Welcome to Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, the highly successful BAFTA British Short Film Competition Qualifying Festival, BAFTA Cymru/Wales and BAFTA Scotland Recognised Festival.
We are honoured to have been added to the BAFTA British Short Film Competition B list of qualifying festivals and one of only two based here in Wales.
To find out more about the rules and regulations concerning BAFTA, please visit their website.
The Festival has gone from strength to strength over the years. From our first Festival in 2012, we have gone from 35 submissions to over 1000 from 70 countries for our 2020 festival.
We are also very honoured and proud to not only be one of only two qualifying BAFTA British Short Film Competition qualifying festivals here in Wales but one of only six qualifying BAFTA Cymru festivals here in Wales as well.
It's all about the celebration of excellence, and our motto is:
'Excellence Should Be Seen On Screen', and we will always be a champion of independent film.
Films Judge by Industry Jury:
Who have included the BAFTA Cymru award-winning actor Mark Lewis Jones, Television presenter Ross King MBE, film academics and many specialists in the fields of animation, documentary and film.
Widely promoted Festival through our website, social media channels and industry press, including the film journal Sight and Sound. The awards nominations and awards gala is also broadcast live via our FaceBook page and on our festival streaming channel in partnership with Sparqfest.
Committed to Transparency, we were one of the first festivals to sign up for the United Film Festival Organisation (UFFO) code of conduct.
BAFTA British Short Film Competition Qualifying Festival
BAFTA Cymru Qualifying Festival
BAFTA Scotland Qualifying Festival
IMDB Qualifying.
We are also very proud to have the name of John Hefin associated with the Festival. With the John Hefin Award lifetime achievement award. And we are delighted that Elin Rhys excepted this award during our 2023 awards gala.
Here's a brief bio about John Hefin below.
John Hefin first became involved in television work in 1960 when he responded to a newspaper advertisement for apprentice production assistants. During the 1960s, he worked as a producer and director for BBC Wales. In 1974, he helped create the Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm, the longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC. He also co-wrote and directed the 1978 TV rugby comedy film Grand Slam and led the 1981 drama series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. This nine-part series, a biopic based on the Welsh PM, drew on conversations with Lady Olwen, his eldest daughter, and AJ Sylvester, his secretary.
Following his post as Head of Drama with BBC Wales, he worked in the Theatre, Film and Television Studies Department at Aberystwyth University. In 1988, he became the artistic director of Film Cymru (later renamed the Wales Film Council), entrusted with commissioning films from independent Welsh producers using S4C funds. He was also Chairman of the Film Commission Wales and Chair of Cyfrwng, a Welsh media journal and network. He retired from the BBC in 1993. In 2004, he directed and filmed part of a documentary featuring the artist Sir Kyffin Williams, Reflections in a Gondola
John was awarded the MBE in 2009 for "services to Welsh film and drama". In 2012, he was awarded the BAFTA Cymru Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television Drama.
By being ‘officially selected’, your film has been considered to be, of a high standard and worthy of being screened during the festival itself. This is the first step of a three-stage process.
For the next stage, a number of the ‘officially selected’ films are then shortlisted to be judged for the category awards. These are the ‘nominated’ films.
The last stage is winning your selected category.