"Such a wonderful festival, brilliantly run by a wonderful team"
"The quickest, most in-depth response I’ve received from a festival."
"The communication and feedback provided are second-to-none."

Better than a film festival and script competition combined, Sunday Shorts provides feedback on submissions, hosts film and script events every month, and culminates with a Film Festival of screenings, networking and awards.

COVID-19 UPDATE: Thankfully, we are able to run our monthly events at our new venue in Lisbon, Portugal's historical capital, fast becoming the creative and start-up hub of Europe. We are continuing to offer free online live streams of the programs, and host our script readings online.

ONLY IN 2020: A new category for short films that could only have been made in 2020, Intended for future themed programs, such as Lockdown, but also eligible for Official Selection and subsequent awards. Includes all genres and styles as long as the subject is relevant to the year 2020.

☻ Script Judging - All short scripts are read to the end by the programmer and receive short feedback as standard, and short-listed scripts are read by the festival director. We're looking for scripts with the most potential, that have utilised the screenplay medium.

☻ Film Judging - All submissions are watched in their entirety by the programmer and/or the festival director and receive short feedback as standard. We aim to curate diverse programs of different styles and lengths, and are especially interested in cross-genre films, but story always comes first.

☻ Q&As - We emphasise the importance of sharing our experiences, and strive to present a Q&A along with every official selection. Filmmakers are encouraged to attend their screening, but also have the opportunity to pre-record a Q&A video.

☻ Semi-Finalists - We award Semi-Finalist status to only a handful of projects that we really liked, but are unable to include in the current program. Semi-Finalists also receive a laurel, are promoted on social media, and are considered for future programs.

Awards & Prizes

MONTHLY AWARDS:
AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER
BEST SHORT SCRIPT
RUNNER-UP BEST SHORT SCRIPT

ANNUAL AWARDS:
BEST FILM - £500 ($650) CASH PRIZE
BEST LOW BUDGET - £100 CASH PRIZE
BEST PRODUCTION
BEST MICRO-SHORT
BEST DRAMA
BEST COMEDY
BEST DOCUMENTARY
BEST ANIMATION
BEST THRILLER / HORROR
BEST EXPERIMENTAL / MUSIC VIDEO

Official Selections - The jury select 7 films per month to compete for the monthly Audience Award, which are also nominated for our annual awards event. Stills and posters are shared across social media, and trailers are played at prior events.

Audience Award Winner - As voted for in-person by all attendees at the end of each monthly event. Only Audience Award Winners are nominated for Best Film.

Script Competition - Selected by the programmer and the festival director exclusively from FilmFreeway submissions. Winners and Finalists will have their scripts read and discussed in a live online script workshop with guest directors, actors and writers. The scripts are also displayed on our website, with the aim of connecting buyers, financiers and collaborators directly with the writers.

Sunday Shorts Annual Film Awards - Once per year in London, a weekend of screenings and events culminates with an awards ceremony. Each category is judged by an industry guest invited to present the award in person. All Award Winners receive a physical award, a unique laurel and a goodybag of prizes from us and our partners.

Rules & Terms

ELIGIBILITY:

Only projects submitted on FilmFreeway are considered.

Films not in English language must have English subtitles.

No premiere requirements, and films may already be available online.

Student projects must have been a majority student production. Submitters must have been a student at the time of production. All levels of education are eligible.

Submitted scripts would ideally be unproduced original screenplays, but not exclusively. Writers of all ages are eligible, from any country in the world, but entries must be written in English language.

All film selections will be notified, and will be required to provide a HD .MOV or .MP4 of the film.

Selected films wishing not to use their 'Official Premiere', can request to screen as a 'Preview', but will not be eligible for the Audience Award.

Selected films won't be uploaded online, unless the submitter gives prior permission, or it is already intentionally public.

Submitter grants us authorisation to include images, extracts and promotional material for our own promotional purposes, but the project will always be credited.

Submitter agrees they have read and understood all the terms and conditions, rules and guidelines before submitting.
64 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Jens Kipper

    What a very nice Online-Festival (January 2021)! Good communication! Nice presentation!
    Thumbs up

    January 2021
    Helpful
  • Tony O'Reilly

    Excellent communication from Lee at Sunday Shorts - from initial selection and right through the process to even sending me a picture of the film being shown in front of an audience. For those of us who can't get to festivals that picture is invaluable. 10 out of 10.

    December 2020
    Helpful
  • gareth brierley

    A great festival! Thanks for the inclusion of our film 138: LAST DAY in the official selection.

    November 2020
    Helpful
  • Lorna King

    My script was a finalist, which was amazing! The feedback was incredibly useful and there's going to be a reading over zoom which I can't wait for! Thanks so much for everything and hopefully I can actually meet folk in person sooner than later :)

    November 2020
    Helpful
  • Danielle Lima

    Wonderful Experience. So happy to be apart of it. Thank you for all!

    October 2020
    Helpful