Our film festival celebrates Community & Place.
A festival FOR and OF the community of North Edinburgh; much of the work screened at NEFF will have been created - currently and over the past 4+ decades - by local film makers and groups.

However, the themes that run through the social fabric of our unique community are global. For our 4th festival, we're once again looking for films, from anywhere in the world, that explore:

Working class lives
Social Activism
Community Wealth Building
Social or community focussed art making

The whole event includes:
Short-form documentary,
Short-form drama,
Artist's moving image,
Creative and film making workshops,
Exhibitions,
Expanded cinema
Family-friendly, feature screening.

The festival is hosted by North Edinburgh Arts, working in collaboration with Screen Education Edinburgh - two organisations with deep roots in the communities of Muirhouse, Pilton, and Granton.

In 2027, NEFF will be held at North Edinburgh Arts' newly developed building which includes a theatre for screenings and performances as well as workshops, exhibition spaces and a café.

This event is free to submit and free entry to audiences. If you feel your work, from anywhere in the world, touches upon the ethos of this festival, please submit.

Please note:
Films are watched and selected by local community groups over the course of 8 - 10 months of weekly sessions. Unfortunately we can't feed back to film makers until we have programmed all our strands.
We appreciate your generosity in sharing your film with our community here in Edinburgh.

Please email film@northedinburgharts.co.uk if you need info urgently.

Rules & Terms

We may request up to three still images to go with your film and a summary / bio.
We may or may not use the still image(s) in our programme if your film is selected.

6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Edmundo Galicia

    Muchas gracias por seleccionar nuestra película La piel de nuestra memoria.

    May 2026
    Helpful
  • Faizan Suleman

    It was an honor to present my film. Thank you for selecting
    Chamak Patti.

    May 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks so much for this Faizan - your film Chamak Patti was one of the highlights of our festival - a really joyful, inspiring piece.
    It was presented by our community film group members in a programme of 5 films about work and culture- from China, Pakistan, Columbia, the Basque Country and Serbia. So, it was an honour for us to screen it! Thank you

  • Benjamin Hackman

    They emailed me once with a form email to tell me my film had been accepted, and I never heard from them again. If Filmfreeway hadn't prompted me to review the festival, I'd have completely forgotten my film was in the festival at all. No promo. No communication. Definitely a ton of room for improvement here.

    March 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Benjamin,

    Thank you so much for submitting The Algonquin Bridge.

    As we outlined in emails to all film makers mid way through 2025- Our selection process is community-led, ongoing throughout the year. We had over 1000 submissions, and exhibited around 60 short films to a local audience of about 300 people of all ages over two days.

    NEFF is just one of our projects here at North Edinburgh Arts, and we are focussed on audience development in the local community rather than promotion towards an industry audience, so we are really appreciative of film makers submitting their films for us to share. (your feedback received - this is something we need to work on communicating!)

    We loved your animation Algonquin Bridge and wish you all the best in future projects

    Alice Betts

  • Yassine EL AMIRI

    No communication, no email, no response, I didn't hear from them at all

    April 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear Yasin,

    Thank you so much for submitting Smart City for NEFF 2025
    It was presented by our film selection group as part of a programme of 6 films - titled Global Communities- from Cambodia, Scotland, China, Costa-Rica and Morocco. It was an honour for us to screen it.

    I'm sorry you were disappointed by the lack of communication from us.
    Our selection process is community-led, ongoing throughout the year. We had over 1000 submissions, and exhibited around 40 short films in NEFF 2025 to a local audience of about 100 people of all ages throughout the day.

    NEFF is just one of our projects here at North Edinburgh Arts, and we are focussed on audience development in the local community rather than promotion towards an industry audience, so we are really appreciative of film makers submitting their films for us to share. (your feedback received - this is something we need to work on communicating!)

    The Film Group loved your documentary and wish you all the best in future projects

    Alice Betts

  • manuel zapien-gamez

    ok it was ok ok

    March 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Hi Manuel,
    Did you come to the festival!?
    If so, I'm sorry you didn't introduce yourself . It would have been great for our audience and selection group to meet you!
    We thought your film was great. Our community programming group really connected with the theme of frustration and desperation in parenthood, and placed it within our life stories programme.
    Do let us know how you found the festival.