Waterford Film Festival

Note: Please Read our Covid-19 Message in our rules section, thank you. The Waterford Film Festival is an independent International Film Festival and was established in 2007. Several members of our team have a background in short film production and we all have a passion to celebrate short films from around the world,bringing filmmakers together. It has always been our goal to promote and support established, debut and student filmmakers especially in the field of independent short films with our annual events and competitions. The Waterford Film Festival also recognises and supports writers. Since 2008 the festival has held an annual screenplay competition. The Waterford Film Festival was the first festival held in Ireland to hold a short script competition. The festival welcomes all forms of short films and filmmakers from different cultures and backgrounds. The Waterford Film Festival presents a wide range of genres including drama, thrillers, horrors, comedy,sci-fi,experimental, music and documentaries. Our annual programme also includes films that engage with social, political and cultural issues. Each year we produce a series of events that are creative, intriguing, fun and entertaining. The Festival hugely encourages networking. Social meetups and events are held for the audience to meet other filmmakers over the Festival weekend. Filmmakers from across Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Greece and as far as Canada and USA have attended the Festival. We always look forward to meeting and engaging with all filmmakers and our audience. In 2021 the Festival is expanding our competitions by adding new categories and we are launching a brand new Photography Competition called the Principal Image Photography Competition. The new competition is for aspiring, amateur and student photographers. The Waterford Film Festival is the first film festival in Ireland to hold such a competition. The festival strives to promote talent from all over the world and to bring a wide variety of projects for our audience of cinema lovers to enjoy. 2021 Festival Plans & 2022 New Venue Partnership The 15th Waterford Film Festival is now open for submissions for films, scripts and for it’s brand new photography competition. This year's festival is going ahead however Covid-19 is still very much part of our daily lives and it will be highly likely that some form of restrictions will be in place for most of the year. This year it is difficult for venues to be in a position to run multiple events, back to back and on consecutive days, as a festival structure requires. For these reasons and for the health and safety of everyone involved, all selected films will be presented on a virtual (password protected/subscriber based only) platform for the 2021 Festival. It is our aim to at least have a physical awards presentation following the festival weekend in The House of Waterford Crystal. Waterford Film Festival & Odeon Cinemas Waterford The Waterford Film Festival is delighted to announce our new venue partners ODEON CINEMAS. They will be hosting next year's festival in 2022 in their venue located in Poleberry Waterford. This will be the 1st time the festival will be hosted by a commercial cinema. Festival Director Stephen Byrne states: ” This is exciting news for the festival and our supporters. By the time this event happens it will be over 2 years since we had physical screenings with a live audience. All of the festival team are looking forward to returning to a theatre setting and for the 1st time in a cinema. I am excited that we will be presenting a wide range of short films from different cultures and backgrounds from around the world to old and new audiences. It will be a brand new experience for all involved. This will be the start of a new chapter for the festival and we are excited and looking forward to working with the Odeon in producing our 2022 programme of events.” For the 2021 Festival there is a brand new photography competition called Principal Image Photography Competition One of the prizes include exhibit space provided by Odeon Cinemas and a revamp of our existing film & screenplay competitions. The festival also plans to host a series of networking events during the festival weekend and if possible an awards presentation in the House of Waterford Crystal. Filmmakers, writers and photographers can submit their projects on the festival website or at filmfreeway.com A full list of prizes, rules and how to enter all 3 competition can be found at at www.waterfordfilmfestival.net or www.filmfreeway.com/waterfordfilmfestival Below is a summary of the new photography competition. Principal Image Photography Competition The Principal Image Photography Competition is for aspiring,amateur & student photographers and videographers. The competition's main goal is to support and encourage new and emerging talent in the areas of photography and art. The Waterford Film Festival will provide a variety of platforms for photographers to promote their work and have it presented to a new audience. This is a movie themed competition, using symbolism's in the art of filmmaking to create images that screams CINEMA. Prizes include exhibit space in the Odeon Cinema Waterford during the 2022 Waterford Film Festival, a portfolio website and the winning image will be used for our 2022 Programme Booklet and Posters. The Waterford Film Festival will give our finalists and winners visibility on our website and on social media pages. Other prizes are listed in our awards section. The competition is open to photographers and artists worldwide. What are we looking for? We are looking for images that represent film or filmmaking. This can be images from the following: A project you are currently working on. ( Film related, a shot from your own film) A completely once off original concept ( E.G. Create a once off image that could be shot of a film, or a movie poster) A tribute/ homage/recreation of a well known movie/film production Each Image entered should have a title and ideally your entry includes a tagline but it's not compulsory. We are looking for creative, inspired shots that clearly define a moment in cinema. These images can be set interior or exterior, with or without actors/models/prop/production shots. The image must be cinematic or symbolic to film and cinema. The image does not need to include any equipment. For example the image could be an action shot, a dramatic image between characters, a comedic moment or a setting in a cinema itself. The artist can use programmes such as Illustrator or Photoshop to create their images. We will also consider artistic drawings or paintings as long as they have the ‘look’ of a film image. Images can include a tagline.