Submit to Flatpack Festival

Our 15th festival takes place 28 April - 3 May 2021 and we're now accepting all types and genres of films to be considered for the 2021 programme. This year we have a new category too - 'mid-length films', for those stories that just can't be told in under 20 minutes.

Following the success of last year's screendance programme (see the Guardian's 4 star review here), we'll be accepting dance films again this year, but excitingly there will now be a cash prize for the best screendance short film (full details will be revealed before Christmas). If you're unsure as to what screendance or a dance film is, you can find more info here.

And just to remind you, we are a BAFTA Qualifying Festival, meaning that successful submissions will not only earn a place in our shorts programme but could also go on to win a BAFTA, which is nice.

Short and Mid-Length Films

Shorts submissions are largely the same as previous festivals, but as mentioned above you can now submit mid-length films too. Here are the key facts:

• Films need to be completed after July 2018 and must be under 20 minutes long for the short film catgeory and between 20-35 minutes for the mid-length category;
• Earlybird deadline is 11:59pm, Thursday 31 December 2020 and the final deadline is 11:59pm, Sunday 31 January 2021;
• Seven awards up for grabs including cash prizes for the best short award, the screendance award, and the WTF award;
• Submission fees for short films are £15 before 31 December and £20 after, and £20 for mid-length films before 31 December, and £25 after
  

Live Performance

We're very interested in artists who delve into the unpredictable world of making images move in a live setting. From live animation using turntables to live musical scores to silent films, we’re a broad church when it comes to live performance.

The key things to know before submitting:

• The work has to have some relation to film, cinema, the moving image. It’s worth exploring our previous festival programmes to see the type of work we have shown in the past;
• The work doesn’t have to be brand new;
• There is no submission fee.
  

Please get in contact with us here if you have something to submit. Please note the deadline for live performance submissions is 11:59pm, Thursday 31 December 2020.

COVID 19 We are very much planning for a physical festival, but will continue to monitor the situation over the next few months. Like pretty much all festivals we are also looking into options for a hybrid festival if need be, but if there are any changes made to the festival format, we will liaise with all filmmakers and artists at the earliest opportunity.