaking communities.
At NSF all contributions go into the event, and all work (including founders) is volunteering work. Our drive is to help out filmmakers, and the idea was based on our personal experience with traditional film festivals.
1) Accessible submission that opens participation.
EVERYONE participates. We are flipping the traditional festival submission fee model into a more accessible and inclusive one. Submission is done through a £5 participation fee. We call it participation fee because it grants participation perks even if you are not selected. Contrary to submission fees, you'll get back value in education, visbility to your production, and access to the event and real connections, even if your film is not selected.
2) Contribute only if your film is selected.
If selected, and only if selected, you will be asked to contribute to the festival costs. It works like a money-jar system. The festival takes place at a local venue. The cost estimate is around £65 per film (or less depending on # of submissions), and the £5 participation fee already counts towards your contribution. NSF is a not for profit event. At NSF all contributions go into the event, and all work (including founders) is volunteering work.
3) Watch it and co-create value with a local audience.
We are not Cannes, or Sundance, we know that. You won't become famous because you screened at NSF, but you may learn key things and make some (truly) collaborative friends that may help you get there. We focus on hyper-local, high-value exchanges. The power of the non-dependent movement is in the sharing. NSF is a festival focused on collaboration.
Everything returns to the community, everyone stands to win, there is no profit.
A little about our hyper-local-location: The Biscuit Factory
Once the home of the largest biscuit factory in the entire world, now a three-screen cinema, bar, coffee shop, live performance space and community hub situated at the heart of Reading’s town centre (25 min from London Paddington st.).
We couldn't be happier to have such a hyper-local space to kick-off this initiative and shape up the playbook for what NSF can become.
Please check our guiding principles here: https://www.nondeshortsfestival.com
Selected filmmakers receive:
- screening of their film at a top quality Cinema
- online (post-festival) private access to films for a week (upon filmmaker's approval)
- participate and contribute to "How I've Made It" workshops.
- tickets for crew and talent to attend the full event (not only their screening block).
- lifetime access to the community toolbox.
Non-selected filmmakers receive: .
- Online (post-festival) private access to films for a week.
- Recording access to the "How I've Made It" workshop.
- Free tickets for screening days (FCFS - first come first serve).
- Lifetime access to the community's Filmmaking toolbox.
A word from the founders:
As you can see, our guiding principles are designed to reinforce accessibility, education and leverage on community exchanges. As filmmakers we feel the pain, so this is deeply personal to us. We felt it's time we bundle together and do something about it.
So, we dared to sit together and design a more inclusive festival model. Out of this collaboration, this first iteration of the NSF model was born.
NSF is not a replacement for prestige festivals. Awards and recognition are important. NSF was born to be a beacon for community-driven empowerment and participation in the craft of filmmaking.
Our hope is that this initiative can have an impact, even if only a tiny, in how local filmmakers share and co-create value between themselves and local projection spaces.
The NSF focus is on maximize collaboration between filmmakers and the film community.
Films are selected through a curatorial process focused on artistic relevance, voice, and alignment with the NonDē movement principles as listed on our website.
NSF is a communal experience. We focus on relationships. For us, all films rank ecqually.
