Deadline day was exciting! Last-minute entries from all over the world pushed the total number of submissions up to 268. That’s a significant increase on last year. But it’s the quality of the entries that is really impressive. It’s going to be a tough job for our judges to pick winners.
Here are the key stats…
The largest number of entries came from the UK, with a total of 119 (44 per cent) followed by the United States with 57 (21 per cent).
Overall, we had submissions from 35 countries on six continents, from Iceland to Peru, Iraq to Trinidad. Narrative Drama was the most popular category with 50 films, but we had another 43 in the Lockdown category, showing how the pandemic is still affecting our lives.
A heartfelt thank you everyone, wherever you are in the world, for your support. It’s your films that make our festival.
Watch this space for details of this year’s in-person LIVE event.
THANK YOU so much to everyone who supported us in our SpaceHive Fundraising quest.
We reached our goal thanks to you!
We will soon be putting this equipment to good use in and all around Ealing. The next step is purchasing and planning where we will be screening our films. Please contact us if you would like us in your community.
And the breaking news! We are planning on a live festival this year and we can’t wait. The date to be confirmed but most likely the first weekend in December. Be there to see the winning announcements, watch this years winning films, meet the filmmakers and maybe even see a celebrity or two.
See you on the red carpet!
Please contact info@ealingfilmfestival.com for more information.
We want to take the magic of film and filmmaking out into the community. We believe people are desperate to move beyond the restrictions of the past year and a half. We intend to host screenings of our winning films across the borough as soon as possible. But a key part of our plan is also to enable people to make their own films. Anyone with a smartphone has the technology to make a film. We will provide free workshops and training sessions for new filmmakers and a platform for their films to be seen by others and especially in our local community.
Ealing Film Festival is, bigger and better than ever. It appears the lifting of the government’s Covid-19 restrictions (barring any changes this autumn) will allow us to hold a ‘real’ event in Ealing in December! See the announcement above.
Having said this we will continue to concurrently hold events online and develop ourselves into a lovely hybrid festival. Best of both worlds.
Submissions opened on February 22, 2021
Submissions closed on October 4, 2021
Festival date: December 4, 2021 (tbc)
268 films, 35 countries, 6 continents, ONE festival… Ealing Film Festival 2021
As always FilmFreeway is our exclusive partner of choice. We have found them easy to work with and they know film.
When we launched our first festival last year, everyone was struggling to deal with the pandemic and the disruption to daily life.
But despite the difficulties, filmmakers jumped at the chance to take part in our festival. In 2020 we received 160 entries from 23 countries and 5 continents. From all over the world. And we held our awards ceremony online, hosted by comedian and TV presenter Mel Giedroyc.
This years changes include a separate LOCKDOWN category for films that are either about the pandemic or have been made within lockdown, in compliance with the rules on social distancing. We understand it’s not easy making films at the moment.
We are also creating a special category for PERFORMANCE. This includes work normally performed on stage in front of an audience, but which has been filmed and made available online. This includes spoken-word performances like drama, poetry, and comedy sketches. But it also covers music videos, song and dance, puppetry, and even magic. Basically, any art form where the performer is using film to reach an audience.
Our third new category is the PHYLLIS CROCKER AWARD which recognises an outstanding contribution by a filmmaker identifying as a woman. This includes any of the key filmmaking roles, including producer, director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and film editor. This award has been named in memory of one of the women pioneers at Ealing Studios, who worked on sixty major productions as a Continuity Supervisor.
Once again, we have a panel of judges with huge experience in the world of film and television. Many have won major awards for their own work. They were greatly impressed by the high standard of submissions last year.
And once again, there will be a PEOPLE’S CHOICE award, decided by a public vote.
We are very proud of our films from 2020. Click the button below for a list of the winning films. Should you have any questions or want to contact the filmmaker please let us know at info@ealingfilmfestival.com
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