Horsham Film Festival 2023

HORSHAM FILM FESTIVAL 2023

We’re running the Horsham Film Festival again for 2023, in partnership with the Everyman Cinema, Horsham! And…

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

So if you’re ready to submit your film, just click the FilmFreeway logo below and then read on for more info on the festival…

Watch our video with presenter Emily Beach to find out more about this years festival…

We’re partnering again with the EVERYMAN CINEMA in Horsham to not only host the Awards Night later in the year but to run a program of screenings in the week of the Awards Night, where all shortlisted films will be screened in full at ticketed screenings at the cinema!

Take a look at the 2022 Awards Night…

The Horsham Film Festival celebrates not only local, West Sussex based talent but also looks further afield to celebrate films from ALL OVER THE UK.

We want to see films from everyone – whether you are a filmmaker who has already won awards at other film festivals or a first-time filmmaker looking to start developing your skills and in 2023, we particularly want to see films from young filmmakers too. 

Our judging criteria doesn’t exclude any filmmakers. We aren’t judging based around equipment quality or technical expertise. We want to see and experience good stories first and foremost. Of course we consider shots, editing, acting and so on as part of the judging process but your film will not be looked down upon if you have shot it on your phone rather than Blackmagic gear!

The Festival hosts 4 categories for both Over 18s and Students (whether they’re under 18 or still in education), each with their own prizes and awards:

• Best Drama
• Best Documentary
• Best Animation
• Best Comedy

The event also hosts a special category called the ‘Your District Award’. This is for film makers that have used the Horsham District in their entries, whether it’s use of the local environment, local actors or something that links the entry to our home district! You can enter your film into both a standard category and the ‘Your Horsham District Award’ if the entry criteria is met.

Please note – the other four categories CAN have films made ANYWHERE in the UK entered into them. They are NOT exclusively for West Sussex made/set films. 

This year, we’re introducing a new award and partnering with Horsham District Council’s Business Training Programme team to add the Best Business Video award! This category is open to businesses within the Horsham District so we can recognise and celebrate their creative use of video!

So – show us your stories, show us your world, show us your imagination and make sure you enter for this year’s event – read on for ALL the festival details and keep up to date with us on social media throughout the year for more news on the 2023 Awards Night!

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ENTRY RULES AND MORE INFORMATION

SUMMARY

• Entry via FilmFreeway ONLY unless arranged specially, directly with us
• Entry costs £15 for Over 18s and is FREE for Under 18s. Filmfreeway GOLD member entry is £8.50
• Films should be no longer than 15 minutes (including credits)
• Prizes are non-exchangeable
• If you are submitting on behalf of an Under 18 entrant please notify us at Silvertip Films
• If you have filmed in the Horsham District, please notify us at Silvertip Films

THE FILM CATEGORIES

We have four main categories for anyone in the UK to enter your film within…

• Best Comedy – we want to see the funniest, wackiest, most off the wall entries to make us laugh!
• Best Drama – move us, thrill us or maybe even scare us – this is the category for storytelling at its best. It’s open to interpretation so give us something we don’t expect!
• Best Animation – we love animation whether its hand drawn, stop motion or computer generated. Make it out of paper, plasticine or pixels – whatever you want!
• Best Documentary – celebrate your area and it’s places, people and activities within this category. Tell us their story, bring it to life on screen.

Then, for West Sussex based businesses, we have the award for…

• Best Business Video – if you run a business in the Horsham District and make use of internally self-filmed video, we want to see how creative you are and hear how it’s benefitted your business!

For filmmakers in the Horsham District/West Sussex area we also have our special category for films which celebrate the Horsham District whether it be in the locations used or within the stories told. This is the…

• Your District Award – so get out there and make use of all there is in the Horsham District to produce your film!

You CAN also enter a Horsham District-filmed film into Best Comedy, Best Drama, Best Animation OR Best Documentary as well. 

If your film was NOT filmed in the Horsham District, please DO NOT enter the Your District category but you CAN still enter into Best Comedy, Best Drama, Best Animation OR Best Documentary.

AGE CATEGORIES

We have two age groups for entry…

• STUDENTS – if you have a camera and are under 18 and in education, we want to hear from you!
• OVER 18s – if you’re over 18 and have a camera, we want to hear from you too!

KEEP UP TO DATE

If you want to be kept up to date with the Horsham Film Festival and everything happening with it, then please join our mailing list or  ‘like’ our Facebook page for the most up to date information. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

JUDGING PERIOD

Once all the films are in, the judges will sit down between October 1st 2023 and October 13th 2023 to watch, enjoy and deliberate the films received to make their shortlist of best films.

SHORTLISTED FILMS

If your film is shortlisted for the festival, we will notify you no later than October 13th 2023. If your film isn’t accepted, we will inform you as well.

THE JUDGES

This year, the films entered into Horsham Film Festival 2023 will be judged by….

Photography by Sophie Ward.

Geoff Cockwill – Director and Producer at Silvertip Films.

Geoff founded Silvertip Films in 2005 after graduating from the University of Creative Arts in Farnham. Geoff has a hand in all aspects of productions undertaken at Silvertip Films and is regularly directing and editing projects and occasionally pointing a camera on them too. The Horsham Film Festival was a finally achieved goal of a long held ambition for Silvertip Films.

Photo by James Pardon

Pete Levy – producer on Doctor Who Flux, Casualty and more and VFX supervisor on Doctor Who.

Pete is a BAFTA and RTS award winning Producer with over 25 years experience within live action, scripted drama as well as television based VFX production. Pete began his TV career way back during the early days of breakfast TV after which he became a VFX Producer working on a significant number of blue chip factual TV series predominantly with the BBC’s Natural History Unit. Most recently he was one of the regular Producers for the BBC’s popular continuing drama Casualty. Prior to this Pete was one of the Producers on Doctor Who Flux helping to oversee the last series of Jodie Whittaker’s fabulous run as The Doctor. Pete’s association with The Doctor began back in 2018 when he spent two years as the show’s VFX Producer overseeing twenty three episodes covering series 11 and 12. Pete and his talented VFX team at Dneg won a BAFTA in 2018 for their incredible work on Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror (Metalhead) creating and bringing to life a terrifying robotic guard dog roaming amongst a collapsed human society.

Rebecca Moon – Head of BTEC Creative Media at Collyers College, Horsham.

Rebecca is the Head of Creative Digital Media Production at Collyer’s. She was educated in Horsham area, went on to achieve a first class honours in Photography at the University of Portsmouth. She began her career teaching at Collyer’s in 2012 and has taught there ever since, also running evening classes and after school photography clubs. Rebecca currently teaches full time across Creative Digital Media Production and Alevel Photography, as well as running the Media Hub which is an onsite creative collaborative for the students at Collyers.

Stuart Andrews – Head of Film Studies at Collyers College, Horsham. 

A former Media production technician, Stuart has over 15 years’ experience teaching at Collyer’s both in A-Level courses for Media and Film. He fondly remembers the annual Collywood film awards ceremonies that he co-organised between 2006-2015, held at the Capitol Theatre in Horsham. More recently he also helped to launch the successful Creative Digital Media Production course at the college in 2017. He is currently Head of Film Studies.

THE JUDGES SPEAK…

Geoff Cockwill, director at Silvertip Films said:

“It’s great to be running Horsham Film Festival again for 2023 and to be doing so with the Everyman Cinema – it’s a superb venue and a brilliant place to show short films from filmmakers of all levels, from all areas of the country. I’m particularly excited this year to be introducing the Best Business Video award and to see what films other local filmmakers make about West Sussex.”

Pete Levy, producer on Doctor Who and Casualty said:

” I’m so pleased to be joining the Horsham Festival this year. This festival has gone from strength to strength and I’m really looking forward to watching some incredible stories being told and made by such talented story tellers.”

Rebecca Moon from Collyers College, Horsham said:

“As an educator for the grass roots of the future film industry, I am thrilled to be a part of the judging team! I very much look forward to seeing all the entries and the talent within our West Sussex area!”

THE HORSHAM FILM FESTIVAL 2023 AWARDS EVENT AND SCREENINGS AT THE EVERYMAN, HORSHAM

The screening events for the shortlisted films and the subsequent winner announcements will be revealed later in the year but will be taking place at the Everyman Cinema in Horsham!

AWARDS NIGHT PRESENTER

Following her live HFF presenting debut last year, we are thrilled to have our vlog presenter Emily Beach hosting the Horsham Film Festival 2023 Awards Night! Emily will bring her fizzing, bubbling, life-affirming energy to the event as the main show host. 

THE PRIZES

We will be offering a range of prizes to the winning films at the Film Festival event as well as great PR coverage for the winners!

Across 2019, 2020 and 2021, we had over £7000 worth of prizes including camera accessories, cinema tickets, meal vouchers, holidays, books and more plus video commissions for some of the winners. There was also coverage for the winners in the District Post newspaper, All About Horsham magazine, the County Times newspaper and Horsham Pages magazine plus coverage on various websites as well.

Details on what will be on offer in 2023 will be made available throughout the duration of the event. Prizes will be awarded to the winning films, not individual members of the film-making team – and these will be non-exchangeable. These prizes are subject to change without notice although any updates will be listed here.

SPONSORS and SPONSORSHIP

Last year we were pleased to be working with a number of businesses as sponsors of the Film Festival, and this year are looking to do the same. If you are interested to see how partnering with us can benefit you, get in touch.

This year we are pleased to be working with the following businesses for HFF23…

Breathe HR – HR software for global SMEs

Woodstock IT – the best IT support service in West Sussex

exhilHRate – HR brillianceT21 – E-Learning experts

Seofon Business Services – everything a business needs to run smoothly

MajorMindGames – escape room fun in Horsham

BW Cars – Private hire in West Sussex

OUR SUPPORTED CHARITY

Our first ongoing charity partner is Springboard – the childrens charity based in Horsham, West Sussex. We will be donating a percentage of the ticket sales from the live festival event to the charity as part of our commitment to helping them with video and fundraising.

ENTRY RULES

• Films can be shot anywhere and submitted, however…
• Any films which are partly or fully shot within Horsham District will be eligible to win the Your District award in each age group, this is the award that celebrates our District by making great use of our locations or acting talent or telling interesting stories about the area. Horsham District covers Horsham, Billingshurst, Pulborough, Storrington, Steyning, Henfield, Rusper, Warnham, Colgate, Slinfold, Broadbridge Heath, Itchingfield, Southwater, Nuthurst, Lower Beeding, Shipley, Cowfold, West Grinstead, West Chilington, Thakeham, Ashington, Ashurst, Shermanbury, Woodmancote, Upper Beeding, Bramber, Wiston, Washington, Coldwaltham, Parham, Amberley, Rudgewick.
• We will want to see some proof of shooting within the District so we can incorporate that into potential promotional material around the festival and its entries.
• Films must be 15 minutes maximum runtime
• Your productions must not break any laws during filming! Be safe, be careful and be respectful.
• You must obtain permission for all locations you film at and you must also obtain release consent forms from all actors and people involved in your film
• Prizes awarded are per category, per film – not per group member. There are no duplicate prizes for winning films with multiple crew members.
• All prizes are final, there are no cash prize alternatives.
• By signing up to the film festival, you agree that clips / stills from your film may be used for event promotional material, as well as being used at the film festival awards ceremony.

OUR SUPPORT

• We are here to help you with your film production – join our Facebook Group Horsham District Filmmakers and you can communicate with us, privately in a closed group, and receive help, advice, tips and more.
• What we can’t do however, is read your scripts and provide input into them – it isn’t fair on the other entrants.
• All other updates, information and details will be posted on the Silvertip Films Facebook page and on our main website and communicated to you via mailing list.
• We can’t provide equipment, insurance or any editing facilities.
• During the lifetime of the festival, we will be featuring reports, updates and mentions on randomly selected entrants and their productions in the Silvertip Films vlog and on our blog and Facebook pages and live streams.
• After the event, we will be giving further exposure to the winners and runners up with things including, but not limited to or guaranteed to be -a interviews, live stream features, blog articles, press coverage and more.
• We want to create a community of filmmakers in this district who can help each other, support each other, work together and come together over a mutual love of film and our district.
• We’re always on the look out for new crew and new talent so be sure to be proactive during the event period and be putting your best production skills to work in making your film.

That’s everything for now – send us your films or get out there and start shooting! We can’t wait to see what you have to show us!

If you’re getting involved, use the hashtags #horshamfilmfestival or #horshamfilmfestival22 or #HFF22 so we can find you on social media or just tag us on one of our social media platforms!