'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 BIFA-qualifying 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. Previous films that we have screened included BIFA and BAFAT nominated 'Satu - Year of the Rabbit' and 'Tummy Monster'.

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.

Previously 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. Previous winners of the competition have had the finished film screened as such prestigious festivals as Aesthetica, Leeds International FF and Frightfest. We are looking for scripts up to 10 pages in length that can be shot in the Yorkshire region ready for the festival in September 2026.

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)

Emerging Spirit Script to Screen competition (scripts under pages)

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

- Independent Spirit Short film award
- Rising Spirit Short film award
- Best performance in a feature film
- Best performance in a short film
- Best Feature
- Best Director

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

Emerging Spirit Script to Screen Competition

1. Scripts must be up to ten pages in length

2. Scripts must be submitted from filmmakers based in the Yorkshire region

3. The festival directors and the competition sponsors must be credited as Executive Producers

4. Logos of the festival and the award sponsor must be displayed at the beginning of the film

5. All scripts must be submitted via filmfreeway.

6. The film must be completed prior to the festival in 2026

7. The deadline for scripts to be submitted is 28th February

45 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Pardeep Sahota

    A really well-run festival. The organisers know what goes into making a really fun festival. The communication was clear and timely, the screening went really well and the Q&A was a blast. Would gladly submit again.

    December 2025
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  • Joe Meegan

    Huge thanks to the SoI film fest team, we had a great experience bringing our short (Wool Coat) to Sheffield. Really interesting mix of films, well run, lots of friendly faces and a great choice of venue. It feels like it's done for the love of film. Highly recommended.

    November 2025
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  • Relic Films

    We had a fantastic time at SOIF 2025 for our feature All This Time. This was the second time attending the festival for us, and even without submitting anything for next year we will be going along just to watch. A great festival with a very passionate team at the core. Great work, see you in 2026.

    October 2025
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  • Ross Cawton

    The biggest thank you to Ben, Dave, Tom and the rest of the amazing Spirit team for making us feel so welcome at the festival! The whole experience was absolutely incredible and so inspiring! Thank you so much for screening our film 'Do You Want To'! Thank you so much to Charlotte, Lee and Helen for selecting our film! Thank you so much to the Bradford Moviemakers and Spirit teams for nominating us! It was an honour to be a part of the programme this year and deeply flattering to be nominated! If you have a film, then I highly recommend you submit to this festival! 5*

    October 2025
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  • Alun Morgan

    A brilliant festival that truly embraces the magic of independent filmmaking. Organisers were super friendly and a really nice vibe throughtout. Also, one of the swankiest cinemas I've been to at The Light, Sheffield.

    October 2025
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