Best Feature Competition
Within the ‘New Cinema’ strand of our programme, we will be awarding a ‘Best Feature’ Award’ based on the features (60 minutes plus) submitted to our programme.
This will consist of no more than five finalists, these features will be screened both physically and digitally (geo-restrictions will apply) during the week of our festival’s programme with the winner being announced on the festival’s closing night
The Dark Hedges International Film Festival’s New Cinema’ strand is open to films made by filmmakers from around the world of all production techniques, forms and budgets that fall within the horror/sci-fi/ fantasy/thriller genres.
Short Film Competition
- Best Irish Short Film
- Best International Short Film
- First Blood Award (First Time filmmakers within our Irish and International finalists)
- Our Bloody Woman Horror Award (Female filmmakers within our Irish and International finalists)
Our Irish and International finalists will be screened physically in Belfast during the week of our festival and will also be available to watch online through our festival’s digital player ( Geo-restrictions will apply)
Official Selection Online Showcase
In 2020 due to the Covid Pandemic, we created a Digital Player for our festival due to the enforced closure of cinemas across the UK and Ireland. Going forward we plan to use this digital player to showcase a maximum of 10 shorts (Irish & International completion combined) on our digital player.
This Digital player is geo-locked to viewers in the UK and Ireland and will be behind a paywall to protect filmmakers who have their work in consideration at our festivals.
Check our festival’s terms and conditions before submitting your work!