The Suffolk film festival, which last year once again saw thousands of people attend screenings across multiple days in the town will return from Thursday 1st August to Sunday 4th August 2024.
Sunrise Film Festival (SFF) celebrates undiscovered talent and independent film from across the UK, that wouldn’t otherwise be picked up in the bigger film festival circuit. Entries for this year’s competition categories and the festival has already seen over 300 short films submitted.
The festival champions short film and independent filmmaking at its heart, and since its creation in 2021 has provided a vital platform to support hundreds of up and coming filmmakers at each festival edition.
SFF includes 10 competition categories for short films to be submitted into, ranging from British short films, East Anglian student films, Documentaries, and Experimental to a specific category called ‘Break the Stigma’ for short films that focus on the subject of mental health or homelessness.
Ahead of submissions for the annual film festival closing next month, the festival was delighted to have received the news that from and including its 2024 edition it is now a BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) qualifying festival for short films, meaning any short film selected to be screened are now in with a chance of entering their film to BIFA in their prestigious film awards.
Joshua Freemantle, Development Producer at Access Community said, “We’re thrilled to once again be bringing Sunrise Film Festival back to Lowestoft through our social enterprise Sunrise Studios with our new summer dates. This year promises to be bigger and better than ever, with an incredible new venue which will be announced soon, our annual awards for filmmakers, alongside exciting special events and screenings.”
Joshua went on to say, “We can’t wait to celebrate the magic that is independent film with audiences in Lowestoft, as our now BIFA qualifying annual festival continues to grow from strength to strength.”
Filmmakers can submit any short films of less than 30 minutes to the festival, and they can find out full details for each category before submissions close at midnight on 24 May on the Sunrise Film Festival website.