Cardiff Independent Film Festival will be held over May 5th to May 7th 2017 at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. This will be our fourth festival, following highly successful events beginning in 2014. We're a fun, friendly and open festival run by film-lovers that celebrates the best in independent cinema and adheres to the highest ethical standards.

We're non-profit, which means ALL of the submission fees go into the running of the festival. And we are truly independent - we don't take public or corporate money so the films we pick are our favourites.

We also attract big-name guests: CIFF2015 saw talks by Stephen Frears and Paul Andrew Williams and the great John Boorman present the Welsh premiere of his final feature Queen and Country. CIFF 2016 saw giants from the world of animation Peter Lord, Ben Bocquelet and Joanna Quinn delighting audiences young and old. We may be small but we punch above our weight.

We will be screening five feature films, ten short films and a selection of animations and student shorts in competition and there will be out-of-competition screenings for other films of significant merit.

Prizes will be awarded for Best Feature, Best Short, Best Student Short, Best Animation, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress and the Brian Hibbard Prize for Best Welsh Short.

The judging panel is entirely separate from the festival committee and as in previous years, will consist of a panel of industry professionals.

CIFF2017 judging panel

Keri Collins
Writer, Director
Keri is a Screen International Star of Tomorrow. His debut feature, the BAFTA Cymru Breakthrough Award winning CONVENIENCE, starred Vicky McClure (THIS IS ENGLAND), Adeel Akhtar (FOUR LIONS), Ray Panthaki (CITY RATS) and Verne Troyer (AUSTIN POWERS). The film was released in UK cinemas October 2015. His short film ‘FUNDAY’ was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru award and he has directed a number of shorts for the BBC. Keri was mentored by Sir Kenneth Branagh after being selected for the prestigious Guiding Lights scheme.

Vesna Cudic
Head of International TV Sales & Acquisitions
DOGWOOF
Vesna is the winner of a Royal Television Society Award and several film festival awards. Her extensive experience in both international distribution and filmmaking has played a vital role in Dogwoof’s continued success. The go-to company for global distribution of cinema documentaries, Dogwoof has released some of the world’s very best, including BLACKFISH, ACT OF KILLING, RESTREPO, YES MEN FIX THE WORLD and SPIRIT OF ’45.

Matt Hird
Outreach and Distribution
DARTMOUTH FILMS
Matt’s career includes working as a television researcher; as a campaign officer for human rights and environmental campaigning groups; and in the press office of music festivals. He has overall responsibility for Dartmouth’s distribution and marketing, releasing such great titles as DEATH OF A GENTLEMAN, COCAINE UNWRAPPED, THE BATTLE FOR BARKING, THE WAR YOU DON’T SEE and PARTICLE FEVER.

Helen Reynolds
Director of SOCIAL FOR THE PEOPLE
Helen was one of the first people to understand the potential of using digital communication to promote engagement in the public sector. She began using social media in local government in 2007, with a MySpace page dedicated to getting people to help a council restore a town hall. Since 2011, Reynolds has run a social media consultancy to help government, public sector and charity organisations communicate online. Her work has been recognised through several awards, including coming 16th on the 2014 list of 100 UK Digital Leaders.

Cynthia De Souza
Acquisitions and Development Executive
THE WORKS FILM GROUP
Cynthia specialises in talent development and film production, and has worked for the BFI Film Fund, the UK Film Council and the BBC. The Works Film Group is an award-winning distribution and production company with a rich thirty year history, distributing indie gems such as THE MESSENGER, TAKE SHELTER and ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL, and producing the likes of THE 51ST STATE, GANGSTER NUMBER ONE and BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS.

1. Films are submitted in five categories only – Shorts, Student Shorts, Welsh-made Shorts, Animations and Features.
2. Minimum running length (including credits) for features is 60 minutes, maximum running length for animations and shorts is 20 minutes.
3. Films must have been completed no earlier than 2015.
4. We cannot accept films made by anyone connected with the festival committee.
5. Films must not have had a cinema or home DVD release in the UK. We accept films that have been shown at other festivals.
6. Films must be in English, or have English subtitles.
7. The decision of the selection panel shall be final. We cannot enter into correspondence about the selection. The selection panel is on our website.
8. The judging panel for awards is entirely independent of the festival committee and their decision is final. The judging panel can be found on our website.
9. We cannot provide fee waivers for competition entries.
10. Filmmakers may submit more than one film, but must fill out a separate submission form and pay each fee separately.
11. Filmmakers whose film has been selected will be contacted no later than the end of January 2017.
12. Our required screening format is DCP. Features must provide this, we will provide this service for shorts who require it.
13. Successful entrants will receive two free tickets to attend the screening of their film.
14. The final selection shall comprise five features, ten shorts and five animations. These are the films eligible for awards and passed to the judging panel.
15. The festival reserves the right to use brief clips from all selected films to promote the festival in perpetuity.
16. Entrants shall inform the festival of any change to contact details. Failure to respond to acceptance emails in reasonable time will result in the film being withdrawn.
17. Submissions open 30th September 2016

Earlybird fees (til 30th October) £10 Student Short £20 Short, £30 Feature
Regular fees (til 4th December) £15 Student Short £25 Short, £35 Feature
Late (til 9th January 2017) - £20 Student Short £30 Short, £40 Feature

Welsh Shorts are priced at £15 throughout.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Han Zhang

    Very nice film festival, and a very charming animation night!

    May 2017
  • Jack Bennett

    very good films on show in a nice venue!

    May 2017