Revealed: Our 6th Edition Poster!

It’s been a long time coming, but today we can officially reveal the poster design for the 2026 LJMU MA Short Film Festival. This year we’re taking to the skies once more with our signature avian theme representing the colours of the festival’s individual strands. We’re sure you’ll agree that this year’s poster is a striking and impactful play on the iconic elements of the festival brand.

As in previous editions of the festival, we tasked this year’s MA Film Studies students to create designs utilising the elements associated with the festival, and our students did not disappoint, submitting a wealth of creative ideas. The submissions were then assessed by the festival management team, resulting in the work of student’s Aimee Challinor and Will Knowles being selected for development – check out some of their initial designs on the right.

The final step in the design process saw us bring back the designer of last year’s poster, LJMU MA Film Studies graduate, Leandro Manfrinato De Lima. Working alongside Amy and Will, Leo incorporated and developed their original work into the semi-minimalist design which also takes inspiration from Pantone cards. You’ll be able to see the new poster across our website from today, and keep an eye out for the website banner version, here, and across our socials.

While we’re on the subject of social media, if you haven’t already, head over to our Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and more, and make sure you’re following us for all of the news and updates as we head towards the opening of this year’s edition on the 20th March. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be revealing which films have made the final programme and introducing this year’s MA students so don’t miss out on all of the exciting developments. The 2026 LJMU MA Short Film Festival – we can’t wait to show the world what you’ve been working on!

2025 Award Winners & Special Mentions

With the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival drawing to a close last Friday, it’s time to reflect on the Award Winners and Special Mentions from this year’s edition. This year, our jury was made up of a combination of academics, industry experts, and final year LJMU students, who were tasked with selecting the winner of the Paper Bird awards from a very competitive field.

This Year’s Winners and Special Mentions

Describing it as a deeply personal insight into the dark side of competitive sports, our Documentary jury chose Cecilia Palmeri’s Swim Higher, and the recipient of this year’s Paper Bird for Documentary. Their Special Mention went to Max Vázquez Montufar’s Roots, a moving and hopeful look at the lasting bonds between mother and child.

Our Animation jury chose Lewis Macaulay’s Why Won’t Anyone Eat Me? as the recipient of this year’s Paper Bird Award for Animation, describing it as a happy indulgence in the weird, gooey habits we usually keep to ourselves. The Special Mention went to Sonu Thomas’ The Man Who Loved Flowers, a poetic and deeply moving look at challenging traditional masculinity.

Praising the chemistry of its two leads and its important message, our Fiction jury chose Ewa Japola’s Count My Lov3 as the recipient of this year’s Paper Bird award for Fiction. They chose two films to share a Special Mention: Nika Ardito’s Growing Up is Killing Your Mother and Mikel Garrido’s We Have Homeland, both of which were praised for their quality and tense atmosphere.

For its powerful and haunting evocation of experimental form, our jury selected Raphael Heinisch’s A Train Arrives as the winner of this year’s Paper Bird Experimental award. The Special Mention went to Minna Abalian’s Oudenk, which the jury described as an emotive film that intertwined documentary aesthetics with multi-media style to perfectly reflect the significance of family.

Our final award, the Audience Paper Bird, was hotly contested throughout the duration of the festival, with just 6 votes separating the winner and second place. This year’s Audience Paper Bird award went to Max Vázquez Montufar for his film, Roots, and we were lucky enough to have Max and sound designer Daniel Alejandro present to receive the award at our live Awards Ceremony.

You can watch the replay of the ceremony below and catch all of the live Q&As from this year’s festival at our YouTube channel.

Watch the Replay of our Awards Ceremony

That officially wraps up another year of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival, and what a year it has been! Out of the 2691 films we received, we managed to select 37 which we feel represent the cream of emergent student filmmaking talent. We’ll be back for our 6th edition next year with more incredible student films, but for the time being, on behalf of all of the staff and students at this year’s festival, we’d like to thank all of the filmmakers who submitted and the audiences who watched – without you, there would be no festival.

Closing Awards Ceremony This Evening – Get Your Free Tickets Now!

All good things must come to an end, and the LJMU MA Short Film Festival is no exception, but fear not – there’s still time for our Awards Ceremony! Tomorrow marks the closing day of the festival, and there’s no better time to celebrate the efforts of all of the student filmmakers we’ve featured in this year’s programme. Our student hosts will guide you through the highlights of this year’s festival, and we’ll also be joined by some of the directors vying for this year’s Paper Bird Awards. Entry to the event is absolutely free, and we’ll have a bar till late and a selection of movie turns curated by MA student, Oscar Bradshaw. Get your free tickets here!

Come and meet the MA team behind this year’s festival and celebrate with us while we reveal the winners of this year’s Paper Bird Awards for Fiction, Animation, Experimental, and Documentary. We’ll also be revealing which film will take home this year’s Paper Bird Audience Award, and it’s all still to play for – you have until 2 PM today to cast your vote and can do so by clicking the ‘thumbs-up’ icon on the viewing page, so get voting now!

Check out the replay of yesterday’s Experimental Screening and Q&A on YouTube

Last night we were fortunate enough to hear from some of the directors featured in this year’s Experimental strand. Our audience was treated to the full programme of 10 boundary-pushing films and you can check out the replay of the event over on our YouTube channel.

Experimental Screening and Q&A Tonight!

Last night, we showcased an incredible selection of Fiction films, and tonight we have our final live screening: Experimental! We have 10 incredible examples of cinema which will challenge, intrigue, and push the boundaries of filmmaking. If you missed our screening last night, you can check out the rerun on our YouTube channel.

Grab Your Free Tickets for our Awards Ceremony

There’s just a couple of days left of this year’s LJMU MA Short Film Festival and what better way to celebrate this year’s edition than joining us at our annual Awards Ceremony and closing party. Here, you’ll be able to meet the MA student crew responsible for this year’s festival, but more importantly, you’ll also be one of the first people to know who has won this year’s Paper Bird Awards! Don’t forget, you can still vote for the Audience Paper Bird by clicking the ‘thumbs-up’ on your favourite film and we’ll also be revealing the winner of this award on Friday evening. Get your free tickets now and come and celebrate with us in style!

Fiction Screening and Q&A Tonight!

We’re past the midpoint of this year’s LJMU MA Short Film Festival, and tonight, it’s time for our Fiction filmmakers to shine! Our free Fiction Screening will showcase 6 of the most entertaining, challenging, and thought-provoking examples of emergent student filmmaking talent, so it’s an event not to be missed. As always, we’ll be following this with a live Q&A with some of the directors featured in this year’s Fiction programme, so grab your free ticket now and join us from 6 PM BST at LJMUs Redmonds Building.

Check out the Animation Q&A on YouTube

Last night was a packed house for our Animation screening, and audiences were treated to thrills, laughs, and tears, as we screened our 2025 Animation programme in full. For our Q&A, we were joined by the directors of The Man Who Loved Flowers, Why Won’t Anyone Eat Me, Puzzle Pieces, Billy, and Les Chateau des Chats. Our attending audience got to find out about the inspiration behind these films, what motivates their directors, and much more. If you weren’t able to make it last night, fear not! The Q&A is available to watch in full over at our YouTube channel.

Get Your Free Tickets for our Experimental Screening & Awards Ceremony!

With just a couple of days left in this year’s LJMU MA Short Film Festival, now is a great time to make sure you don’t miss out on this year’s festivities by grabbing your free ticket for our Experimental Screening and Awards Ceremony. Tomorrow evening (6 PM BST Thursday 3rd April), we’ll be showcasing this year’s Experimental Strand in full and following this, you’ll have the chance to pose questions to some of the directors in our live Q&A. On Friday, we’ll be revealing the winners of this year’s Paper Bird Awards and celebrating the close of this year’s festival from 7 PM BST at SCale Liverpool – if you’re in the Liverpool area, why not come and meet the team and celebrate another fantastic year of student filmmaking? Tickets for both events are available now and are absolutely free of charge.

Tonight’s Animation Screening & Q&A

Last night was a celebration of some incredible documentary filmmaking, with our audience being treated to the full Documentary strand from this year’s programme. We were also fortunate enough to be joined by the directors of Roots, Swim Higher, Dear Valerie, To Kill or Be Killed, and 64 Reasons Why Everything Went Wrong, who gave us fascinating insights into what drives them as creatives. You can catch the full replay of our livestream on YouTube now.

Tonight we have the second of our live screenings and Q&As, and from 6 PM BST, we’ll be screening the full Animation strand. That’s 12 of the best in new student animation, so make sure you book your ticket here. Prepared to be moved, enchanted, and challenged by these breathtaking films.

With a full week of screenings coming up, you can catch the full programme live, with tickets also available for our Fiction and Experimental strands. Why not be one of the first to find out which films will be taking home the coveted Paper Bird Awards, and also find out which film has received the most votes for our Audience award. Our closing Awards Ceremony takes place this Friday from 7PM at Scale, Liverpool and you can get your completely free tickets, here.

For more information and behind the scenes content, check out our socials and the fifth episode of the LJMUMASFF Podcast, which is available on Spotify and YouTube now!

Tonight’s Documentary Screening and Q&A

With the festival now well underway, tonight marks the first of our live screening and filmmaker Q&As, and we’re beginning with a full screening of our Documentary programme.

From 6PM at LJMUs Redmonds Building, you’ll be able to catch all 9 incredible Documentary films in full, followed by a Q&A session with some of the director’s featured in this year’s programme. You’ll also have the chance to meet the MA student team behind this year’s festival, who are preparing for the event as we speak. It’s sure to be an fantastic event and you can book your tickets, absolutely free, HERE.

With a full week of screenings coming up, you can catch the full programme live, with tickets also available for our Animation, Fiction, and Experimental strands. Why not be one of the first to find out which films will be taking home the coveted Paper Bird Awards, and also find out which film has received the most votes for our Audience award. Our closing Awards Ceremony takes place this Friday from 7PM at Scale, Liverpool and you can get your completely free tickets, here.

For more information and behind the scenes content, check out our socials and the fifth episode of the LJMUMASFF Podcast, which is available on Spotify and YouTube now!

It’s Here! The 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival is Live!

After months of work behind the scenes, today marks the launch of the 2025 edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival. Until Friday 4th April, you can watch all 37 films featured in this year’s programme, completely free, on your desktop, laptop, or mobile device. Click below to access the individual strands.

Watch the 2025 Programme!

Vote for your favourite film!

The 37 films in this year’s programme will be competing for the coveted Paper Bird awards, the winner of which will be decided by our jury of academics, former winners, and LJMU Undergraduate students. While the fate of the individual films will be decided by our juries, the audience still plays an integral part in the festival, as it’s your responsibility to decide which film will receive the Audience Paper Bird award.

When you’ve finished watching a film, you’ll be able to cast your vote using the ‘thumbs-up’ icon just below the video player window. The film that receives the most votes will receive the Paper Bird Audience award, and will be screened along with the other winning films at our live awards ceremony on Friday 4th April. You can vote for as many films as you like, but only one time for each film, so get clicking now!

Join us at our live screenings!

If you’re in the Liverpool area over the course of the festival, why not join us for one of our live screenings, which will take place at LJMU’s Redmonds Building on Brownlow Hill. Beginning on Monday 31st March, we’ll have nightly screenings of the full strands, opening with Documentary and followed by Animation (Tues 1st April), Fiction (Wednesday 2nd April), and Experimental (Thursday 3rd April). Screenings are completely free to attend, but you’ll need to let us know you’re coming by booking a ticket here. As part of the screenings, we’ll also be holding live Q&As with some of the featured filmmakers from this year’s programme, so it’s a great opportunity to find out more about their films and what motivates them as creatives. Free tickets are also available for our closing night awards ceremony on Friday 4th April at Scale, Liverpool. With a bar, music, and lots of great discussion to be had, it promises to be a fantastic evening – you’ll also have the chance to meet the MA student team, and be the first to find out which films will receive this year’s Paper Bird awards!

One week to go until the launch of the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival!

In just 7 short days, the 2025 edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival will officially be underway. From the 28th of March to the 4th of April, we’ll be bringing you 37 student films that will challenge, inspire, and delight in equal measure. This year’s selection of films is all about diversity, with our usual strands of Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Experimental encompassing 21 countries including Kazakhstan, Iran, Mexico, Venezuela, and Lebanon. The full programme for this year’s festival, along with the trailers for each strand can be accessed here. All of this year’s featured films will be available to watch, completely free of charge, from 12:01 AM GMT on Friday 28th March.

After the incredible success of previous events, this year’s festival week will again feature screenings of each individual strand. As part of the screenings, these events will also feature live Q&As with some of this year’s filmmakers, so it’s a great opportunity to find out more about your favourite film from this year’s programme. On Monday 31st March, we’ll be screening the Documentary strand in full, followed by daily screenings of the Animation, Fiction, and Experimental strands on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. After each screening, you’ll have the chance to quiz some of the featured filmmakers about their films and what inspires and drives them as creatives. You’ll need a ticket to attend our screenings, but the good news is that they are completely free of charge and available now – click here to get your screening ticket.

Free tickets are also available for our annual celebratory awards ceremony, where we’ll be announcing the winners of this year’s paper bird awards in front of a live audience, as well as screening all of this year’s winning films in full. We’ll also bring the tunes with our carefully choreographed selection of movie theme favourites, and you’ll also have the chance to meet this year’s festival staff. Come celebrate the hard work of our featured filmmakers and MA students by securing your completely free ticket, here.

Keep an eye on our socials for more updates as we approach the start of this year’s edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival!

Episode 2 of our Fifth Edition Official Podcast Available Now on Spotify & YouTube!

Catch up with all the news from this year’s LJMU MA Short Film Festival by listening to the second episode of the Official 2025 Edition Festival Podcast. Hosts Devan and Max are joined by fellow MA students Leo and Bridget, as they discuss the highs and lows of this year’s Oscars, creating the 2025 festival poster, and much more. Episode 1 is also available to listen to on Spotify and YouTube and you can follow us to keep up to date as new episodes are released.

It’s Here! The Official 2025 Festival Trailer

If you’ve been following our social media lately, you’ll have seen that the campaign for our 5th edition is well and truly underway. The exciting news for today is that we have released the Official 2025 Festival Trailer!

Each year, we task the MA students with crafting 10 trailers in total; 2 for each of our individual strands (Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Experimental), along with 2 Overall Festival Trailers. If you’re following us on Instagram, you’ll have no doubt seen the incredible editing work of MA Student Devan Jones, MA student and creator of our Verttical Festival trailer, which along with Instagram, will be featured on our TikTok channel.

Along with his trailer editing skills, Devan is also responsible for this year’s social media campaign planning, so you’ll be seeing much more of his work on our socials over the next few weeks.

Also premiering today is the Horizontal Festival Trailer (below), which was created by MA student Leo Manfrinato De Lima. Leo’s outstanding editing talents will feature across Facebook and our website. Leo has also applied his considerable creative skills to much of the branding and content for this year’s edition and you’ll also be able to catch his trailer at this year’s live events – speaking of live events, we’ll soon be sharing news of how you can watch this year’s films in-person as well as have your questions answered by some of this year’s featured directors.

Meet the 2025 MA Students

This year’s MA students have been hard at work behind the scenes since last October, but now it’s time to put them in the spotlight! Over the course of programming and running the festival, our MA students undertake a variety of roles, including public relations, hosting Q&As, and contributing to our very own podcast, episode 5 of which is now on Spotify. You can find out what roles our MA students have been involved with on our website and if you’d like to know more about what it’s like to be involved with running the festival, they’ll be present at this year’s live screenings and award s ceremony.

We’ve got lots more to come over the next few weeks, including more trailers, profiles of some of this year’s featured filmmakers, and the reveal of the full line-up for the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival – stick around, as it’s sure to be a memorable occasion!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1… We’re Coming Back!

Things have been quiet since we closed our call for entries back in November of 2024, but today marks the start of our social media campaign for the 5th edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival!

If you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or any other social media platforms, you’ll no doubt have seen this video teaser announcing the return of the festival for 2025. As always, we’re bringing not only the best in emergent student filmmaking talent, but a new set of MA Students whose responsibility it is to oversee the running of the festival.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll tell you more about this year’s MA students and also our 2025 jury, before bringing you the long awaited programme of films which will be competing for the coveted Paper Bird Awards.

There’s lots planned for this year, including our awards ceremony, screenings, and live filmmaker Q&As, and we might even have a special guest or two joining us for the festivities. We’ll also be bringing you a little sneak-peek at some of this year’s entries when our teaser trailer releases over the next couple of days. For our fifth birthday, it’s going to be a real celebration of the best in emergent student filmmaking talent!

Revealed – Our 5th Edition Poster!

We gave you a sneak peek earlier this week, but now it’s time for the big reveal – it gives me great pleasure to reveal the official poster for the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival! You can read more about the design process for the 5th edition poster below.

This year’s poster was designed and created by MA students Leo Manfrinato De Lima, Bridget Harvey, and Max Kenney, working under the guidance of graphic designer, artist, and LJMU MA Graduate, Alejandra Cardona-Mayorga. As with previous years, the post design brief was driven by a desire to take our existing core elements into a new direction. In previous iterations, we’ve explored the role of physical and visual media, incorporating elements of collage and photography for a distinct effect. This year however, we’ve taken a more abstract and striking approach, incorporating our colour scheme along with the bird imagery which is synonymous with the LJMU MA Short Film Festival.

If you check out our social media over the coming days, you’ll be seeing this new visual identity replace our previous branding. If you look closely, you might also see some other versions pop up, so make sure you head over and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Bluesky, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled for This Year’s Poster

Submissions may have closed for the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival, but that doesn’t mean that things are slowing down. We’ve got lots to come over the course of the next few months, when we’ll be introducing you to our MA students, our juries, and of course, the all important programme of films. This year we’ve received an astonishing number of entries from across the globe, from student filmmakers who’ll be competing for the coveted Paper Bird Awards, but more about this and much more will be revealed over the coming months…

Speaking of reveals, with the festive period fast approaching, we thought we’d treat you to a sneak peak of this year’s official LJMU MA Short Film Festival poster. As with previous iterations, the poster was designed and created by several of our current MA students, working under the guidance of multi-talented designer and LJMU MA Graduate, Alejandra Cardona-Mayorga. We’ll be revealing the poster in full this Friday, so make sure you’re keeping an eye out on our socials and follow for more information and updates.

It’s just a few months until our 5th edition gets underway, and we’re excited to bring you the latest and best in emergent student filmmaking talent from across the globe. The LJMU MA Short Film Festival. 2025 – we can’t wait to show the world what you’ve been working on.

Last Chance for 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival Entries!

We’ve had an incredible response to our call for entries but everything must come to an end. If you’ve yet to submit, this is the last chance for 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival entries. Our MA students are currently hard at work viewing this year’s submissions so if you want the opportunity to be featured in our fifth edition, you’ll need to act quickly!

We’re accepting submissions from student filmmakers in the categories of Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Experimental – all films must have been made after January 2022 and in the context of a higher education institution, and be no more than 20 minutes in length. As always, films will be competing for our coveted Paper Bird Awards which encapsulate the spirit and identity of the festival.

So, if you’re a student filmmaker whose work meets the above criteria, don’t miss out on the chance to be part of our 2025 festival programme – we can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on!

Still Time to Submit Your Films for our 5th Edition

It’s been just over 4 weeks since we opened submissions for our 5th edition and the response so far has been incredible. Here at the festival, we pride ourselves in being a truly international event, and so far, we’ve received entries from a hugely diverse range of countries including Macao, Guatemala, Jamaica, Peru, and Uganda. This is just a taste of the countries that are represented in our submissions, and the good news is, there’s still time to submit!

We’ll be accepting submissions until November 11th so if you’re a student filmmaker and would like the chance to be featured in our 5th edition, head over to Film Freeway and submit your film now! If you’ve already submitted, our team of student programmers are currently hard at work viewing all of our current submissions. For up to date information about the festival, head over to our socials and give us a follow or check out the festive website. This year’s line up promises to be our most competitive yet, as we continue to showcase the best in emergent student filmmaking talent – we can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on!

Submissions for the 5th Edition are Now Open!!!

We’re delighted to announce that as of this week we are accepting submissions for the 2025 LJMU MA Short Film Festival. If you’re a current or former student of a higher education institution you can submit your work in the category of Fiction, Animation, Documentary, or Experimental – all films must be less than 20 minutes in duration and need to have been completed after January 1st 2022, and there is a maximum of three entries per filmmaker. If you want to follow in the footsteps of our previous Paper Bird winners, why not submit your film for consideration today!

Last year’s edition proved to be incredibly competitive with over 2,500 films submitted to the festival from across the globe, including entries from Macao, Botswana, Nepal, and Haiti. Our focus at the festival is all about breaking down barriers and championing global student filmmaking voices, so if your film meets the submission criteria, why not take the chance to let your voice be heard. Submissions are open until November 11th 2024 and can be made by clicking the image below – we can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on!

Coming Soon… Our 5th Edition!

As we gear up for the start of a new academic year, we’re excited to announce that submissions for the 5th edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival will open very soon. From Monday 23rd September, you’ll be able to submit your work for consideration for the 2025 programme of the festival, in the category of Fiction, Documentary, Animation, or Experimental film. Submissions are open to students and alumni from ANY INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION and/or FILM SCHOOL provided their submission was made as part of their student work and completed after JANUARY 2022. This year’s festival promises to be bigger and better as we celebrate our fifth anniversary of championing and showcasing thought provoking, groundbreaking, original student work.

To submit your films for the 2025 edition, head over to FilmFreeway and search for the LJMU MA Short Film Festival, or click the link here. To keep track of what’s going on at this year’s festival, head over to our socials listed below and give us a follow:

LJMU MA Short Film Festival proudly accepts entries on FilmFreeway, the world’s #1 way to enter film festivals and creative contests.

2024 Paper Bird Winners & Special Mentions

Now that the 4th edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival has come to a close, it’s time to reveal which films were awarded the coveted Paper Bird Awards at our ceremony this past week. The event was a celebration of not only the films featured in this year’s programme, but also the hard work of this year’s MA students whose tireless efforts have ensure that the festival was a success. Audiences in attendance were treated to screenings of this year’s winners and special mentions, as well as a live awards presentation hosted by Frank, Emily, and Maz, and attended by a number of this year’s featured filmmakers. The awards ceremony and all of this year’s Q&As can all be watched on our YouTube channel.

The first category announced was Documentary, with the Paper Bird Award going to Nelisa Alcalde’s film, Honey Bunny Duracell. The jury praised how immersive the film was and praised its outstanding editing and cinematography. The jury also awarded special mentions to Gabriel Alborough’s film, Sundown, and Andy Heath’s, A Voice Once Heard.

The next award announced was for best Animated film, with this year’s programme totalling 12 entries from countries including Australia, Serbia, and Taiwan. The jury selected Miriam Fox’s Dead Silent, as the winner of this year’s Paper Bird Award, describing her film as an ‘unflinching and mature look at a sensitive but important topic.’ The jury also chose to award a special mention to Infemmes, and ‘important and timely film which deals with the perpetuation of gender discrimination.’

The fiction programme was incredibly competitive this year, featuring stories that focused on moral dilemmas, social isolation, and economic inequality. The winner of this year’s Paper Bird Award for Fiction was Giovanna Castellari Peixoto’s, Two-Syllable Name, a realist drama praised for its powerful message and strong female protagonist. Awarded a special mention was Jauffrey Gallé’s, The Nice Guy…, which the jury felt engaged with a important contemporary issue through the lens of absurd humour.

The Experimental strand was introduced in 2023 and expanded this year to include 9 of the most challenging and exciting new approaches to filmmaking. The Paper Bird Award was given to Lucas Kua’s, Obscura, a film which explores the erosion of personal connections caused by an over-reliance on social media. Special mentions were awarded to Karo De Nijs’, Foul Fools, a sleep-dream election on fragmented friendships, and Iris Peil’s, Ab Absurdo, a pitch-black comedy about performance as life (and vice-versa).

The final award announced during the ceremony was the eagerly awaited Audience Paper Bird, which is voted for by visitors to the LJMU MA Short Film Festival website. Voting was close throughout the duration of the festival, with the eventual winner being Emilia Ferrari’s, Valdo, a contemplative look at one man’s quest to preserve his traditional way of life in the face of modernisation.

We’d like to offer our congratulations to all of the winners of this year’s festival. We’d also like to thank all of the filmmakers who submitted to this year’s edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival, as without your hard work and dedication it would not be possible to showcase the finest in emergent student filmmaking. It’s been an incredible 4th edition and we’re looking forward to returning in 2025 for our 5th birthday!

Final Chance to Watch this Year’s Films/Celebrate the Festival Close

All good things must come to and end, and this year’s edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival is no exception. We’d love to be able to give you even more time to watch our excellent programme of Fiction, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental films, but the window for doing so closes this evening at 11:59 precisely! Fear not, as there is still time left to watch this year’s programme and to get your votes in for the film you think deserves to be awarded this year’s Audience Paper Bird – vote by clicking the ‘thumbs-up’ icon – you can vote for s many films as you like but only once for each film.

Tonight we will also be holding our highly anticipated awards ceremony and celebration at Scale Liverpool (doors open 6:30PM). Come and raise a glass to the work of this year’s student filmmakers, many of whom will be joining us live, and the LJMU MA Students who have made the 4th edition such a memorable event – tickets for the ceremony are absolutely free and can be booked HERE – act quickly to avoid disappointment!