"Being a filmmaker at the High Peak is a breathtaking experience." - Marcelo Brinceno, 2019.
"Nicole and the High Peak team were brilliant from start to finish." - Rica Sweeney, 2019.
"One of the best festivals I've attended." - Jacob Podber, 2018.
"...Promotes young filmmakers and local talent. Had a brilliant time there!" Luke Nield, 2017.
High Peak Independent Film Festival is an international shorts and features film festival, which began in 2016, opening its call out to independent filmmakers from around the world. In 2017, we hosted the first High Peak Independent Film Festival, a 3.5 day event that took place in the beautiful theatre, New Mills Art Theatre (see photos to have a look!). In 2018, the festival held its 2nd successful event with a four day film festival. Then, in 2019, we will bring you a five day film festival!
We will return in 2020 with a two day film extravaganza!
The aim of High Peak Independent Film Festival is to provide a platform for filmmakers from across the globe to showcase their work and to meet other fantastic filmmakers to across the week. In 2020, the festival will bring even more events and films with the 10hr Filmmaking Challenge returning once again.
So, where is the festival?
New Mills is a gorgeous British town with some of the best views of the country, right in the High Peak. It's 45 minutes from Manchester and Sheffield, and very easily accessible, even if you're visiting from London or across the world. You may also know the sweets made by Swizzles Matlow, they are created in the town also.
What do our events include?
We have our great 10hr Filmmaking Challenge, which took off in 2018 and will continue as the years go on. We also have a prestigious red carpet awards gala on the final night of the festival, where we award the outstanding work of the festival, chosen by our fantastic jury members. Amongst that, we aim to put on some entertaining events and always have great networking opportunities too.
Our prizes include a beautiful handmade trophy by SimplyGlassUK and a goody-bag of local gifts. We are working on our sponsors for year four and look forward to sharing with you, in due time, what our additional prizes may be.
Some of our awards in 2020 will include:
Outstanding Short
Outstanding Leading Performance
Outstanding Supporting Performance
Outstanding Documentary Award
Outstanding Animated Film
Outstanding Screenplay
Outstanding Score
Outstanding Directors’ Award
Young Filmmakers Award
Outstanding Student Debut