Submit Your Film

Yes — same festival, same international jury, same live screening at Picturehouse at FACT in Liverpool. This page is simply our direct entry route. If you found us on another platform, you’re welcome to enter there instead; submitting here just sends your entry straight to us.

Your screener link and password is shared only with our jury and festival team, for judging. It’s never published. If your work is officially selected, we’ll speak with you before anything is screened or promoted — and you keep full copyright of your film throughout.

You’ll hear your result — not selected, nominee or official selection — at least a month before the live screening, where the final winners and the $500 Grand Prize are announced (then on our website and social channels the next day). Everything is sent to the email address on your entry.

As judging progresses, your entry can move through several stages — your status stays confidential until we notify you:

• Not Selected — after careful review by our jury, your work wasn’t chosen to advance in this edition; with so many strong entries from around the world, only a portion can move forward each year.
• Official Selection — your work has been selected to screen at our live festival in Liverpool, and you may proudly display the Official Selection laurel.
• Finalist — your work has passed the first round of judging and is in contention for an award.
• Nominee — shortlisted by the jury in its category and in the running to win that category; nominees are invited to our live festival in Liverpool.
• Award Winner — took the top honour in its category, celebrated live at our festival in Liverpool.

Selected films screen live at Picturehouse at FACT in front of a Liverpool audience, judged by our international jury, and category winners receive a physical trophy. We’ll be in touch directly to confirm the details and walk you through what’s next.

No — attendance is never a condition of selection or winning, and every entry is judged purely on the work itself. If your film is an Official Selection or a Nominee, you’re warmly invited to join us at our live festival at Picturehouse at FACT in Liverpool. The winners are revealed live on the night, so that’s also where you’d find out if your film has won.

Yes. Each category is judged on its own — a separate shot at a win — so you can come back and enter more at any time before your deadline tier closes. Enter five or more and you’ll unlock 10% off plus confidential first-round results within five days, ahead of the full announcement.

Yes. Most of our entrants enter from outside the UK, and the whole process is handled online. Your fee is charged in US dollars.

We ask for a phone number on our checkout so we can reach you quickly if there’s ever a question about your payment or your entry. We also use the contact details on your entry — your email, and your phone only if we need it — to keep you informed about your submission: your judging result, screening details and agenda, and any practical logistics. Promotional emails are separate, and only sent if you opt in.

Yes. Payment is handled entirely on Stripe’s secure checkout page — you can pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Link, and your payment details go straight to Stripe and are never seen or stored by us.

You have a 14-day cooling-off right. Because judging begins as soon as your entry is accepted, if you cancel within those 14 days while judging is still in progress, you pay only a proportionate amount for the work already done and we refund the rest. Judging usually takes time, but occasionally a category may be assessed and its result issued within those first 14 days — and once that has happened, that category is non-refundable, even inside the cooling-off window. Full details are in our Refund & Withdrawal Policy.