Foyle Film Festival delivers a year round programme of feature films, workshops, short films, competition screenings, outreach and special events.

The 2024 Foyle Film Festival will take place from Friday 22 November to Sunday 1 December in Derry-Londonderry.

Over the last 37 years, the Foyle Film Festival has become renowned for attracting top industry professionals to Derry-Londonderry. Past guests have included Richard E Grant, Ray Winstone, Thelma Schoonmaker, Brendan Gleeson, Julie Christie, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Wim Wenders, Stephen Frears to name but a few.

Foyle Film Festival is one of only a handful of International festivals with Oscar® affiliation, BAFTA and BIFA recognition. The festival offers filmmakers, animators and artists a unique platform to screen their films, network with industry professionals and gain access to the international market.

The prestigious Light In Motion (LIM) competition, sponsored by City of Derry Crystal, will reopen to filmmakers and animators across the world on Monday 1 April 2024.

The competition categories under Foyle Film Festival Light in Motion Awards 2024 are:

· Best Irish Short

· Best International Short

· Best Animated Short

. Best UK Short

Recipients of the LIM Awards in Irish Short, International Short and Animated Short Film qualify for consideration in the Live Action and Animated Short Film categories of the Academy Awards® without needing the standard theatrical run.

Recipients of the LIM Award in UK Short Film qualify for further consideration in the short film category of BAFTA Film awards.
Foyle Film Festival is also an IMDb Qualifying Festival, granting all eligible film submissions a fast-tracked title page on IMDb.com.

Previous Foyle Film Festival winners and competitors who have proceeded to win the Oscar® include: Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman for Skin (2019), Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton for The Silent Child (2018), Terry George for The Shore (2012), Martin McDonagh for Six Shooter (2006), Andrea Arnold for Wasp (2004), Adam Elliot for Harvie Krumpet (2003), and Eric Armstrong for Chubbchubbs (2002).

Previous Foyle Film Festival winners and competitors who have proceeded to win the BAFTA include:
Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low for Poles Apart (2018), Nina Gantz, Emilie Jouffroy for Edmond (2016) and Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe for A Morning Stroll (2012).

Funded by the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen and by Derry City and Strabane District Council; Foyle Film Festival delivers a comprehensive programme of documentaries, short films and feature films from all over the world; a full programme of educational events for schools, youth, and adults and a variety of industry networking events and panel discussions.

The Festival is a flagship project of Nerve Centre, Northern Ireland’s leading creative media arts centre which delivers a diverse range of cutting edge projects, training and production opportunities, state of the art production facilities and creative learning centres in Belfast and Derry-Londonderry.

Award Plaque & accreditation laurels for Oscar and BAFTA qualifying category winners.

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY:
By submitting to Foyle Film Festival it is mutually understood that competitors have read and are bound to abide by the rules and regulations of the Festival and that they have pre-cleared all materials that comprise the film, as an authorised holder of the intellectual property of the work.

PLEASE NOTE FOYLE FILM FESTIVAL DOES NOT PAY SCREENING FEES FOR SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION.

SHORT FILM DEFINITION:
All films submitted for competition must be completed after 1 July 2023 and have a running time of 30 minutes or less including credits.

Foyle Film Festival welcomes all forms of short film and animation, however music videos, documentary shorts and promotional films are not eligible for consideration.

SUBMISSION DATES:
Foyle Film Festival is open for competition submissions from Monday 1 April 2024.
Regular Deadline: Monday 3 June 2024
Late Deadline: Monday 12 August 2024
Extended Deadline: Monday 30 September 2024.

PREMIERE STATUS:
Due to limited space available in all competition categories, the Festival will prioritise programming short films and animations that are Northern Ireland premieres where possible.

All Irish short films selected for competition will be at a minimum a city of Derry/Londonderry premiere.

Films that have previously been publicly screened, broadcast or otherwise made publicly available in full (including online) in UK & Ireland are not eligible for consideration.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS:
Competitors should only enter their submission in one category. If you are a film collective or distributor entering more than one film please pay a separate fee for each film and list them in the appropriate category, providing a separate Online Screener for each film.
Group discounts may be applicable in some cases but please note that Foyle Film Festival DOES NOT PAY ANY SCREENING FEES FOR ANY SELECTED FILMS.
For further information on group submissions contact the Competition Manager directly.

FORM & CATEGORY DESIGNATION:
The Festival reserves the right to place films into alternative categories if it feels it is to the benefit of the filmmaker. This will be discussed with the filmmaker before any decision is made.

ONLINE EXHIBITION & PROMOTIONAL TRAILERS:
Foyle Film Festival does not accept films freely available to view in full online. If your film is available to view publicly in full online then it will be automatically withdrawn from the competition. Films that have previously been publicly screened, broadcast or otherwise made publicly available in full in UK & Ireland are also not eligible for consideration.
Excerpts of your film, in the form of a promotional trailer totalling no more than 10% of its running time are exempt from this rule. Competitors agree under the terms of submission that promotional trailers of their film may be used by the Festival as part of the festivals PR campaign on Foyle Film Festivals website and social media channels.

SUBTITLES:
Films should be presented in their original versions with English language subtitles or commentary where necessary. Exceptions can be made for films that contain little or no dialogue.

SUBMISSION FORMAT:
For submission purposes, Foyle Film Festival ONLY accept submissions via online platform FilmFreeway. We do not accept submissions other than via this platform.

WAIVERS are not granted to submitters in any circumstances, as a policy. PLEASE DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED EMAILS REQUESTING WAIVERS. ALL REQUESTS OF THIS NATURE ARE DECLINED.

ONLY SEND THE FINAL COMPLETED VERSION OF YOUR FILM. WE DO NOT ACCEPT RE-EDITS OR WORKS IN PROGRESS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ESPECIALLY AFTER FILMS ARE SUBMITTED INTO COMPETITION.

SUBMISSION COSTS & DEADLINES:
Regular Deadline: Monday 3 June 2024
Regular Deadline Fee: USD: $40.00

Late Deadline: Monday 12 August 2024
Late Deadline Fee: USD: $50.00

Extended Deadline: Monday 30 September 2024
Extended Deadline Fee: USD $60.00

All fees must be paid. FFF takes failure to pay the relevant and correct fee very seriously. An email from the CM will be sent to the entrant in this event. After a warning, failure to pay will result in disqualification.
WAIVERS are not granted to submitters in any circumstances, as a policy. PLEASE DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED EMAILS REQUESTING WAIVERS. ALL REQUESTS OF THIS NATURE ARE DECLINED.
The exception to this policy is filmmakers who have been invited to screen at the Festival or who may have had previous work screened at the festival. In this instance an Alumni discount rate will be provided at the discretion of the Competition Manager.

FILM ACCREDITATIONS & CATEGORY DEFINITION:
The categories of Best International Short, Best Irish Short and Best Animation are Academy Award affiliated.
Winners of each competition categories at Foyle Film Festival qualify for the long list of the Academy Awards for the Animated Short Film & Live Action short film categories. For more information on Academy Award eligibility visit: www.oscars.org

The category of UK Short Film is BAFTA affiliated. British short films and animations which screen as part of the LIM Awards at Foyle film Festival are eligible for consideration in the Short Film Awards at BAFTA. For more information on BAFTA eligibility visit: www.bafta.org

International Short: Foyle Film Festival accepts live action short films under 30 minutes in duration which have been produced after 1 June 2023. In keeping with Academy rules, we do not accept documentary short subjects in this category.

Irish Short: Foyle Film Festival accepts live action short films less than 30 minutes in duration, which have been produced after 1 June 2023. In keeping with Academy rules, we do not accept documentary short subjects in this category.
An Irish short film should be creatively led and produced by teams from the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland and produced by an ROI/NI registered production company.

UK Short: Foyle Film Festival accepts live action and animated short films less than 30 minutes in duration, which have been produced after 1 June 2023. In keeping with Academy rules, we do not accept documentary short subjects in this category.
A British short film should be creatively led and produced by teams from the UK or Northern Ireland identifying as British as part of a UK/NI registered production company.

Short Animation: Foyle Film Festival accepts animated shorts for this category less than 30 minutes in duration, which have been produced after 1 June 2023. We do not accept factual shorts or music videos in this category. Animation must figure in no less than 75 % of the picture's running time.

PUBLICITY:
The Festival reserves the right to use extracts from submissions for TV, online and radio coverage or any other publicity that is used in the promotion of the Festival. Competitors agree on submission that promotional trailers of their film may be used by the Festival as part of the festivals PR campaign on Foyle Film Festivals website and social media channels. Please ensure that uploaded stills and headshots are of print quality and that you have permission to allow the Festival to use these for promotional and press purposes in perpetuity.

EXHIBITION FORMAT:
Films selected for screening during the Festival should be in digital format with DCP being the preferred screening format.

Standard Settings
Content Type: feature or shortVideo
DCI Flat - 1998x1080Resolution 2K 0r 4k
AudioChannels - 6 - 5.1

Pro Res or High Res MOV or AVI encoded MPEG-4 video or H.264/H.265; 4k/8k UHD are also accepted.

The audio in Digital Cinema Package is ideally 5.1 channels of discrete audio for exhibition and the minimum for a non-mono configuration of the audio shall be three channels left, centre, right.

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOUR FILM WINS AT FOYLE FILM FESTIVAL AND SUBSEQUENTLY QUALIFIES FOR ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION, IT MUST BE AVAILABLE ON 35MM or 70MM FILM OR IN A DCP FORMAT ACCORDING TO THE DIGITAL QUALIFICATION STANDARDS IN PARAGRAPH III.A.1 IN THE RULES & ELIGIBILITY TERMS OF THE ACADEMY SHORT FILM AWARDS AND THE BAFTA SHORT FILM & ANIMATION AWARDS. THE PRINT OR DCP OF THE SHORT FILM SUBMITTED MUST BE IDENTICAL IN CONTENT AND LENGTH TO THE QUALIFYING FORMAT.

FESTIVAL SELECTION PROCESS:
Successful Submitters will be notified of the final selection for festival inclusion by Monday 7 October 2024.

Special juries nominated by the Festival management select the films for the Festival programme. The Festival management may invite films for the competition and main festival programme. Films go through several rounds of screening and selection by panel. Please do not assume that provisional shortlisting guarantees you a place on the final shortlist. All successful applicants will be notified via FilmFreeway on Monday 7 October 2024.
Due to the large number of submissions received, the Festival cannot offer feedback regarding films that are not selected for the programme. Many other factors determine competition programming at Foyle Film Festival. Please don’t be discouraged if your film is not accepted.

Unfortunately, contacts can be mislaid occasionally, so please assume if you have not heard from us via FilmFreeway by the specified notification deadline of Monday 7 October 2024 that you have been unsuccessful at this time.

All qualifying films will be announced on the Foyle Film Festival website in late October when the full Festival programme is launched.

The category winners will be announced at the closing evening LIM Awards Ceremony, Sunday 1 December 2024. Absent winning filmmakers will be contacted by telephone or email.

Winners in all categories will receive a Light In Motion (LIIM) Award Plaque and certificate. If you cannot be present at the ceremony, your LIM Award will be mailed to you.

For further Information on Foyle Film Festival Light in Motion Competition email:
foylecompetition@nervecentre.org

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • A truly wonderful festival in beautiful Derry. We were so honoured to be part of this year's event, and encourage other filmmakers to submit their films. High quality programming, friendly team and excellent vibe.

    December 2023
  • Aryasb Feiz

    I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Foyle Film Festival for their incredible support. Although I couldn't attend in person, the festival team was exceptionally helpful and responsive throughout the process.

    Receiving the Best Animation award is a great honor, and I appreciate the festival's recognition of my work. Eavan King's assistance was invaluable, making the entire experience smooth and enjoyable.

    Thank you, Foyle Film Festival, for the award and for creating a positive and inclusive environment for filmmakers. I look forward to future opportunities to be a part of this fantastic festival.

    December 2023
  • Alfonso Films

    We were overjoyed to be screened in this years festival. We came away from the programme feeling so inspired to make more films and were blown away by the talent on screen and quality of the stories. On top of all this, we received the greatest welcome and such kindness from the festival staff and the city itself. The organisation and curation of everything was second to none and we will be coming back year after year. Thank you all!

    December 2023
  • Western Front Studios

    Foyle is an amazing festival. There is so much brilliant content on display, and organisers are very approachable and make you feel so welcome. Will definitely be back next year. Western Front Studios

    December 2023
  • Aaron Chalke

    It was an honour to have a short film screened as part of the Light In Motion competition at the Foyle Film Festival. The festival programming overall was very considered, with a nice mix of thought-provoking films and entertainment. This combined with the backdrop of the vibrant Derry City, makes Foyle Film Festival an event not to be missed.

    May 2023