 | |
| Location | London, England |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2011 |
| Language | English |
| Website | ukfilmfestival |
The UK Film Festival (UKFF), founded in 2011, is an annual film festival held every November in London, England. The festival provides a platform for emerging filmmakers while also presenting works by established directors. [1]
The festival was founded in 2011 by Mahdi H. Nejad and Murray Woodfield, [2] and holds screenings at Close-Up Cinema in Shoreditch and the Soho Hotel. [3]
Its programming has included films that later won Academy Awards, including Ida (2013), [4] The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012), [2] Stutterer (2015) and The Phone Call (2013). BAFTA Award winners include Operator (2015) and 73 Cows (2018). [5] The festival has also hosted the world premiere of Esio Trot (2015), [6] and the European premiere of Billy Knight (2025). [7]
Notable winners include Willem Dafoe, [8] [9] Timothy Spall, [10] [11] Oscar Isaac, [12] and Olivia Colman. [13]
The festival director is Murray Woodfield. [14]
In addition to the festival, the organisers run an annual script competition. [15]
The winning script of the 2012 edition, Mike, was later co-produced by the UK Film Festival and won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival, the first British film to win this award. [16] [17] The following year, the winning screenplay, A Confession, was made into a film and, among other awards, also received the Crystal Bear at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival. [18] [19] Both films were directed by Petros Silvestros and achieved worldwide distribution through Interfilm. [20] [21]
The festival has been featured in the following lists:
Award categories include: [30]
Special awards for excellence are also presented.