It is no secret that the African economy is no match for the conversion to British Pound Sterling or American Dollar. This has essentially made it very difficult for African filmmakers to share their stories outside of the continent. The fees are sometimes the equivalent of a short films entire budget!
To that end, when BUFF (The British Urban Film Festival) reached out for support to enable African based filmmakers with access to their prestigious global submissions, we jumped at the chance to support Africa’s new and established story tellers through a 95% reduction to submission fees! That’s right, from today, The AMAA, BAFTA, BIFA and Iris Prize film festival which is Nigerian British owned and run, will accept film submissions from all 56 African countries for just N5000.
From BUFF:
We are now in our 16th year and want to give clarity to our reclaiming of the word “urban”. For so long, “urban” has been seen as an extension of “black”, “underground”, “other”, “unworthy”.
We know that in every walk of life urban culture, more than ever, is revered as trend setting, forward-thinking, inclusive and innovative.
This is the reason why BAFTA, BIFA, AMAA and our industry festival partners (including Iris Prize) have officially recognised BUFF – giving our filmmakers direct opportunities to qualify for film awards. BUFF is the longest standing black-owned film festival in the United Kingdom. Founded by Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe MBE, filmmakers that have exhibited at our festival are now household names. Join the legacy and explore new worlds at BUFF.
At the British Urban Film Festival, we have been a pioneering platform for all facets of diversity since our formation in 2005.
Long before diversity quotas and terminology such as BAME and non-binary, we have always welcomed, showcased, given coverage to and awarded films which embrace diverse storytelling, celebrating filmmakers from diverse backgrounds representative of the 9 diversity strands:
age.
disability.
gender reassignment.
marriage and civil partnership.
pregnancy and maternity.
race.
religion or belief.
sex.
All genres are welcome.
All films accepted into the 2022 British Urban Film Festival will be in contention for an African Movie Academy Award (AMAA) in 2022 (subject to eligibility). BUFF will submit official selections from filmmakers of African origin and non-Africans who have contributed to the African film industry.
The final shortlist of 3 scripts (in addition to receiving a British Urban Film Festival award) will be considered for development through our industry partners.
Submit your film script, short film, web series and feature films today. N5000 per entry.
Submission deadlines and fees:
Now – December 31st – N5000
Jan 1 – 29 March 2022 – Regular Deadline N10000
30 March 2021 – 28 June 2022 – Late Deadline N15000
Rules and terms: