UK short film festival Encounters will return in 2025, having cancelled its 2024 edition due to funding challenges.
The Bristol-based event will take place from September 24-28, 2025, for its 30th edition. Veteran festivals and event producer Dave Taylor-Matthews has joined Encounters as executive director.
Originally scheduled for September 27-30, the 2024 edition was cancelled in April this year due to Brexit-fuelled funding issues, with doubt cast over future editions.
Submissions for the 2025 edition will open tomorrow (Thursday, December 12), for live action, animated, documentary or experimental films of under 40 mins in length.
To account for the cancellation of the 2024 edition, films completed on or after January 1, 2023 will be eligible for the 2025 festival. The festival will hand out cash prizes in its competition section, plus the opportunity to qualify for entry to the Bifas and Baftas, and receive a European Film Awards nomination.
The festival will include screenings, workshops, talks and Q&A sessions, with a full programme to be unveiled in 2025.
“We are determined to lead the fight against ‘enshittification’ and are powering ahead with a 2025 programme which will screen bold and inventive new works, feature headline events of wide appeal, provide a space where new creative projects and partnerships are born and where all film fans feel welcome,” said Taylor-Matthews, who has previously been producer and head of audience Encounters, as well as programming the city’s Cube Cinema and working for Dublin International Film Festival.
“For thirty years, Encounters has played a pivotal role for Bristol; nurturing and springboarding film talent, leading industry conversations, and elevating our international profile,” said Natalie Moore, manager of Bristol Film Office and the Bristol Unesco City of Film programme. “The 30th edition promises to be a celebration of everything Encounters does best - gathering film lovers, filmmakers and industry figureheads to enjoy the best shorts around and create film experiences to remember.”
Encounters was established in 1995 to mark the centenary of cinema. It has since played films by directors including Denis Villeneuve, Andrea Arnold, Lynne Ramsay, Martin McDonagh, Rungano Nyoni, Julia Ducournau, Charlotte Wells, Ruben Ostlund, Joachim Trier, Molly Manning-Walker, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos and Kate Herron.
Previous headline guests at the festival have included Matt Groening, Hayao Miyazaki and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
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