Watch-Africa is Wales’ annual African Film Festival celebrating the best of African cinema. Launched in 2013, the festival provides a platform for African films, art and culture in Wales. It brings a wide-range of films covering areas across the continent, Q&A's with filmmakers, engaging and interactive activities such as the Director's Lab, as well as other workshops. The festival takes place in venues across Wales, including in Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Tywyn and Bangor.

At Watch Africa, we accept entries from African filmmakers based on the continent and the Diaspora as well as filmmakers of African descent. Priority is given to African filmmakers because we wish to support, promote and celebrate filmmakers from the continent and its Diaspora. Only in exceptional circumstances would we screen a film made by a non-African. In this case, the film must be about Africa or Africans.

There is no entry fee.

The deadline for submissions is 5th August 2022

We accept films of any genre, any theme and shot in any format.

Only short films made in 2018 or after will be considered. Watch Africa will not pay any screening fees for short films screened at the Festival.

We will consider feature films made before 2018.

All films submitted for consideration must be uploaded via FilmFreeway’s Secure Online Screener system, via a Vimeo link entered directly on the online application, or on a single disc (Blu-ray, DVD).

We are able to accept submissions of films subtitled in French, but should the film be selected by the Festival, applicants are responsible for English translation and subtitling of the film, a copy of which is to be provided to the Festival no later than 31st August 2022.

Films do not need to retain any sort of premiere status. Films do not forfeit their
eligibility for submission to the Festival if they were previously released theatrically or via any home video platform, broadcast or streamed on television or the internet, or screened at any number of film festivals anywhere in the world.

It is the sole responsibility of the Applicant to secure authorization and permission from the copyright owner(s) of any and all copyrighted content or materials included within the submitted film.

Digital stills and press packs should be emailed to enquiries@watch-africa.co.uk with the title of your film in the subject box. Digital stills submitted should be in JPEG format and must be at least 300 dpi and no less than 500KB. We welcome stills, press releases and other promotional materials to accompany entries, which we may use for promotional purposes. These materials can also be sent on CD together with the DVD or Blu-ray of the film, which must be clearly labelled with the film's title and director's name.

By submitting a film to the Festival, the Applicant confirms that the copyright holder of the film authorises the Festival to make clips of a maximum of three minutes available on the Festival's website and on online broadcast channels affiliated to the Festival. The purpose of this is solely to promote the festival and the film selected.

By submitting a film to the Festival, the Applicant confirms that the copyright holder and distributor agree to consider the various promotional opportunities made available, details of which will be sent in the summer of 2022.

All deliveries from outside the European Union should be marked with the phrase “no commercial value – for cultural purposes only” in order to avoid any unnecessary customs fees. Should Applicants be sending materials via the post, they are responsible for the cost of posting the entry forms and viewing copies to us. Please note that packages arriving with outstanding courier or custom fees will be refused by the Festival.

Any viewing and promotional material submitted to the Festival cannot be returned to the Applicant and will remain in our archives.

On completion of the Festival selection process, we will contact all Applicants using the contact information provided on the submission form to notify them of the film’s acceptance status. This will be done by September 2022.

It is the sole responsibility of the Applicant to ensure that the contact information provided to the Festival is correct during the entire Festival selection and organisation period (October-November 2022).

The Festival is under no obligation to provide to the Applicant or any other representative of the film submitted any comments or feedback regarding the submitted
film, and any information relating to the manner in which the film is, will be, or was reviewed. We may do so at our own discretion.

If your film is shortlisted we will contact you to arrange for a screening copy to be sent to us. Screening copies must be sent on one of the following professional exhibition formats: Beta SP, Digibeta, mini DV, DV CAM, HD CAM, DCP. Films received in any formats other than those listed above will not be screened, and it will remain the responsibility of the filmmaker/distributor to send an additional copy in an acceptable format. Applicants are responsible for the cost of sending the screening copies to the festival by courier. The festival will cover the cost of returning/forwarding screening copies after the festival has closed. The Applicant or distributor of the film where applicable agrees to work with the Festival organisers and staff at our partner venues in order to ensure the timely transport of the film before the festival. Only copies in good enough condition to be projected reliably will be accepted.

We look forward to seeing your work - thank you!

Overall Rating
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Networking
  • One of the worst experience I ever had!
    Lack of communication, and fraud. They collected my bank account details and my social links then ignored all my emails for over three months till now!
    ...
    Really!
    So (rehana.jaffer@watch-africa.co.uk) is not one of your board members!
    All her emails in November 2022 asking for my bank account details and download link for a screening copy wasn't you! And you didn't receive all that from me!
    So how did you get a screening copy of my film?!

    January 2023
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    Response from festival:

    We haven't received an email from you Mohsen. Where did you send it to? our email is enquiries@watch-africa.co.uk, please submit your inquiry through this email. We selected your film and it was shown at the festival. The next step was for you to get in touch with us regarding invoicing etc.