Film festival

The Discover Film Awards

The Discover Film Awards is one of the biggest short film festivals in the world with over 3,000 annual submissions from 100+ countries. There are global premiers in London’s Leicester square with packed cinema audiences, filmmaker parties, red carpet events with funding available for new projects. This festival has one of the largest short film cash prize funds of £28,000 including the prestigious Craghoppers Film Prize.

 

At the Discover Film Awards, we fully embrace diversity and inclusion as foundational to our festival. We believe cinema can break cultural barriers, amplify marginalised voices, and foster understanding among diverse communities. By celebrating various perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, we aim to create an inclusive platform reflecting the richness of human storytelling. Our commitment extends to filmmakers, storytellers, and creatives contributing to the global cinematic landscape. Championing films authentically capturing the human experience, we strive to create an environment where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued. We welcome submissions from filmmakers with disabilities and neurodiversity. For assistance with forms or Filmfreeway submissions, contact Jaine at jaine @ discover.film or call 0 7 9 0 5 3 2 0 8 5 5.

A major supporting partner of the festival is Craghoppers, the global clothing brand, which awards The Craghoppers Film Prize, one of the largest cash prizes for short films. The prize is awarded annually, with awards winners selected from winners of the Discover Film Awards by a panel of 200+ independent industry judges. The first prize is £12,000 in cash (for best short film from any genre) with a second prize of £6,000 awarded at the closing ceremony of the festival. There are awards of £4,000 for the best social impact film, £4,000 for best documentary and £1,000 each for the best UK and international student short films (any genre). In addition, there are various in-kind awards from sponsors. Over the past 6 years the Craghoppers Prize has resulted in over £175,000 being awarded to filmmakers.

Selected films get the option of various paid distribution opportunities including international TV, video on demand, major trains, hotels and airlines. Distribution is optional and entirely up to the filmmaker.

As well as cash prizes, winners can get help with future film projects in the form of discounted rates from partner firms (such as production houses) and mentoring from senior commercial film and business executives. The festival also introduces filmmakers to funding sources for future projects and offers publicity across a wide range of media (print and social) so enter today!

Cash Prizes:

Best overall short film – £12,000 (any genre)
Runner up – £6,000 (any genre)
Best social impact film – £4,000 (any genre)
Best environmental documentary – £4,000
Best student films – £1,000 for best UK & £1,000 for best international (any genre)

These six prizes are awarded at the closing ceremony of the Discover Film Awards. All films entered in the year are in competition for these prizes. Cash prizes are actual payments rather than in kind prizes.

There are also paid for distribution opportunities, free annual membership of the Female Film Club worth £175 for screened films and Craghoppers’ Gift tokens for all winners.

Physical Awards:

Audience Award
Jury Award
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Screenplay
Best Editor
Best Cinematography
Best Action
Best Animation
Best Adaptation
Best Comedy
Best Romantic Comedy
Best Cross-Over
Best Debut
Best Documentary
Best Drama
Best Experimental
Best Fantasy
Best Horror
Best Low Budget
Best International (various awards)
Best Foreign Language (various awards)
Best Micro (under 5 minutes – various awards)
Best Music Video
Best Non-Narrative
Best Sci-Fi
Best Student
Best Director Without Borders

Find out more about The Craghoppers Film Prize…

See the list of winners from October 2023 here

 

Filmmakers submissions

Are you a filmmaker submitting a film to the festival? Entry for the 14th edition of the film festival is now open, apply here: 

https://filmfreeway.com/discoverfilm

For more information on the judging panel, see the Discover Film Festival website: 

One of the supporters of the film festival is AI Aware, which is developing video interpretation and scheduling technology for video on demand platforms. Their AI-detector tools looks at how artificial intelligence can help with video scheduling and interpretation of video.

 

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