Get Involved

Find out how you can get involved with Sunrise Film Festival from joining our festival committee team, being part of our online Screening Committee or by becoming a festival steward.

About us

Sunrise Film Festival, based in Lowestoft, Suffolk, is a nationally recognised film festival founded in 2021 by two passionate creatives, Joshua Freemantle and Patrick Johnson of Sunrise Studios, part of Access Community Trust. Despite the challenges facing the film industry, we’re dedicated to creating a vibrant platform for emerging filmmakers and making independent cinema accessible to new audiences in often overlooked communities.

Since our inception, we’ve proudly screened over 420 indie films and presented 44 awards, becoming a BFI Film Audience Network-backed and BIFA-qualifying festival for British Short Films. Our mission is to uplift undiscovered talent and bring fresh, diverse stories to the big screen.

Here’s what Holly Donoghue, a 2024 festival attendee, had to say: “Sunrise Film Festival was a fantastic experience! I had a wonderful day and so much hard work goes into making it so great – excited to see where things are going for Sunrise.”

If you’re passionate about film and want to be part of something special, we’d love to have you join our volunteer team!

Volunteer at Our 2025 festival

At Sunrise Film Festival we recruit an enthusiastic team of volunteers to help with the running duties associated with the Festival.

It is fair to say we would be lost without the support of volunteers and we would love to welcome you to become part of the team for the 2025 festival.

Roles Available:

Set up / Break down crew
Welcome team
Tech support / Activity co-ordinators
Promo team / Merchandise
Filming / Social media crew
Photography / Videography / Social Media crew

Volunteering roles vary, but being involved with our festival is great fun and a wonderful way to meet like-minded individuals and possibly make new friends. You’ll develop new skills and gain experience within the exhibition/film industry.

Network with students, filmmakers, and some of the industry’s most accomplished filmmakers, writers, and producers (discuss uni, filmmaking, your niche, etc.).
Improve your understanding of event organising, sound/tech for events, customer service and videography/photography.
You’ll be able to understand a lot more about what the small voluntary team does and have a big hand in creative direction, and developing ideas.
We have a variety of levels of commitment as a volunteer depending on what you can and can’t do.
Unlock all the festival features that the public will have, as well as guest list passes to the award ceremony & after-party.
You’ll also be offered a reference from us & potential future job opportunities (you must request from us via email after the festival).

Ranging from ushering/front of house stewards, box office & merchandise sellers, to handing out our festival programmes in the street and informing the public.

Volunteers must be aged 16 or older (if under 18 parental/guardian consent is required).
You also preferably need to be local to the event as we cannot provide accommodation or travel.
Enthusiastic and eager to be part of our ever-growing Film Festival in the UK.

We will provide a short training and ‘getting to know you’ session before the Festival, so it would be useful if you could be available for these as well (this will take place on the evening of Wednesday 21 May 2025).

If you have any questions or are interested in being contacted about our volunteering opportunities please email info@sunrisefilmfestival.co.uk

2025 Poster Competition!

We’re looking for talented artists based in East Anglia to design the official poster for the 2025 Sunrise Film Festival.

One lucky design will be selected as the poster to become the face of our festival’s fourth edition and will be featured on printed adverts around Lowestoft, banners in the Marina Theatre (our festival’s home), the front cover of the festival’s printed programme, as well as other print and digital marketing materials and merchandise.

Be as creative as you like, but we’d especially love your design to include scenes of Lowestoft, such as the Marina Theatre, coastal imagery, a sunrise, or imagery that represents and champions the independent film industry.

Please also consider our festival colour scheme – designs which include orange, purple and pink tones are likely to fit best with our branding.

Join Our 2025 Festival Team

Roles Available

Communications Team

Committee Member Title – Communications Team (Our Communications Champion is Lottie Taylor) within our Communications team we will also be looking for Ambassadors to represent the film festival and attend local events /student fairs.

Location: You don’t have to be based in Lowestoft and can support us remotely.

Closing Date: 29th September 2024

Volunteer Role: Expenses only – Travel, Food & (where subject to sufficient sponsorship accommodation during the festival if needed)

Hours: 3-5 hours a week in your spare time (Including a monthly in-person/virtual festival committee meeting and it’s also beneficial for you to be available for our festival 22-25 May 2025)

We would not expect you to do anymore than 5 hours a week and this is purely a guide.

Role purpose:

This role sits within our festival committee, our Communications Team will help spread the word about Sunrise Film Festival (SFF) across all media forms, from our social media, website, newsletters, and festival marketing material.

You will shape the unique look of SFF 2025 guided by our brand guidelines, this team of officers will also have the responsibility of designing the festival programme (with the support of Sunrise Studios), posters, flyers, merchandise, and online branding; along with shaping a year-long marketing strategy and putting out content before and after the annual festival.

The roles for this team make for excellent career experience in the creative industries for someone who is looking to use their design and communication skills to support a growing film festival and have their work printed, displayed, and seen by thousands of people online and in-person.

Within our communications team we will also be looking to recruit dedicated ambassadors to represent and spread the word about Sunrise Film Festival at local events, student fairs and other events we may be invited too.

You will also have opportunities to attend other industry events, regional film hub events and other festivals, free access to our monthly film club, and annual festival events.

Main Responsibilities:

Excellent communication skills, both for external communication and internal communication – you will be working closely with Joshua Freemantle, one of the festival founders and our Communications Champion Lottie Taylor.
Willingness to understand the Sunrise Film Festival brand and communicate it across many different platforms.
Excellent written English and experience proofreading and editing is a plus.
Ability to think creatively about what would make for engaging content on the website, social media and in articles and interviews.
Ability to take initiative in relation to what festival information should be widely publicised and when it is best to do this.
Ability to work on quick turnarounds and in a fast-paced environment during the festival.
Willingness to learn new skills, we’ll also provide you with training opportunities.
Any previous press and comms, social media and/or website management skills are a plus.

Submissions & Programming Team

Committee Member Title – Submissions & Programming Team (Inc. 1 Role for Submissions & Programming Champion)

Location: You don’t have to be based in Lowestoft and can support us remotely.

Closing Date: 29th September 2024

Volunteer Role: Expenses only – Travel, Food & (where subject to sufficient sponsorship accommodation during the festival if needed)

Hours: 3-5 hours a week in your spare time (Including a monthly in-person/virtual festival committee meeting and it’s also beneficial for you to be available for our festival 22-25 May 2025)

We would not expect you to do anymore than 5 hours a week and this is purely a guide.

Role purpose:

This role sits within our festival committee, our Submissions & Programming Team is integral to the success of the smooth running of managing competition entries coming in from across the UK and internationally, assigning films to our online volunteer screening committee members and to our Judges/Jury, and guided by our festival founders and with input from other festival committee festival members you will also get to shape what some of our 2025 festival strands look like.

Positions within this festival committee department are perfect for someone passionate about supporting independent film, and wanting to make the film industry more accessible. Team members are responsible for managing film submissions that come in through Filmfreeway and organising films to be viewed by our screening committee, and then onto our professional Judges/Juries. You will also shape strands within our 2025 festival programme, pitch ideas for other aspects of programming, workshops and events as well as ideas for special screenings of other potential feature films/short films. After the notification period notifying successful films that are included in our 2025 edition you will also support the Awards/Events Team with any communication support needed with successful filmmakers.

You will also have opportunities to attend other industry events, regional film hub events and other festivals, free access to our monthly film club, and annual festival events.

Main Responsibilities:

A passion for film is the most important thing for this role 🙂
Organisational skills – you will be in close contact with Joshua Freemantle, one of the festival founders, our Submissions & Programming Champion and be included in monthly committee updates.
Creative approach to supporting the programming and managing submissions of a festival.
Excellent communication skills, both for external communication and internal communication.
Willingness to understand the Sunrise Film Festival programming focuses

Ability to work in a team, you will not be an alone in the festivals Submissions & Programming team.
Knowledge of Excel/Google Sheets is helpful, though not required.

Ability to work on quick turnarounds, this is nothing to be scared about it’s more so about us finalising our full programme for this, if we had an influx in submissions, you would receive extra support.
Willingness to learn new skills, we’ll also provide you with training opportunities.

Awards/Events Team

Committee Member Title – Awards/Events Team (Inc. 1 Role for Awards/Events Champion)

Location: You don’t have to be based in Lowestoft and can support us remotely.

Closing Date: 29th September 2024

Volunteer Role: Travel, Food & (where subject to sufficient sponsorship accommodation during the festival if needed)

We would not expect you to do anymore than 5 hours a week and this is purely a guide.

Hours: 3-5 hours a week in your spare time (Including a monthly in-person/virtual festival committee meeting and it’s also beneficial for you to be available for our festival 22-25 May 2025)

Role purpose:

This role sits within our festival committee, Our Awards and Events team officers are integral to the success of the festival as we approach the most important process of the festival, your role will include corresponding with nominated filmmakers, support with any queries on attending the festival and ensuring that all materials have been received from them to our internal deadlines for smooth running of screening their films as part of our 2025 festival programme.

Leasing with the Submissions & Programming team you will also finalise the details for each category award and seek to secure potential prizes/mentor opportunities for our category/craft awardees. You will also have the shared responsibility of planning our festival awards ceremony and festival opening night event/open ceremony (for design elements of these you will work alongside our Communications Team and our festival founders).

As part of this role, you also have the creative freedom to put forward ideas for other events within your team that could be part of the festival programming. These are particularly rewarding roles due to the ongoing personal communication officers will have throughout run up to festival with filmmakers.

You will also have opportunities to attend other industry events, regional film hub events and other festivals, free access to our monthly film club, and annual festival events.

Main Responsibilities:

A passion for film is equally important for this role too 🙂
Organisational skills – you will be in close contact with Joshua Freemantle, one of the festival founders, our Awards & Events Champion and be included in monthly committee updates.
Creative approach to supporting the awards admin and other aspects of the role.
Excellent communication skills, both for external communication and internal communication.

Ability to work in a team, you will not be an alone in the festivals Awards & Events team.
Knowledge of Excel/Google Sheets is helpful, though not required.
Ability to work on quick turnarounds, this is nothing to be scared about it’s more so about keeping our nominees happy and informed.
Willingness to learn new skills, we’ll also provide you with training opportunities.

Applications received from individuals based in the East of England (inc. Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedford & Hertfordshire) will be prioritised.

Our applications will close on 29th September 2024, but may close sooner depending on the volume of applications and interviews will take place virtually online In September & October.

Online Screening Committee

Screening Committee

Volunteer to be part of our 2025 edition online screening committee.

Screening committee members will receive 10-15 films to watch, and personally critique via a scoring system and give written feedback on each film.

They are vital to helping us fairly create our submissions long-list which ultimately will shape our final programme + you’ll get invited to our 4th festival for free!

Applications will be open on a rolling basis until 20th November 2024, and you will be assigned submissions as they come in.

Please note the application form below is for our screening committee only.