Norwich Film Festival

12-21 November 2021

Venues: TBC

Jury: Edith Bowman and Jessica Hynes.

2-29 November 2020

Venues: Online

Short film submissions opened in January 2020 with a record number of submissions being received over a six-month period, with 132 short films being selected to be screened, making it the festival's largest selection to-date.[5]

On Tuesday 1 September, the festival announced that the 2020 edition would take place in an alternative format due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with each of the 132 shorts films within the Official Selection being available to watch online for the first time in the festival's history. This would also mark the first time that the festival was able to be accessed by those outside of the UK, with around half of the Official Selection being available internationally.

In total, 151 films were screened online during the festival, including several guest strands from other institutions, and the two winners of the EAFA Mashup Filmmaking competition.

Jury: Dexter Fletcher, Stephen Woolley, James Marsh, Arianne Sutner, Jill Culton, Julie Lockhart, Lisa Cortés, Stuart Dryburgh, Will Becher, Todd Banhazl, Kate Phillips, Antonio Aakeel & Tim Downie.

4-17 November 2019

Venues: OPEN, Norwich, The Forum, Norwich, Assembly House, Theatre Royal, Norwich, Norwich University of the Arts, University of East Anglia, The Garage, Norwich.

The 2019 festival launched on 4 November 2019 with an 'In Conversation' event with British actor David Morrissey, hosted by film critic Peter Bradshaw. The 2019 festival consisted of 44 events, including 19 shorts screenings and a rare UK screening of Snowpiercer hosted by Mark Kermode to launch The Sir John Hurt Film Trust.[6] Guests throughout the festival also included Jessica Hynes, Michael Smiley, Joe Cornish, Miranda Raison and Anwen, Lady Hurt.

A total of 111 short films were selected to be screened at the festival from a total of 817 submissions, with female filmmakers directing 44% of the official selection.[7]

Jury: Stephen Fry, Neve Campbell, and Stephen Woolley.

7-18 November 2018

Venues: OPEN, Norwich, The Forum, Norwich,

The 2018 festival kicked off with a screening of cult British classic, Shallow Grave, followed by a talk with its star, Christopher Eccleston.

Jury: Alfred Molina, double British Academy of Film and Television Arts winning sound editor Eddy Joseph, and Cannes Film Festival winning shorts producer, Gavin Humphries.

9-19 November 2017
Venues: OPEN, Norwich, The Forum, Norwich, Assembly House

The 2017 Festival launched on 9 November with a screening of the 1984 film A Private Function followed by a Q&A with the star of the film, Michael Palin.[8]

Jury:

Main Venue: The Forum, Norwich, 10–13 November 2016

The 2016 festival opened with a gala screening of the film Kinky Boots and was followed by a Q&A with the film's director Julian Jarrold. The screening reflected the film by taking place in an old shoe factory. The festival also gave regional premieres to two feature films - My Feral Heart, which included a Q&A with Duncan Paveling (writer/producer) and James Rumsey (producer), and Light Years, which was followed by a Q&A with its award-winning director Esther May Campbell.[9] There were six screenings of short films submitted to the festival, and the weekend closed with a screening of the 2016 BAFTA Shorts Tour, with another Q&A afterwards.[10]

Jury:

Venue: The Forum, Norwich, 10–26 April 2015

Jury:

Main Venue: ODEON, Norwich, 6–13 May 2014

Jury: Academy Award winning film editor Martin Walsh.[11]

Venue: Cinema City, Norwich, 28 April-4 May 2013

Jury: Olivia Colman,[12] Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman, UEA lecturer Dr Sarah Godfrey, and the director of the 2012 Best Film (Sunny Boy), Jane Gull.[13]

Venues: Hollywood Cinema, Norwich and The Forum, Norwich, 30 March-7 April 2012

Jury: Bernard Hill, Tim McInnerny, Juliet Stevenson, Steve Furst, and Jim Field Smith.[14]

Venue: The Forum, Norwich, 12–25 September 2009

The festival began with a screening of My Imprisoned Heart at the Norwich Arts Centre, and included several other events such as a free, open air screening of the 80's film Top Gun in the gardens of Norwich Castle, the regional premiere of Creation, starring Paul Bettany,[15] and screenings of the BAFTA short film and animation nominees.