WE ARE now accepting entries for the Best British Short Film award, supported by BFI NETWORK, for THE 2019 awards ceremony.
There are a few small changes that you need to know about:
Entry deadlines & fees
Entering a short film to BIFA is still free for the majority of the time that entries are open. We are, however, introducing some new deadlines and fees towards the end of the entry period. To avoid these, please enter your films as early as possible!
The new deadlines & entry fees for short films are*:
| Timeline | Entry fee (shorts) |
| Entries open to midnight 8th August | Free |
| 9th August to midnight 22nd August | £15 |
| 23rd August to midnight 30th August | £30 |
(*These prices exclude VAT)
Friday 30th August is the final entry deadline and no entries will be accepted after this date.
If you can’t enter your film before the fees kick in (eg. if you won’t hear about a festival acceptance until after the 8th August), please contact us on hello@bifa.film and we may be able to issue a fee waiver.
Qualifying festivals / online channels
The following festivals have been added to the list of festivals that qualify short films to enter the category:
| Bechdel Test Fest | Annual | |||
| BFI Future Film Festival | Feb | |||
| East End Film Festival | Apr | |||
| Iris Prize | Oct | |||
| Open City Docs | Sept | |||
| UK Jewish Film Festival | Nov |
The following festivals have been removed from the list. If your film has played at one of these festivals and you wish to enter it to BIFA, you can get in touch to ask for an exception to be made:
| Amsterdam Int’l Doc Film Fest | Gothenburg Int’l Film Festival | Slamdance Film Festival |
| Aspen Shortsfest | Hot Docs Film Festival | Stockholm Int’l Film Festival |
| Bilbao Film Festival | Locarno Film Festival | Tampere Int’l Short Film |
| Brest European Short Film Festival | Melbourne Int’l Film Festival | Telluride Film Festival |
| Chicago Int’l Film Festival | New York Int’ lFilm Festival | Uppsala Int’l Short Film Festival |
| Flanders Int’l Film Festival | Oberhausen Int’l Short Film Festival | |
You can see the full list of BIFA 2019 qualifying film festivals for short films here.
We have also updated our list of qualifying online channels, which is now:
| VICE | |
| The Guardian Docs | |
| New York Times Op-Docs | |
| Field of Vision | |
| NOWNESS | |
| BBC Three | |
| Channel 4 |
BFI Diversity Standards
We’d like to get more short film filmmakers aware of, and thinking about, the BFI Diversity Standards. We will be asking all entrants to familiarise themselves with the Diversity Standards and to informally assess their films against them as part of the entry process. You don’t need to formally meet the Standards but you do need to tell us how your project contributes to meeting their aims.
You can read more about the BFI Diversity Standards here.
Other rules
We will no longer be accepting entries of music videos, fashion or experimental films. The category is for short fiction or documentary films.
How to enter a film
- Read the rules – here
- Head on over to our Entries page
- If you already have an account, log in
- If you don’t already have an account, create one via the ‘Register’ tab
- Log in to your account and head back to the Entries page (if you aren’t there already)
- Click on the ‘New Entry’ button and fill in the form
If you have any questions or problems, please get in touch with us via hello@bifa.film
