Fighting Spirit is a UK based group that organises martial arts and action themed Film Festivals throughout the country. Now in our 11th year, we have hosted events in London and Birmingham, and have built connections internationally with other film festivals in the UK, Spain, USA, South Korea, and Italy, with more in the pipeline.

Our aims are to support, inspire, recognise, promote, and connect people who have a love of martial arts, action, and film. We support the martial arts and action film community, which includes but is not exclusive to practitioners, teachers, film makers, stunt men and women, and of course, the fans. To do this, we screen short films, feature films, and also have live martial arts demonstrations as part of the events.

In addition to screening films, we also host a variety of short film awards to help support and promote and inspire those who are part of the film making process. Our previous award winners have gone on to win multiple awards in festivals all over the world, and we want to keep this momentum up in the future, and keep supporting the next generation of talent.

The next festival will take place in London in September 2026, and we would like to invite any submissions which would fit our theme.

For more information, and to see footage from our previous events, please go to our website www.fightingspiritfilmfestival.com

Awards & Prizes

Best Short Film
Best Action Choreography
Audience Choice
Best Short Documentary
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Director
Best Short Film - 10 mins and under.
Best British Short Film in Association with New Day Pictures*
Best British Short Film Cinematography in Association with British Cinematographer
Best International Short Film Cinematography in Association with British Cinematographer
Best International Short Film

*The winner of Best British Short will receive a £500 hire voucher for New Day Pictures
https://www.newdaypictures.com/

Rules & Terms

By submitting your film, you agree that Fighting Spirit can use parts of your film (including trailer/teaser/film poster) for promotional purpose.

To submit a film, you must have created the project yourself, own the rights or have permission from the owner of the content to submit the film to us. IF SELECTED, ALL FILMS MUST HAVE AN ENGLISH SUBTITLE TRACK PREPARED - OTHERWISE THE FILM WILL BE DESELECTED.

Fighting Spirit does not pay a revenue share or a fee to screen your film.

Due to budget constraints, filmmakers travelling from oversees are not paid for attending.

Rules and Terms:
Please read all rules and requirements before submitting your project:

1. We do not accept any films completed before 1st Jan 2025.

2. Documentaries, non-fiction, animation, arthouse, short films and feature films of the action or martial arts genre are open for unsolicited submission to the festival.

3. Documentaries, non-fiction, animation, arthouse, short films and feature films of the action and martial arts genre are also selected by invitation from Fighting Spirit Film Festival.

4. All films must include English subtitles if selected (this is so we are fully inclusive for people who may not speak English as a first language, or people with hearing needs). Adding subtitles is the responsibility of the film maker. This also applies to films which are not in English language.

5. Fighting Spirit is not responsible for broken or non-functioning films.

6. Films do not have to be screened publicly to be eligible for our festival, or awards.

7. To be eligible for awards, short films must not be available for public viewing on any video hosting sites such as Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo, etc.

8. Short films should ideally be under 20 minutes, but anything up to 30 minutes may be considered subject to our panel.

9. Fighting Spirit Film Festival is a competitive event and unless notified otherwise, all shorts (except those that are publicly online) officially selected are eligible for competition. Not all submissions received are selected for the Fighting Spirit Film Festival.

10. All films are nominated and voted upon by a jury of film professionals, from an independent point of view. The full jury list can be viewed on our website. https://www.fightingspiritfilmfestival.com/awards

11. All genres and formats are considered eligible for nomination into one or more competitive categories.

12. Fighting Spirit Film Festival reserve the right to refuse to accept any submission deemed by the Festival to be inappropriate, or not fitting in with our values (see event description). Should you wish to question FSFF about their decision, you can contact us by email on info@fightingspiritfilmfestival.com
48 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Felicia Chu

    As an amateur filmmaker, I was deeply touched by the organisers, judges, and fellow filmmakers at the festival for welcoming and advising me. I got to see my film on a big screen, which was a real privilege, and I am beyond grateful for it. I also got to watch amazing films by other filmmakers which gave me a lot of inspiration. I had the best time at Fighting Spirit Film Festival!

    September 2025
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  • Merridith Allen

    Thank you so much for selecting my film BLACK ROSE, for its international premiere! Though I could not attend in person, the virtual friends and connections I've made have been wonderful. Being selected for a film festival that specifically focuses on filmmaking from an action/martial arts perspective has been a lifelong dream. I hope to return in person with the feature version of the short!

    September 2025
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  • Bruce Chong

    Celebrating Fighting Spirit’s 10th anniversary was an incredible experience, from the thoughtfully curated selection of short and feature films to the passionate community that surrounds it. Soo, Weng and the rest of the team are truly dedicated to supporting filmmakers and their journeys.

    We’re honoured that our film "The Protector" received awards for Best British Short Film, Best British Cinematography and Best Actress.

    Fighting Spirit is one of the best action and martial arts genre festivals in the world and a must for any filmmaker looking to submit!

    September 2025
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  • Tatiana Skorlupkina

    A huge thank you to the Fighting Spirit Film Festival team for including our film "My Violin - My Serenity" in the 2025 festival program! We wish this great festival great success!

    September 2025
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  • Nathanael Hopkins-Smith

    Absolutely amazing festival, it was an honour to make the trip from Paris over to London this weekend.

    Our film “A tribute to Richard Norton”
    Won “Best Short Film Documentary” .

    All the films were very high quality, everyone was very friendly and there were amazing networking opportunities.

    I would definitely submit and/or attend again.

    September 2025
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