This year’s selection of Women in Film shorts offered up a rich and varied experience. It is impressive that all five films, being shown in quick succession, managed to stay so clearly distinct from one another, even now, as I reflect on this event in the week following.    The opening film, Helen Simmons and Julia Cranney’s Measure (2023), follows a mother, Jen (Callie Cooke), taking her autistic son to a birthday party and the horrors that follow. It begins in the car, the two of them going through the order of the event: “car, cake, car, bed”. What Jen can’t account for, of course ..read more

Even before the screening began, there was a buzz in the air. One of the shorts being shown tonight, Mars, had already created a stir. As the audience were waiting for the screening to begin, I overheard two teenagers chatting about it animatedly with their parents. It was a pleasure to hear those teenagers so enthused by the film, and their excitement was indicative of a wonderful event to come. Sophie Black (director of A Different Place) and Aella Jordan-Edge (writer and director of Misnomer) were led by host Niamh Brook’s considered questions, providing a thought-provoking evening. Althoug ..read more

As part of the 2022 Norwich Film Festival, we had the pleasure of hosting an exclusive screening of Thomas Wright’s new Netflix feature, ‘The Stranger,’ at the Cinema City Picturehouse, followed by a Q&A with one of East Anglia’s finest, Sean Harris. Based on a true story, the film follows the wrought relationship of Mark Frame, a troubled undercover police officer and father played by Joel Edgerton, and Henry Teague, the enigmatic child-murder suspect Mark is trying to gain a confession from, played by Sean Harris. As Mark begins to earn Henry’s trust, we’re submerged in an edge-of-your-s ..read more

Last night, we revealed the Norwich Film Festival 2022 winners, across six award categories. Out of nearly 1,400 national and international submissions, the winners received their awards at Norwich University of the Arts at our ceremony sponsored by Intermission. This year’s winners tell stories about friendship, honouring a loved one, coping with illness, the impact of modern-day slavery and dreaming big. You can see all our winners below, but first – just a reminder that you can watch more fantastic films in person this weekend, including the Best East Anglian Film winner BIG EARS on Sunday ..read more

  Norwich Film Festival is delighted to reveal its official 2022 lineup, with its largest ever official selection comprising 116 films from 18 countries. These films will be screened in-person and online at the 12th iteration of the festival from the 11th – 20th November, with award categories such as Animation, Documentary, Student, and East Anglian film all set to have their winners crowned.    With a total of 1391 submissions this year, it was no easy task narrowing down the entries to the 116 that made it through. However, this number of entries marks the highest that NFF ha ..read more

  NFF is a BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festival, supported by the BFI, Norwich BID, Norwich City Council, UEA and NUA, as well as local award sponsors, partners and prize-givers.   The festival is 12 years old and runs in venues and online for two weeks each November, attracting submissions from filmmakers all over the world. As a CIO (Charity No: 1173950) our Board provides governance and leadership to a group of volunteers who are passionate about film and dedicated to the promotion and celebration of the short film genre in Norwich, a city renowned as a creative and cultural h ..read more

Banff is a festival that strikes you as having, or fostering, a real sense of community. Arriving at the Norwich screening, it felt like stepping into a family get-together, where everyone knew everyone – or perhaps was just united by their shared passion. The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is the world’s largest mountain film festival, showcasing cinema focusing on the outdoors, mountain culture, and – perhaps most importantly – adventure.  The films offer a mix of exhilarating instant gratification, and the satisfying reward of a long journey’s conclusion. Some films, such as ‘F ..read more

Interview by Niamh Brook Could you give us a little introduction to yourself?  My name is Hugo Le Gourrierec. I’m 30 years old and I’m from Chambéry in the French Alps where I grew up for 20 years before studying cinema. I’ve been an assistant director for 8 years now and I’ve been lucky enough to work with directors that I respect a lot and with whom I’ve learned a lot on each shoot How did the idea for Pipo and Blind Love come to be and what drew you to tell this story?  The idea for this film was born when I was 15 years old after my first break-up. When I was a teenager, I though ..read more

11th Norwich Film Festival (Norwich, UK), BAFTA and BIFA qualifying event, honoured its six prestigious awards tonight with ‘Enjoy’ taking the Best British Film award and The Exit Plan winning the Best International Film Award. Out of nearly 1,300 international submissions, short films Enjoy, The Exit Plan, Absolution, Clown, Night of the Living Dread and One for the Road received their award at Norwich University of the Arts at a special ceremony sponsored by HolidayCottages.co.uk. This year’s winners tell moving stories about men’s mental health, escapism, survival and climate change. The i ..read more

Ahead of our 2021 festival starting tomorrow, we want to offer our gratitude to the wonderful sponsors and supporters of our festival, whose generous support allows us to continue to be one of the UK’s fastest growing film festivals. From long-time supporters of the festival, to a number of new additions for 2021 – we truly treasure the relationship we have with each of our sponsors. We were delighted to be able to celebrate the launch of this year’s festival amongst representatives from each of these wonderful supporters earlier this week at the National Centre For Writing, and look forward t ..read more