Southampton Film Week

Overview

Southampton Film Week, now in its 19th year, is a festival at the heart of the South of England's developing production hub. The festival is focused on creating opportunities for filmmakers through its programme of networking, workshops and masterclasses and in providing opportunities for work to be showcased to the wider public and film community. Alongside its showcase screenings, Southampton Film Week exhibits a wide selection of films, classic and new, to broaden opportunities for film fans and filmmakers to experience the best of UK and International cinema, focusing particularly on films and film-works which are generally less accessible to audiences. Within Southampton Film Week you will find features and shorts, drama and documentary, and a strand of Music and Film events, Artists’ Moving Image work and a Youth Film Festival. SFW: Shorts, our short film competition, was launched in 2012 and attracts films from across the globe. The competition is open to all and offers freedom in theme and genre. In a change from previous years, we will be accepting films of up to 15 minutes in length, including titles and credits. The only other limitations set are that the film must have been made no earlier than January 2025, and that in the organisers’ opinion it is appropriate for a public audience. Filmmakers can submit their short films to any of the following categories: Best Fiction, Best Documentary, Best Artist Film and Best Music Video. All shortlisted films will be eligible for the Michael Fuller Award for Best Film selected by our panel of judges, and the Audience Award voted for at the screening and awards ceremony during the festival. Filmmakers from Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey, West Sussex and Isle of Wight will also be in contention for the Regional Filmmaker Award. Animation can be submitted to any of the three categories and the best animated film across all categories will be awarded the Solent University Award for Best Animated Film. Southampton Film Week is led by City Eye, a film charity which supports the development of filmmakers and film culture through its programme of education and training events, its own production work and its screening programme, which includes Southampton Film Week. Established in 1986, City Eye is now located within its purpose-built filmmaking and screening facilities at the heart of Southampton’s Cultural Quarter. The fit-out and equipping of these spaces is underway and a full programme of events, activities and training, alongside access for emerging and established talent to our new facilities, will soon be announced. The competition screening and awards event will take place in Southampton Film Week (SFW) 13th-22nd November 2026. We will continue to make announcements through our website and social media channels and all submitting filmmakers will be contacted as decisions are made. The final selection of all films presented at the competition is the responsibility of City Eye www.city-eye.co.uk Please read our terms and conditions before submitting.

Last updated Sep 12, 2026

Legitimacy Analysis

Trust Signals

Festival Details

FilmFreeway communityGold festival

• Filmmaker

  Southampton Film week is a great film festival with a strong emphasis on supporting filmmakers from the Southcoast and the surrounding areas. My film LOVE LANGUAGE was nominated for best fiction and even though we did not get the win on this occasion the festival was well worth attending! The film curation was strong , communication was good and the hospitality classy. Since the screening many of the filmmakers who attended the festival has reached out to me.

• Filmmaker

  A very good festival that is going from strength to strength. Excellent venue and good vibe and atmosphere that has a modern and slick feel from a small but dedicated team. The only comments would be to tweak the sound of the otherwise excellent screening facility - this was very distracting and had a detrimental effect on the dialogue films that sounded like they were dialogue boosted which destroyed sound design/composition of several shorts.

• Filmmaker

  A very friendly and enjoyable screening with a good range and quality of shorts shown in great surroundings with excellent quality sound and projection.

• Filmmaker

  A wonderful festival! Very accommodating, excellent communication, and a gorgeous trophy. A massive thank you for awarding Matrescence Best Regional Film!

• Filmmaker

  We appreciate every effort that made this year’s festival such a meaningful experience

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