We’re back! From today, submissions for the 2024 LJMU MA Short Film Festival are officially open. Each year, we showcase the best emergent student filmmaking talent from across the world in the categories of Fiction, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental. The competition last year was of an incredibly high standard and we’re sure that our 4th edition will prove to be even more competitive.
Submissions are open to students and alumni from ANY institution of higher learning and/or film school, provided the film submitted was made as part of their student work, was completed after January 2021, and is a maximum of 20 minutes in length. You can submit your entries on FilmFreeway, so what are you waiting for? Click the link below, now!
If you’ve seen our social media recently, you’ll undoubtedly have come across the preceding image – It gives me great pleasure to confirm that we’ll soon be taking submissions for the 2024 edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival.
From September 25th, we’ll be accepting submissions from student filmmakers from across the globe, and this year we’re going to even greater lengths to ensure that the festival is packed with more of the thought-provoking, convention-challenging, original student filmmaking you’ve come to expect from the LJMU MA Short Film Festival.
You can find our festival at FilmFreeway (so don’t forget to bookmark the page!) and by clicking on the button below. We’ve got lots planned this year so make sure you’re following our Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube – we’re even on Threads, so why not follow us there while you’re at it!
With the dust settled on this year’s edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival, we thought it would be good to give you a round-up of some statistics and figures related to the festival – but first, the final Paper Bird Award of 2023 goes to Out of Order, which was an incredibly popular choice.
Paper Bird Audience Award Winner – Out of Order
(Directed by Charlie Ledwidge, Harley Hunt, Sam Stevens, Mariana Sandoval Valencia)
What the audience had to say:
“Such a funny and quirky short animation. So many possibilities for further lift stops.”
“Love the character design and motion feels fluid.”
“Love the mix of humor with uncertainty and anguish.”
This year, the Festival received over 1400 submissions from almost 100 countries, and we are incredibly proud to see representation from across the world. While the most popular countries for submissions were undoubtedly the U.K. and U.S.A, India, Turkey, and Brazil were also well represented, with a combined total of over 200 films. We also received submissions from Honduras, Morocco, and Tanzania, and this is testament to our aim of being a truly global film festival.
The official selections for this year’s festival also covered 19 different countries, featuring the work of filmmakers from Senegal, Ecuador, and New Zealand, amongst many others. Viewing figures were also excellent, with over 10k views across almost 50 countries.
If you missed any of our live Q&A sessions or the Awards Ceremony, don’t panic, as they are all available to view on our YouTube channel. On behalf of the whole LJMU MA Short Film Festival Team, Lydia, Martin, and the MA Students, we’d like to thank all of this year’s filmmakers for helping us make the 3rd edition a truly remarkable and memorable event – here’s hoping the 4th edition will be even bigger and better!
The juries have spoken and this years winners of the Paper Bird Awards can now be revealed. The level of competition this year was extremely high, but the juries were in unanimous agreement that the following films were worthy of being crowned the best in their category.
“A great piece of collaborative filmmaking and a moving story of a woman’s pain. We loved the inclusion of the filmmaker’s family members and how it drew on real 8mm home movies – these elements gave the film added depth and intimacy. We were equally impressed by the powerful dialogue, superb editing, fantastic cinematography, and strong sound design, and we felt that all these components came together to make a highly impactful and affecting work.”
“A brave and powerful film that builds from each individual story narrated from off-screen, into a chorus of women’s experiences of sexual violence. For the strong artistic sharpness of a talented young filmmaker and thoughtful construction of the narrative that allowed us to become invested in the stories, the Paper Bird Award for best documentary goes to the film The Gallery, directed by Cordula Rieger.”
2023 Paper Bird Award for Animation
Small Hours (Directed by Marta Sniezek & Christian Spurling)
“Small Hours reminds us of themes of collectiveness and connectivity as life unfolds through time and space. Through the use of a split screen approach, frame structure, windowed editing and melodic sound, we are able to understand the small wonders and love found in the world today through a narrative of distinct perspectives as we wonder peacefully from one impression to another, and forget about the complexities of everyday life.”
2023 Paper Bird Award for Experimental
Solilioquium (Directed by Karolina Monwid-Olechnowicz)
“Soliloquium beautifully articulates an ecological subconscious through an impressive combination of surrealist imagery and nature. When the aspect ratio narrows to a square at the start, our gaze remains fixed and we become mesmerised by a film that digs through the screen to reach previously unexplored, cinematic terrain.”
We’ve reached the final day of the 2023 LJMU MA Short Film Festival and what a week it has been. We’ve featured 42 films from 19 different countries in the categories of Fiction, Experimental, Documentary, & Animation, and today is your final chance to watch. Don’t forget, you still have until 3 PM (BST) today to chose which film you think deserves our audience award, the results of which will be revealed at our live event this evening – tickets are available here.
It’s time for the big one! Live on Youtube at 4 PM (BST) today, we’ll be revealing which films will be taking home the Paper Bird awards for Fiction, Experimental, Animation, and Documentary. This is one you won’t want to miss – our jury members will be joining us to share their insights into the selection process and reveal what makes the winning films so special. They’ll also be revealing which other entries deserve a special mention, so make sure you’re with us when we go live at 4!
We might be revealing the winners of the individual categories today, but that certainly doesn’t mean that’s all we have to offer, as all of this year’s films are available to watch until Friday 31st march. There’s also still the matter of deciding which of this year’s films will win the Paper Bird audience award, which is decided by you, the viewer, so make sure you’re watching, commenting, and clicking that ‘thumbs-up!’
Over the past week, we’ve been fortunate enough to converse with a number of the filmmakers whose work is featured in this year’s festival, exploring their work in the context of themes, motivations, and the creative process. Our Documentary, Fiction/Experimental, and Animation Q&As are all available to watch on YouTube now and are a great way of getting to know the people behind this year’s films.
We’ve already heard some fascinating insights from our Documentary, Fiction, and Experimental Directors over the last few days and today promises to be no different. Join us over at our YouTube channel at 4 PM (BST) when the filmmakers from this year’s Animation strand will reveal more about their inspirations, creative processes, and how they use animation to deal with an aide range of subjects.
Don’t forget, you can also watch both of our previous Q&A sessions and make sure you also join us tomorrow at 4 PM (BST) for the big one – the 2023 LJMU MA Short Film Festival Awards Ceremony!
On Saturday we caught up with some of the filmmakers featured in this year’s Documentary strand and today it’s the turn of Fiction/Experimental. This year’s festival is the first to feature an Experimental strand so we’re excited to hear about what inspires and motivates these boundary-pushing artists. The 2023 Fiction strand is incredibly competitive this year and features some of the strongest work we’ve ever received. We’ll be joined by our Fiction filmmakers who will be giving us an insight into the development and execution of their artistic vision. Join us at 4 PM (BST) today over on our YouTube channel to meet this year’s contributors.
We’re incredibly proud to announce that the 2023 edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival is now open, with all 42 films across our four strands of Fiction, Animation, Documentary, & Experimental, available to watch online until Friday 31st March. This year, we’re showcasing an amazing selection of films from some of the most talented emerging student filmmakers from across the globe.
As well as competing for the Paper Bird Award in their own strand, all of this year’s filmmakers will also be vying for the much sought-after Audience Award Paper Bird, the winner of which is decided by you, the viewer. Simply watch this year’s entries and when you are certain which is your favourite, head back to that film’s page and click on the green ‘thumbs-up’ icon to register your vote (which can be found just below the video player).
You’ve got until 3 PM (BST) on Friday 31st March to register your vote, so don’t delay -get watching today!
Documentary Q&A
Coming up tomorrow, we’ve also got the first of this year’s Live Q&As, where we’ll be hearing from some of the documentary filmmakers whose work features in this year’s festival. Our hosts will be asking questions about their influences, aspirations, and of course, their films. We’ll also be fielding audience questions via our YouTube channel, so head there right now to set a reminder for tomorrow’s Q&A.
It’s an incredibly busy time here at the LJMU MA Short Film Festival and we’ll be ramping up our activity on our social media channels and on the website. We hope you enjoy our programme for this year and don’t forget to leave a comment after watching the films. Happy viewing!
We’re fast approaching the launch of this year’s LJMU MA Short Film Festival, with less than 24 hours to go! This time tomorrow, you’l be able to watch all of the 42 incredible films from our Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Experimental strands.
All 42 films will be available to watch on our website until Friday 31st March, so there’s plenty of time to explore this year’s programme. Once you’ve watched, feel free to let us know what you thought, either by commenting, or heading over to one of our social media channels.
As well as vying for this year’s Paper Bird Awards, one film will also receive the audience choice award, and this is where you, the viewer, can make a difference – we’ll be revealing more about this very shortly, so keep your eyes peeled for more information.
With less than a week until the launch of the 2023 edition, we thought we’d give you a look at what’s been taking place behind the scenes of this year’s LJMU MA Short Film Festival, beginning with the design of our festival poster.
Back in November 2022, we gave the students the opportunity to propose ideas for the poster of the 3rd Edition. The brief was flexible, with the only stipulations being consistency in terms of colour scheme and that the poster should also feature the iconic liver bird and Liverpool skyline. The proposals we received all focused on one defining element: the filmmaker. With this in mind, we needed to find models for this year’s poster and managed to enlist the help of current MA student, Phillip Cole, and 2022 graduate and all-around graphic design genius, Alejandra Cardona-Mayorga, both of whom took the lead on creating the poster.
The poster photo shoot, featuring Alejandra and Phil
This wasn’t the only photo shoot we’ve had, however, and in February 2023, the students also had the opportunity to strike a pose! Group and individual shots were captured by another of this year’s multi-talented students, Lauren Wright, whose photography skills have been put to good use across the website and our social media. Having pictures of the students is incredibly important, as it allows site visitors to put faces to names, while also ensuring that the students are recognised for their hard work.
Lauren, hard at work capturing our Fiction and Experimental programmers
Our MA Students exploring film festivals in an academic context
For the judging process of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival, we employ a mix of academics, industry professionals, and current undergrad LJMU students. This mix of disciplines allows us to also draw from the expertise of our industry and academic jurors, and the students have been lucky enough to hear from three this year.
Alice Miller is a film programmer for the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, as well as the Leeds International Film Festival, and gave the students a detailed insight into the processes behind selecting and exhibiting for festivals and themed programmes.
Roderick Charles Smits is a postdoctoral research fellow at University Carlos III Madrid, and specialises in alternative, specifically online methods of distribution, and gave the students an insight into his research on the impact of Covid on film festivals and the shift to online exhibition.
Raluca Iacob is a purchaser at Lightdox, a distributor focusing specifically on documentary filmmaking, and shared first-hand the processes behind distributing films across multiple territories and purchasing at festivals across Europe. The combined expertise of our three guest contributors has allowed our MA Students to understand the many complexities of contemporary film festivals.
This year’s festival is the culmination of several months of hard work from our MA Students – we’re almost at the point where we can also reveal the hard work of the student filmmakers featured in this year’s programme. Keep an eye on our socials for more information in the coming weeks.
With just over a week left until this year’s festival begins, it’s time to introduce the individuals that will be selecting the winning films: the 2023 jury. The jury has been compiled from a range of academic & industry backgrounds, along with former recipients of the Paper Bird and final-year film & creative writing students from Liverpool John Moores University.
This year we’ve enlisted the expertise of 13 jurors, which is our biggest-ever jury. Across the categories of Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Experimental, our jurors will be watching and discussing this year’s programme, before deciding which films are worthy of being awarded the Paper Bird.
The Fiction jury features Alice Miller, PhD student and festival programmer for Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, Oleksandra Konoplia, filmmaker and winner of the 2022 Paper Bird for Fiction with her film You Are a Fool, Lisa, and third-year LJMU students Oli Bridges & Molly McGill who both have a passion for writing.
The Documentary jury includes Raluca Iacob, a purchaser at documentary sales & distribution agency Lightdox, Rosa Fong, an award-winning filmmaker and academic, and finally third-year film student Marnie Thornton, who has an interest in practical filmmaking.
The Animation jury is made up of Roderick Charles Smits, a PostDoc Fellow whose research interests address online platforms and film circulation, Péter Bogyó, previous winner of the Paper Bird for best Animation for his film, The Pattern, and James Sharp, a final-year LJMU Film student with a keen interest in film criticism.
The Experimental jury features Lars Koens, sound designer, experimental filmmaker, and senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, Phoebe Harrison, a final-year LJMU Film Studies student with interests in cinematography and screenwriting, and Ethan Bloor, a final-year LJMU Film Studies student with a keen interest in directing and writing.
With 42 films across the four strands, our jury has a lot of work to do before deciding on this year’s winning films. Soon, you’ll also be able to decide which is your favourite, when we release this year’s programme of films on Friday 24th March.
We’re delighted to announce that this Saturday (11th March) morning at 10:30 AM, Shannon & Sian, two of our amazing MA students wil be joining Sean Styles live on BBC Radio Merseyside.
With only two weeks reamaining until we reveal this year’s films, tune-in to hear Shannon and Sian discuss their roles and responsilbilities, and learn a little about what it’s like to organise a global film festival. Both Shannon and Sian have had a wide range of responsibilities, contacting filmmakers, the press, and ensuring that our social media presence is always up-to-date, bringing you the most exciting developments. We’ll also be sharing some behind the scenes content on our social media platforms, so make sure you subscribe, folow, and like to find out more.
This is one you won’t want to miss, so make sure you’re listening to BBC Radio Merseyside this Saturday morning to find out more about the incredible work our students are doing on the 2023 LJMU MA Short Film Festival.
Join us from the 24th – 31st March for a week-long celebration of some of the newest and brightest student filmmaking talent. Our overall Festival Trailer offers a glimpse of the full programme and is the creation of our multi-talented MA student, Magic Nowak. In less than 3 weeks time, all 42 of this year’s featured films will be available to watch online.
In addition to the Paper Bird awards for Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Experimental, all 42 films will be competing for the Audience award, so it’s important that as well as watching, you’re also commenting and liking!
Keep an eye on our social media channels this week, as we’ll soon be introducing you to this year’s jury, which features a selection of industry professionals, students, and former festival winners. It’s shaping up to be a remarkable event, so make sure you’re with us all of the way!
Our fourth trailer release of 2023 takes us to the boundaries of cinematic experimentation, featuring a selection of films that challenge ideas of narrative and style. Experimental is a brand new category for this year’s festival and showcases 5 unique approaches to filmmaking. The trailer is the second created by MA student James Roberts, who also created the trailer for the Fiction strand.
With the release of today’s trailer, we’ve reached the point where this year’s programme of films has been announced in full, but the doesn’t mean we’re done with the surprises… To find out more about this year’s festival and to stay up-to-date with all of our announcements and features, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
It’s a hat-trick of trailer releases! Today we are incredibly proud to present this year’s Fiction programme trailer, featuring 10 tales of loss, regret, and self-discovery. This year’s trailer was created by MA Film student James Roberts, who was also part of the programming team for our final category: Experimental.
Competition in the 2023 Fiction category was extremely competitive with a staggering amount of submissions to the Festival, but the programmers were in agreeance that these 10 films each offer something unique in terms of narrative and technical excellence. No doubt the trailer has built your anticipation, so the good news is that there are only 3 weeks left to wait until the festival begins! All of our Fiction films, along with Animation, Documentary, and Experimental will be available to watch online from Friday24th March.
After yesterday’s debut of our incredible trailer for the Animation strand of the Festival, it’s time for the Documentary filmmakers to take the spotlight! This year’s programme covers a diverse range of challenging and enlightening topics, offering audiences the chance to encounter new stories from across the globe.
If you want to see the full versions of the fantastic stories featured in the trailer, you’ll have to wait a little while longer – we’ll have everything ready to view on the website (along with out Fiction, Experimental, & Animation programmes) on Friday 24th March. For now, head on over to our Documentary page and take a look at the full list of entries.
We tried to hold back but we just couldn’t keep it a secret any longer! Today marks the release of the 2023 Animation Trailer, featuring the work of talented filmmakers all the way from Bristol to Budapest, and beyond! The trailer was created by Lauren Wright, one of our super-talented MA Students.
The full list of selections can be found on our Animation page, but you’ll have to be patient for a little longer if you want to watch them – they’ll be available (Along with Documentary, Fiction, and Experimental) when the Festival gets underway on Friday 24th March.
After what seems like a lifetime, we’re finally back with the third edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival. It’s been tough keeping everything under wraps but thankfully, we’ll soon be able to reveal all, including this year’s jury, the trailers, and of course, the long awaited announcement of the 2023 programme!
As always, we’ll be showcasing the films of some of the most talented student filmmakers from across the globe, working in fiction, documentary, and animation. This year, we also have an additional surprise that will be revealed soon… For more on this and other festival news, keep up to date with our socials on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
As the festival draws ever closer, we’re proud to reveal the official poster for the 2023 edition. This year, we’re placing the focus firmly on the filmmaker, as we’re getting ready to showcase the work of some of the most talented, emerging student filmmakers from across the globe.
As in previous years, the Liverpool skyline features predominantly, punctuated by a striking image of a supermoon, captured by Dr Keith Marley. The poster is the creation of the incredibly talented interdisciplinary artist and former MA Student, Alejandra Cardona-Mayorga, who, along with current MA Student Phillip Cole, was also gracious enough to pose for the poster. We’d love to hear your thoughts about this year’s design, so why not leave us a comment?
We’re pleased to announce that Martin L. Jones has been appointed as the new Film Festival Coordinator and Tutor for the LJMU MA Short Film Festival. As a filmmaker and academic, Martin is keen to utilise his current experience to help guide the festival through its third edition and beyond.
Martin, Lydia, and the MA students are all hard at work behind the scenes as the as the 2023 edition of the festival draws nearer. Keep an eye out on our social media, as we’ll soon be releasing some exciting information about this year’s Festival poster!
