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Physics on Film 2026 is now open for entries!

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Physics on Film is the only film festival dedicated to physics and is organised by the Institute of Physics (IOP). The festival is founded to provide family entertainment and education including documentaries, sci-fi and physics inspired art.

We accept contributions from all areas of physics. In the words of Sheldon Cooper, "physics encompasses the entire universe. From quantum particles to supernovas. From spinning electrons to spinning galaxies." Physics comprises everything from the impossibly large scales of astrophysics to the the microscopic world of quantum computing.

Physics provides the transistors that make your iPhone work (Bardeen Nobel Prize 1956) to machine learning and AI (Hopfield and Hinton Nobel 2024). Physics also embraces many aspects of biology from the structure of DNA (Watson, Crick and Wilkins Nobel 1962) to the medical physics of X-Rays (Röntgen Nobel 1901) and NMR scanners (Ernst Nobel 1991).

We invite entries for amateur and professional films related to physics in both documentary, fiction and art categories. There are awards for the best judged entries in each category (see below).

The film festival will be held on 18 April 2026 at the Institute of Physics (IOP), London.

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Physics on Film 2025 was a great success.

A big thank you to everyone who submitted.

The website with programme and awards is here:
https://iop.eventsair.com/pof2025/

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Awards & Prizes

The are awards for the following categories:

Best Fiction Film
Best Documentary Film
Best Art Film
Best Research Film

We encourage entries from students and members of the public.

The best entries will be short listed by the Physics on Film jury and the best entries will be announced publicly at the film festival.

The new Best Research Film category allows physics research groups to showcase and explain their research and discoveries in a short film of less than 5 minutes.

Rules & Terms

Physics on Film is coordinated by the South Central Branch (SCB) of the Institute of Physics (IOP), a non profit entity.

-All films must be related or inspired by physics.
-The film must have been made in the last 10 years.
-There are no film entry fees.
-Premieres are welcome.
-Non-English films must be subtitled.
-Submitters may be either amateur or professional and final categorisation is at the discretion of the Festival Directors.
-Films must be submitted in digital format via the FilmFreeway platform.
-We may use excerpts of your film for promotional purposes.
-The composition of the Physics on Film jury, the methodology they employ and the official selection of the films presented is at the sole discretion of the Festival Directors.
-The prize categories may be modified by the Festival Directors depending on the number and quality of films submitted.

Banner image shows events recorded by the ALICE experiment from the first lead ion collisions, at a centre-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair (by Pcharito 2014 https://commons.wikimedia.org/).

6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
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Networking
  • Anna W

    Great festival! A pleasure to communicate with!

    May 2026
    Helpful
  • Francisco Porcel

    Highly recommended for any filmmaker working at the intersection of science, animation, and creative storytelling.

    May 2026
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  • Vincine Produtora

    A great opportunity to combine art and science — we are honored to take part.

    June 2025
    Helpful
  • Michael Dorfman

    Fantastic films and filmmakers! Incredibly honored to have our short film screen at Physics on Film!!

    May 2025
    Helpful
  • John Akre

    So happy and honored to be part of this festival!

    May 2025
    Helpful