Submissions Open for UnderWire Film Festival

Aiming to move the film industry towards a gender-balanced future, the UnderWire Festival celebrates female writers, directors, producers, editors, composers, cinematographers and film journalists, and gives a special award to films featuring interesting female characters.

The festival features work in all genres including drama, animation, documentary, music video and art film, and the deadline for submissions is 16 October.

UnderWire’s founders Gabriella Apicella and Gemma Mitchell launched the festival in 2010 with the belief that women working in the UK film industry needed more encouragement and a bigger platform for their work. The fact remains that women still make up a small proportion of film creatives, and UnderWire looks to recognise the best short work made by women across a range of crafts – from director to cinematographer; screenwriter to editor. UnderWire believes that a more gender balanced industry will benefit everyone by creating a diversity of perspectives, stories and experiences for audiences. The festival itself is run by a small team of volunteers, headed up by festival co-founder Gemma Mitchell and co-director Helen Jack.

The festival also gives awards in recognition of the teamwork and skill necessary to produce a quality film, which aims to acknowledge the artistry and vision required in the key production roles. These awards are open to films with women working in the specific category, and accepts and covers a mix of genres.

The award categories are ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Producer’. ‘Best Writer’, ‘Best Editor, ‘Best Cinematographer’, ‘Best Composer’, ‘XX Award’ and ‘Best Film Journalist’.

For more details on the festival and entry guidelines go to www.lsw.org.uk/.