WOW Wales One World Film Festival (24)

Festival start: 21 March 2025      Festival end: 04 April 2025

Founded in 2001, WOW Wales One World Film Festival has long been the only UK festival dedicated principally to films from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, while also holding the status of the longest-running festival in Wales.

For 23 years, the IMDb-qualifying festival has brought a wide range of the very best international films to cinemas across Wales. Its annual programme of feature, documentary, and short films showcases thought provoking, eye-opening films from places you rarely get to see on screen.

With attending filmmakers such as Patricio Guzmán, Helen Iles, Ken Loach, Mark Cousins, and more, WOW has also established itself as the longest running film festival in Wales.

Taking place every year in March, WOW brings the best of Welsh or UK premieres of international cinema in Aberystwyth Arts Centre and other cinemas across Wales.

International and feminist, the festival champions diversity, equality and the inclusion of voices outside of the mainstream. Every year at least half of the programme’s films are made by female filmmakers, and, since 2023, WOW's team is 100% female-led and diverse.

WOW Wales One World Film Festival, in collaboration with environmental advocates and filmmakers, proudly presents our commitment to driving measurable environmental change and fostering climate literacy among future generations.

In 2021, we revamped our 'Green Screen' initiative, evolving it into the dynamic 'Ecosinema' strand. This transformation was marked by our inaugural Ecosinema mini-festival online, setting a new standard for eco-themed storytelling within our festival.

Keeping Ecosinema as a film strand in the festival, WOW continues to showcase eco-themed films in cinemas and often collaborates with organisations such as The Landworkers Alliance and the 'Creating Safer Space' project to deliver special screenings, Q&As and panel discussions to its audiences.

Submissions for our 2025 Festival are now open!

Audience Awards for:

1) Best International Short Film ('Made in Wales' shorts do not compete for this award)
2) Best Feature Fiction Film
3) Best Feature Documentary Film

Submission Guidelines:

1. All films must be submitted via online screener hosted by Festhome, Vimeo, Cinando, or other online video platforms.

2. Only complete entries (including fee payment and screener) will be considered.

3. All films selected for WOW Wales One World Film Festival’s in-cinema screenings will be screened on DCP unless otherwise arranged by the submitter and the festival's programming team.

Eligibility:

1. WOW Wales One World Film Festival's submissions are open to films of any genre, techniques, production type, and budget as long as they are completed (premiere) after the 1st of September 2023 (18 months before the event date).

4. All entries must be subtitled in English. Dialogue lists are not accepted.

5. The accepted running times for Feature Documentaries & Fiction Films is a minimum of 50 minutes. Environmental Feature Films need to be a minimum of 45 minutes.

6. The accepted running times for Short Films is a maximum of 15 minutes

7. Feature films in consideration for the festival’s programme should be Welsh premieres at the time of the festival.

Data Protection:

8. Film and personal details are available to WOW Wales One World Film Festival and will not be shared with other organisations outside the festival.

9. The Festival reserves the right to keep the submitter's data in order to communicate and share information on film-related events and news. The participants can always opt-out by sending an email to info@wowfilmfestival.com.

10. The Festival accepts full responsibility for protecting the copyrights for the period of time that the films are in the Festival’s possession and will act to ensure that no theft or breach of copyright will occur.

11. The festival does NOT pay screening fees for films submitted via Festhome.

Agreement:

12. In the event of disagreement concerning the interpretation of the regulations, the interpretation of the festival will take precedence.

13. The festival reserves the right to alter the above regulations without prior notice.

14. The applicant confirms that they have obtained all necessary rights for both visual and audio content, ensuring that the exhibition will not infringe upon any rights, including but not limited to music, images, and content.

15. Submissions cannot be withdrawn from the Festival once they have been selected and the applicants have been notified, except at the sole discretion of the Festival.

16. By proceeding with your submission, you agree to the above regulations, allowing your application to be processed. Failure to comply with these regulations may result in disqualification of the submission.

Attending the Festival:

17. The WOW Wales One World Film Festival encourages all selected filmmakers to attend the festival and offers complimentary tickets to several screenings and events for crew members of the selected films to attend the festival.

For any further inquiries, please contact: info@wowfilmfestival.com