Who are we?

Renowned as the UK’s premiere showcase for independent short film - screening 500+ films and with over 10k bums in seats at LSFF 2017! - we’re proud to showcase the very best in homegrown and international filmmaking talent.

2018 will be our 15th edition so expect our big guns, with dates confirmed for 12th-21st January and a line-up of live music, audiovisual experiments, art, fashion, masterclasses, and, of course, daring short cinema.

What do we want?

Shorts! We accept all and every genre - from drama and docs, to music vids and the more experimental, to tearjerkers and all-out gore. The only rules: your short must be under 45 minutes in length and completed after August 2016. We’re open for both British and international submissions and have recently expanded our cheaper, lo-budget category for shorts under 5 minutes to both.

As for premiere status and showcasing your film online prior to the festival, we’re not too bothered about that. We’re also not too fussed about big budgets or glossy production values. What we’re looking for is the truly independent, the alternative and irreverent - rough and ready, daring visions are our bag. We consider ourselves a platform for both emerging and established filmmakers and like to keep our programmes eclectic and confrontational, holding up a mirror to our diverse and rapidly changing world. If it’s short and a film, we wan’ it. If it’s a little weird, all the better.

When do we want it?

Our late and very final deadline is coming up fast, 21 August 2017, over on Film Freeway. So, er, now. Get applying [here](http://bit.ly/LSFF2018Subs ).

Our programmer’s top tips?

“Um, make a good film?”

“I’m looking for films that are doing something to reorder my beliefs about the world, that feel exciting!”

“Get freaky with it.”

And pet peeves?

“Bad films.”

“Don’t try and make something you think people want to watch.”

“Films that are ‘out there’ for the sake of it. Ugh.”

“Trying to condense a feature film into a short. Commit to the short form.”

“Oh no. Too many. Give me a minute.”

“Alarm clock, man gets up, brushes teeth.”