SWIF digest 📬 7 July 2026

👋 Hey filmmakers! Stoked to see you at Sistaland Festival this weekend. Get your tickets, tent and great vibes ready. SWIF will be hosting a mixer on Saturday evening at the community gathering tent. Come for a weekend of recharging and relighting your creative fire.

🥰 Please consider supporting this resource. You can give a one-off amount, or take an on-going membership if you want access to the filmmaker resources.

Here’s your weekly digest for independent film in the South West:

📸 Photo of filmmakers getting ready to start the Cutting It Fine 48hr film challenge last weekend. - Instagram

📽️ This year's Cutting It Fine 48hr film challenge screening & awards night is taking place tonight (7 Jul) in Bristol. Brilliant films, industry judges, great prizes & tickets are free. - Eventbrite

🙋🏽‍♀️ Sea Change meet up at Cinema Rediscovered is a free, in-person gathering for women working in film production, exhibition & distribution. 26 Jul in Bristol. - Ticket Tailor

☕️ Bristol Creative Morning's next event features a Managing Director of one of Bristol's leading creative agencies with a talk on "competition & creativity don’t mix". 30 Jul with a new venue. - Creative Mornings

🤗 Filmmakers Plymouth Social's next meet up is 30 Jul, where filmmakers can workshop ideas, share work and connect. - FotoNow

☺️ Arnolfini Bristol are inviting creative practitioners & community groups to host creative, reflective gatherings in their galleries. Submit your idea with subject “Summer Gatherings” by 10 Aug. - Email

🧑‍💻 Anyone working as a Producer or in a producing role can join free co-working at Pervasive Media Studio Bristol every Wednesday. - Watershed

📰 Pipeline wrote a great article helping to focus what your short film can actually do for you. - Pipeline

👮 Fable Features has launched a newsletter for their feature film Suspect (the UK's first found-footage narrative police thriller). They'll be sharing their plans for audience building, financing, filmmaking & distribution. This film is part of the SWIF micro–budget feature workshop! - Beehiiv

🇺🇦 Writers in Exeter can apply for a UNESCO City of Literature residency in Odesa, Ukraine. Deadline 20 Jul. - Literature Works

👥 Applications open today for BFI Network South West's 'New Voices: Step Up'. A mentoring opportunity for filmmakers who identify as being from a lower socio-economic background or who are currently unemployed & claiming benefits. Deadline 11 Aug. - Watershed

🤳 Bristol Old Vic Theatre are hiring a Content Creation & Communications Assistant. Deadline 8 Jul. - BOV

🌳 Production Co-ordinator & Production Assistant needed for a low budget feature shooting in South Wales & Forest of Dean in Aug - Oct. Deadlines 8 Jul. - Screen Alliance Wales

⏱️ Experienced After Effects Compositor / Motion Graphics Designer needed at Aardman Bristol for a new pre-school series combining stop-frame and 2D animation. Deadline 10 Jul. - Aardman

🧮 Accounts Trainee wanted for an HETV production in South Wales. Deadline 17 Jul. - Screen Alliance Wales

🐋 Marketing & Content Creator needed at Orca Bristol. Deadline 30 Jul. - Bristol Creative Industries

🤠 Creative Head needed at Epoch Bristol. - Bristol Creative Industries

🪶 1st AD/Production Assistant needed for a mixed narrative, wildlife documentary & artist film shooting in Somerset in Aug. Deadline 1 Aug. - Google Doc

🎅 Paid casting call for Santa, male 40yrs+ with West Country accent, for a short film in Devon in Aug. "When a struggling actor meets a magic dog called Rudolph, she’s led to Santa who offers her a life altering choice". - Email

🏆 Bath Film Festival's script to screen award with a short film fund cash prize has its regular submission deadline on 15 Jul. - FilmFreeway

🏅 The Performance short film competition has its submission deadline on 30 Jul with £1.5k cash prizes in five categories. - Performance Insurance

🤪 Somerset Film are inviting submissions of playful remakes of existing films for their "big swede" event. Deadline 1 Nov. - Somerset Film

📮 Upcoming film festival submission deadlines: Cardiff Mini (12 Jul), Bath (15 Jul), Gloucester Independent (18 Jul), Cornwall (24 Jul), Two Short Nights, Pigeon Laughs, Pompeywood Genre (all 31 Jul), International Film Festival of Wales, Bournemouth International (both 1 Aug) & Screams by the Sea (9 Aug) . - FilmFreeway

🏳️‍⚧️ Queer Vision Film Festival takes place in Bristol on 26 Jun - 10 Jul. - QVFF

🏕️ Sistaland Festival takes place 10-12 Jul. - Sistaland Festival

🎞️ Cinema Rediscovered Film Festival takes place in Bristol on 22-26 Jul. - Watershed

🏔️ Bristol Documentary Film Festival takes place 3-5 Sep. - BDFF

🍿 On film club: Monos dir. Alejandro Landes Echavarría (on Channel4) & Bye Bye Tiberias dir. Lina Soualem (on BFIplayer).

📣 Have something to share on the next digest? Could be an event, workshop, behind the scenes updates, crew call, showcasing your work or a personal ad. Get in touch! hollyholdsworth@gmail.com

💌 If you found this helpful please forward it to a friend.

Until next week!
Holly Holdsworth (she/her)
Writer/Director
watch my films

Inclusion in this email does not denote endorsement. I will always try to platform the best opportunities for this community and am not affiliated with any organisation, unless explicitly mentioned besides the link..