'Festivals such as this are soberingly essential, eye-opening reminders to critics and audiences that so much exceptional filmmaking talent is prominent outside the realms of mainstream cinema.' Exposed Magazine

The Spirit of Independence film festival is a unique celebration of raw, passionate independent films made from all corners of the world. We want to put a spotlight on brave and bold filmmaking regardless of genre, country of origin, theme or budget.

Our goal is simple - to provide a platform for these films to get out there and to inspire filmmakers of the future to see what can be accomplished. We've been honoured to have welcomed such guests in the past as 'Candyman' director Bernard Rose, 'Miracle Mile' director, Steve de Jarnatt and stars of the BAFTA long-listed documentary 'A Bunch of Amateurs', the Bradford Moviemakers led by director Kim Hopkins and producer Margaréta Szabó.

The event also features several industry-based talks, networking events, Q and As and panel discussions.

We have also launched a further strand of the festival - the Emerging Spirit Script to Screen competition, a screenplay competition designed to make a filmmaking team's short film idea, a reality. Together with our partners, we will provide the competition winner with a package of resources that will support them to turn their script into a short film during 2023. The finished short will also be guaranteed a screening at the Spirit of Independence film festival on 30th September 2023. Last year's winner 'Dead Skin' is currently doing the festival circuit.

The Spirit of Independence Film Festival is a BIFA accredited and an IMDb qualifying festival and is a member of BFI Film Audience Network. It is also a founding member of the Association of Independent Film Festivals (AIFF).

Awards & Prizes

We have four categories to submit to depending on your film budget and length:

Rising Spirit award: Micro-budget feature film award (budget under £150k)

Rising Spirit award: Micro-budget short film award (budget under £3k)

Independent Spirit award: Feature film award (budget over £150k)

Independent Spirit award: Short film (budget over £3k)

From our categories, we have the following awards available (judged across all films):

- Best Short
- Best Feature
- Best Director
- Best Performance

Emerging Spirit Script to Screen Competition:

- Minimum £500 cash
- Free equipment hire from South Yorkshire Filmmakers’ Network
- Free use of post-production facilities at The Kurious
- Free CGI effect work
- Free editing support
- Festival strategy support
- Mentorship by a member of the BFI Network

Rules & Terms

Feature and Short Film Submission

1. Feature films for our purposes are determined by a running time of 60 minutes or more. Rising Spirit micro-budget submissions must have a production budget of £150k or less.

2. Short films for our purposes are determined by a running time of under 30 minutes. Rising Spirit micro-budget submissions must have a production budget of £3k or less.

3. All films must be made available by a digital download or a physical drive for DCPs, DCP and standard video files are accepted

4. All work must solely be that of the submitter or related party

5. All films not in the English language must have English subtitles provided

Script Submission

PLEASE NOTE: This competition is only open for films that are set/shot in the Yorkshire region, UK. Please do not submit if you are based outside of the UK.

1. The selected script must be made in the Yorkshire region

2. Scripts should be submitted in traditional script format as a PDF

3. Scripts must be no longer than 12 pages in length

4. The winner is permitted to add additional funds to the production budget

5. The festival directors and the award sponsor must be credited as Executive Producers.
Logos of the festival and the award sponsor must be displayed at the beginning or end of the film

6. Projects need to have a writer, director and/or producer attached before an application can be made. Teams need to have a minimum of two individuals across the three creative roles, e.g. separate individuals who are a writer-director and producer respectively, or a director working with a writer-producer. Director-producers are not eligible to apply

7. Examples of previous work and/or budget breakdown may be requested to help with the shortlisting process
26 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
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Networking
  • Falko Jakobs

    We are very grateful that our feature film was selected for the Spirit of Independence Film Festival.
    Unfortunately, we didn't manage to be there, but we will definitely submit future projects to the festival again.
    The communication was great and friendly.

    October 2023
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  • Gemma Whitworth

    Great to have such a lovely festival as my 'home' festival! Was a great selection of films.

    October 2023
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  • Joseph Archer

    Wonderful festival with an incredible programme - highly recommend!

    October 2023
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  • Sai Karan Talwar

    Thank you to Spirit of Independence for a lovely festival experience and having our film GHANIMAH screen this year!

    October 2023
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  • Kieran Stephen Weller

    A brilliant festival with a great display of talent, and incredible workshops and panels too. Was an honour for our film Stranger to be shown at SOI alongside so many other up and coming northern talents.

    October 2023
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