Submissions For Our 2024 Edition Are Now Closed

The last two months have seen a phenomenal reaction to our call for entries for the 2024 LJMU MA Short Film Festival, but unfortunately, the submission period must come to an end. We’ve received a staggering amount of films from across the globe, with students from over 100 countries eager to showcase their work duringContinue reading “Submissions For Our 2024 Edition Are Now Closed”

We’re Back! Submissions Open September 25th

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, andContinue reading “We’re Back! Submissions Open September 25th”

2023 Winners & Final Day

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. 2023 Paper Bird Award for Fiction Rue (DirectedContinue reading “2023 Winners & Final Day”

2023 Awards Ceremony 4PM (BST) Today!

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 theContinue reading “2023 Awards Ceremony 4PM (BST) Today!”

Animation Q&A Today 4PM (BST)

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 theyContinue reading “Animation Q&A Today 4PM (BST)”

Fiction/Experimental Q&A 4PM (BST) Today!

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 thisContinue reading “Fiction/Experimental Q&A 4PM (BST) Today!”

It’s Almost Time – LJMU MA Short Film Festival 2023

Launching Tomorrow! 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 websiteContinue reading “It’s Almost Time – LJMU MA Short Film Festival 2023”

Behind The Scenes

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 proposeContinue reading “Behind The Scenes”

Introducing This Year’s Jury

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 studentsContinue reading “Introducing This Year’s Jury”

LJMU MA Short Film Festival on BBC Radio Merseyside!

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, andContinue reading “LJMU MA Short Film Festival on BBC Radio Merseyside!”

Festival Trailer 2023

42 Films – 19 Countries – 1 Week 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 thanContinue reading “Festival Trailer 2023”

2023 Experimental Trailer Reveal

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, whoContinue reading “2023 Experimental Trailer Reveal”

2023 Fiction Trailer Reveal

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 FictionContinue reading “2023 Fiction Trailer Reveal”

Festival Closed: Audience Award Goes To…

It’s been an amazing week at the 2nd LJMU MA Film Festival that saw over 16,000 visits to our website to watch all our amazing films, participate in our live Q&A sessions, and attend our award ceremony. We can’t thank you all enough for making the festival so successful and we can not emphasise enoughContinue reading “Festival Closed: Audience Award Goes To…”

Award Winners Announced!

Today we held a live awards ceremony on zoom/YouTube with our jury members and filmmakers to announce the winners in our Paper Bird Categories for Animation, Documentary, and Fiction! (Don’t worry if you missed it, you can always catch the ceremony again on our YouTube channel) We’re very proud to announce that the following filmsContinue reading “Award Winners Announced!”

Industry Pros Give Insight to the Students

The MA Film students got the chance to learn from three industry professionals with expertise in particular areas