Film Festival Fund

Film festivals offer enhanced opportunities for audiences to engage with a wide diversity of British and international films, celebrating and reflecting upon the rich diversity of life in the UK and beyond.

Festivals are a key part of our cultural infrastructure: they inspire audiences, artists, filmmakers and professionals alike. We believe they have the potential to make a substantial contribution to the attainment of the BFI’s three strategic priorities for 2013-2017, as outlined in Film Forever.

The BFI has allocated Lottery funding of £1 million per year for four years to the Film Festival Fund. The fund has two priorities:

• Strand 1: One priority is funding for regional festivals which cater principally to local/regional audiences, or may have a narrower specialist theme which enables them to reach audiences from further across the UK. Such festivals are usually smaller in scale, focused on audiences rather than industry, and do not generally attract industry delegation.
• Strand 2: Our second priority is to support film festivals in the UK that have an international or UK-wide reach and profile, enhancing opportunities for UK film industry nationally and internationally, as well as further increasing audience choice.

Applications for the Film Festival Fund are now closed. The fund will reopen in July 2013.

Contacting us and FAQ

Please refer to our frequently asked questions before contacting our team, as these may help answer your queries. If you still have a query after you have read this FAQ and all the related documents, then please use the contact form to contact us.