Women Over 50 Film Festival is an inclusive festival which celebrates older women in all their diversity. WOFFF showcases the work of older women on both sides of the camera. We look to them to drive our stories – as filmmakers and performers.

Each film we screen at WOFFF has to follow this one simple rule – it must have a woman over 50 at its centre or a woman over 50 in the core creative team (writer, producer or director).

We welcome submissions from filmmakers of all ages and genders.

Why have a film festival concentrating on older women in film? Polygraph looked at 2,000 films and found that women aged between 42 and 69 spoke only 20% of film dialogue; men of the same age spoke almost 39%. Directors UK reported that of over 2,500 films made from 2005 to 2014, only 13% were directed exclusively by women. In 2020, the Geena Davis Foundation report on movie roles of women of age, entitled "Frail, frumpy and Forgotten" examined the top grossing films in Germany, France, the UK and the US of 2019. It found that when an older female character is visible on screen, she is four times more likely to be shown as senile than a male character ages 50+ (16.1% compared with 3.5%); and she's more likely to be shown as homebound, mentally unstable and unable to take care of herself.

Women Over 50 Film Festival is doing something positive to address this imbalance in the representation of older women in front of and behind the camera, by screening work which celebrates older women in film.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, WOFFF20 moved from being a festival hosted in a cinema venue – Depot, Lewes, East Sussex - to being an online festival where we screened 58 short films and hosted filmmaker Q&As.

WOFFF21 and WOFFF22 saw the festival become a hybrid one - taking place in our usual cinema home, Depot in Lewes, East Sussex for one day, as well as online via Eventive for eight days.

WOFFF23 is going to be hybrid again - with one day in person in our cinema home, Depot, and two weeks online. WOFFF22 dates are:
Depot, Lewes Saturday 23 Sept
Online 9 – 30 Sept

All short films selected for screening at WOFFF are eligible for our competition. Films are judged by professionals from each category field - animation, experimental, drama, and documentary. Our festival audience also votes for its favourite film too.

Here's what one filmmaker said about WOFFF22:

“Lovingly curated programmes, professional on point communication and above all making an important impact for the film industry.” Annika Lewandowski – Three Women

You can read more filmmaker comments at the bottom of this page.

Awards & Prizes

PRIZES FOR WOFFF23 FILMS
Prizes for Best Drama, Best Documentary, Best animation, Best experimental, Best Student Film and Audience Choice award include:
- £75 cash
- a winner's certificate
- a bottle of Mother's Ruin Gin (student filmmakers must be over 18 for this prize)

Prizes for winning films (films awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd place or commended prizes) include:
- a winner's certificate
- having you film screened as part of the WOFFF Best of the Fest UK 20223 Tour. Previous tours have included an in-person screenings as well as virtual screenings with:
East London Out Project, London, England
Switchboard – the LGBTQ+ Helpline
HOME Manchester
Elder care residential homes and older people’s community groups in London and Glasgow

Other prizes in previous years have included:
Kit from RØDE Microphones
One year's free membership of Picturehouse Cinemas

PRIZES FOR WOFFF23 SHORT SCRIPTS
The Shedunnit Productions Prize is awarded for the winning script and includes:
- a signed copy The Woman in the Story: Writing Memorable Female Characters by Helen Jacey
- £75 cash
- a winner's certificate
- a bottle of Mother's Ruin Gin. This prize is sponsored by Mother's Ruin Gin.

Prize for the runners-up short drama scripts:
- a winner's certificate

Rules & Terms

1) Your film has to have a woman over 50 at its centre or a woman over 50 in the core creative team (writer, producer or director).

2) The maximum length for films are:
animation – 12 minutes
experimental – 12 minutes
drama - 20 minutes
documentary – 25 minutes

3) Your film has to be in English or have English subtitles.

4) You must pay a fee to submit your film if you are a non-student filmmaker (Earlybird, Regular and Late submissions have different fees).

5) You may send more than one film, but a submission fee must be paid for each entry and a separate application must be made for each film.

6) Submission to WOFFF constitutes agreement to all rules, regulations and conditions here and your consent that your film be considered for any awards that may be given at WOFFF.

7) Submission also certifies that all film and music rights, licenses and clearances have been obtained in accordance with UK copyright laws. WOFFF will not be responsible for any copyright infringement.

8) By submitting, you agree not to withdraw your film from WOFFF after it has been accepted by the WOFFF selection team.

9) By submitting, you give us permission to use publicity stills provided and up to 30 seconds of footage for use in WOFFF marketing and publicity.

10) WOFFF is committed to making screenings and events accessible to all, including people who are D/deaf and Hard of Hearing. If your film is selected, you give WOFFF permission to add inclusive features, like subtitles or captions to your film if it doesn’t already have them.

11) By submitting, you are agreeing, if your film is selected, to WOFFF screening your film at WOFFF23 an in-person festival (in a physical venue) or as part of WOFFF23 a virtual, online festival.

12) If your film is selected, you give us permission to screen your film at the WOFFF Best of the Fest tour and other WOFFF events following WOFFF 2023 until December 2024.

13) A “Student Film” is one directed by a student currently in full or part-time adult education, or who has graduated in the last academic year (i.e., for WOFFF 2023 submissions, students who graduated in 2022) which complies with all the rules about film submissions. WOFFF will require proof of student status. Please see Custom Form for further information about student submissions and attachments you must send WOFFF.

14) If submitted to the Student category, you must inform WOFFF of your official school, college or university email address and postal address, as well as informing WOFFF of the course and the qualification you are studying for. See the Custom Form for further details.

15) WOFFF is committed to screening a diversity of older women’s voices worldwide. A limited bursary fund is available to assist filmmakers with their submissions fees to enable them to submit work to WOFFF. Since 2017 WOFFF has offered bursaries to filmmakers with work from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the USA and the UK. To apply for a submission bursary, please request further information by sending an email to (info[@]wofff.co.uk).

16) This is a competition for completed short drama film scripts up to five minutes in length. Feature film scripts or the first five minutes or any section of a longer film script are not eligible.

17) This is a competition for scripts which have not yet been produced as films.

18) Your short drama film script has to have a woman over 50 at its centre or be written by a woman over 50.

19) The maximum length for your film script is 5 filming minutes (no more than 7 pages, including title page). Industry standard software is preferred but not essential. Industry format software such as Final Draft or Fade In can be purchased online, or programmes such as Celtx, Trelby or Writer Duet are free to download.

20) Your film script must be in the English language.

21) You must be over 18 years old.

22) You must pay a fee to submit your film script (Regular: $12, Late: $14. Gold members are eligible for a discount. Student script submissions are free).

23) You may submit more than one film script but a submission fee must be paid for each entry and a separate application must be made for each film script.

24) The deadline for this competition is 4 July 2023 OR the date when 50 scripts are received by WOFFF, whichever is sooner.

25) Submission to WOFFF constitutes agreement to all rules, regulations and conditions here and your consent that your script be considered for any awards that may be given at WOFFF.

26) Submission also certifies that all film and music rights, licenses and clearances have been obtained in accordance with UK copyright laws. WOFFF will not be responsible for any copyright infringement.

27) By submitting, you agree not to withdraw your film script from WOFFF after it has been accepted by the WOFFF selection team.

28) By submitting, you give us permission to use publicity stills provided and up to 1 page of your script for use in WOFFF marketing and publicity.

29) All scripts must be original, no adaptations. By entering you are confirming that this script is your own intellectual property. WOFFF will not be responsible for any copyright infringement.

30) WOFFF is committed to screening a diversity of older women’s voices worldwide. A limited bursary fund is available to assist script writers to submit work to WOFFF. To apply for a script competition submission bursary, please request further information by sending an email to (info[@]wofff.co.uk).

31) The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

32) The winning script consultation prize is sponsored by Shedunnit Productions and is called “The Shedunnit Productions Prize”.

92 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Maureen Hansch

    I am honoured to have won the Short Script competition with MOTHER. It means the world to me. Thank you so much to the WOFFF team. A great experience, made possible by a team that really care.

    October 2022
    Helpful
  • Dorothea Braemer

    This festival went above and beyond. The festival people were constantly in touch, thinking of every detail. Fantastic films as well. I feel so honored that my tiny little short was part of this. Will definitely apply again next year!

    October 2022
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  • Clint Butler

    Thrilled to have been selected to screen amongst such wonderful company at WOFFF this year. Nuala has been a gem at communicating and building community. I am very grateful to her, the team, and the London Film Academy for the recognition.

    October 2022
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  • Annika Lewandowski

    I had an amazing experience at WOFFF22! Lovingly curated programmes, professional on point communication and above all making an important impact for the film industry. See you next year!

    October 2022
    Helpful
  • lily gontard

    WOFFF's online and in-person programming was exceptional. I was thrilled to have my short film Whalefall included in the festival. The in-person event was sold out and the venue (The Depot) hummed with positivity and creativity. A great event.

    October 2022
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