Now in its 15th year, Encounters Short Film Festival (17 – 22 November 2009) has become known world-wide for the extraordinary community of filmmakers it attracts, and for the quality and scope of its programming. This celebrated event is the largest festival of its kind in the UK, showcasing over 300 new international short films each year.

Submissions for this year’s festival opened via the website on Friday 3 April and run until Tuesday 30 June 2009.

In an attempt to go green and reduce the amount of DVD’s submitted, Encounters sponsored by YouSendIt (yousendit.com) now offers the opportunity to upload your film and save £5 of the submission fee.

Key Dates

• Call for submissions opens 01 April 2009

• Call for submissions closes 30 June 2009

• Filmmakers will be notified end of August

• Programme announced end of September

• Accreditation opens end of September

• 17 -22 November Encounters Festival

Encounters accepts films of every genre less than 30 minutes: animation, drama, documentary, experimental and music video and does NOT have a premiere policy but does now have a submission fee. All films submitted to the festival are entered into the HP Digital Viewing library offering more than 1000 films for on demand viewing available to all delegates’ buyers, distributors, programmers and press throughout the festival.

Visit www.encounters-festival.org.uk to see the awards up for grabs, submission criteria and how to enter your film. Sign up to the Encounters newsletter for the latest on Encounters events. For more information about the upload service www.yousendit.com