Women Over 50 Film Festival (WOFFF) is an inclusive short film festival celebrating older women in all their diversity.

Since 2015, we’ve been showcasing fun, fearless and real films made by and about older women.

We welcome submissions from all ages, all genders, all experiences, and from all around the world. We want to see filmmakers over 50 driving the stories as filmmakers, creatives, and performers. We also want to see work by younger filmmakers that centres on older women.

Each film we screen at WOFFF must follow one simple rule: It must have a woman over 50 at its centre on-screen, or a woman over 50 in the core creative team, as a writer, producer, or director.

Film submissions for our 2025 Festival are now open.

Short script submissions are open from 25 March 2025. We accept only 50 scripts, so the script submission window is shorter than our film submission window.

*Why have a film festival concentrating on older women in film?*

A recent report, “Women Over 50: The Right to be Seen on Screen”, from the Geena Davis Institute analysed the most popular films and television shows from 2010 to 2020 and found that “on-screen ageism persists and is particularly evident among on-screen women over 50. Just 1 in 4 characters who are over 50 are women.” Moreover, the report found that “women over 50 who are on-screen are commonly cast in supporting and minor roles and are less likely to be developed as characters in interesting ways.”

WOFFF is doing something positive to address this imbalance by screening work that celebrates older women in film.

In 2025, we will hold our 11th edition! Since 2021, we’ve been a hybrid festival, taking place online and in person at our home cinema, Depot, in Lewes, East Sussex.

WOFFF25 at Depot will take place on Saturday 13 September and be the official opening of the Festival!
WOFFF25 Online will take place from Sunday 14 September to Sunday 12 October.

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

PRIZES FOR WOFFF25 FILMS

Prizes for Best Drama, Best Comedy, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Experimental, Best Student Film, Best Short Script and the Audience Choice award include:
- £75 cash
- a winner's certificate

And for the top UK-based winner in each category:
- a bottle of Mother's Ruin Gin (student filmmakers must be over 18 for this prize)
- Kit from RØDE Microphones
- One year's free membership of Picturehouse Cinemas

Prizes for winning films (films awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd place or commended prizes) include:
- a winner's certificate
- having your film screened as part of the WOFFF Best of the Fest UK 2025 Tour. Previous tours have included 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

PRIZES FOR 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

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

2) The maximum length for films are:
Documentary - 25 mins
Drama - 25 mins
Animation - 12 mins
Comedy - 12 mins
Experimental - 12 mins

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

4) If you are a non-student filmmaker, you must pay a fee to submit your film (Early Bird, Regular, and Late Submissions have different fees).

5) You may submit 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 for your film to 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 the WOFFF selection team has accepted it.

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 agree that if your film is selected, WOFFF will screen it at WOFFF25, an in-person festival (in a physical venue), or as part of WOFFF25, a virtual, online festival.

12) If your film is selected, you permit us to screen your film at the WOFFF Best of the Fest tour and other WOFFF events following WOFFF25 until December 2026.

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 WOFFF25 submissions, students who graduated in 2024) that 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. And you must inform 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. Student script submissions are free.

23) You may submit more than one film script, but you must pay a submission fee for each entry and make a separate application for each film script.

24) The deadline for this competition is 22 June 2025 OR the date WOFFF receives 50 scripts, whichever is sooner.

25) Your script must not be AI-generated, we will run random checks and we may ask further questions if we suspect your script is AI-generated.

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

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • A big thank you to WoFFF for selecting 'elephant' to be part of your festival this year. Huge kudos to Nuala O'Sullivan and the team for staging another brilliant festival and so much respect for all the hard work that goes into it. elephant screened online along with some really cool and interesting films and it was also lovely to take part in a couple of the online seminars that took place. Will always submit to this festival and highly recommend other to as well. Much love. Dx

    December 2024
  • Karen Martinez

    I was delighted that my short film 'Trinidad Remains' screened at WOFFF and was awarded runner-up in the drama category and also winner of the best drama by a UK based director. Apart from being a wonderful and important festival that highlights the creativity of women over 50, this was also one of the most friendly and welcoming festivals I've attended. Plus, getting feedback from the judges was invaluable. I wish there were more festivals like this.

    November 2024
  • Tokio Oohara

    I wanted to apply for this festival since I made 'Doll Woman', so I was really happy to be selected! And I'm honoured to have won the Best Drama Award!

    There are not many films in Japan that feature women over 50 as the main characters. That's why I think this film festival is so valuable, and we need to continue to express our stories.

    I also enjoyed talking to Nuala-san on Zoom after the festival and hearing the judges' comments in person. I thought it was a warm and friendly festival. I recommend it!

    October 2024
  • Anne Marie Kelly

    WOFFF has a great balance between in person and online showings. The duration of the online festival allows for our work to be seen by many. The team are easy and approachable and their passion for what they are doing is infectious. Keep up the very important work that you are doing!!!

    October 2024
  • Marie Strömberg

    WOFFF is an incredibly important festival with knowledgeable and committed organizers and a high quality of the films shown.
    We had the pleasure of showing "Perro means dog in Spanish" in one of the blocks and the honor of having a still from our film illustrate the entire festival in its channels.
    A big thank you to Nuala O' Sullivan and her team!
    I highly recommend this festival!

    October 2024