BFI Future Film Festival 2021

Now in its 14th year, the BFI Future Film Festival is the largest industry film festival for young people in the UK. For the first time ever, this year’s festival is presented totally online and is free to attend.

We will be revealing the full festival programme and opening online registrations on Friday 29 January at 12pm. You’ll need to register for most events through Eventbrite.

The festival aims to help you:

• work on your storytelling and filmmaking skills
• understand career pathways in the screen industry
• find career and training opportunities
• decide on the next steps to take
• network and find your community
• get to know the work of other young filmmakers
• feel inspired to make your own films!

Film programme

From over 1,000 submissions from 47 countries, we’ve selected 45 short films from around the world, all made by filmmakers aged between 16 and 25.

A panel of 12 BFI Film Academy Young Programmers, all aged under 25, helped us shape the programme. We’ll be giving away prizes in 10 categories at this year’s festival. 

All the films in the programme will be available to view for free on BFI Player for the 4 days of the festival.

Events programme

We’ll be hosting a number of online events on each day of the festival. Most will require registration, which will open on Friday 29 January at 12pm.

Subscribe to our newsletter below for a reminder when registration opens.

Our events programme is divided into 3 strands:

Storytelling
Find your unique voice and develop your stories for the screen.

Business of film
Helping you understand the business of independent filmmaking.

Career ladder
Insights into the range of different career and training opportunities that exist within the screen industries.

Stay in touch

Join the conversation with #BFIFutureFilmFestival.