SWIF digest 📬 9 September 2025
Networking is on everyone's mind right now...
👋 Hi filmmakers. We're coming to the end of SWIF tour (final event tomorrow in Swindon) and you have been brilliant! Thank you for turning out, supporting and encouraging each other. We have now passed 500 subscribers. Keep spreading the word, I've got big plans for you in Autunm.
📸 Cheers to everyone who came to SWIF's 2nd birthday party in Bristol last week. You can see more photos here.
Here’s your weekly digest for independent film in the South West:
👁️ City Eye Film Network Southampton host their next meet up tonight (9 Sep) & their mums in film meet up on 16 Sep. - Eventbrite
🤝 SWIF joins creatives networking at Create Studios Swindon on 10 Sep.- SWIF
👩🏼🤝👩🏾 Creatives networking takes place in Falmouth on 19 Sep. - Eventbrite
🎬 Filmmakers Plymouth Social's next meet up is 25 Sep. Meet, share work and hear about what other filmmakers are up to. - Eventbrite
🎥 Films at 59 in Cardiff are hosting an open day on 25 Sep. Explore the latest cameras & equipment, chat with the team and enjoy some refreshments. - Eventbrite
🍻 Networking drinks take place in Bristol on 25 Sep. - Headfirst
💭 The south central region has a industry strategy day on 26 Sep in Fareham. - Eventbrite
🇿🇦 Bristol Radical Film Festival present a screening of documentary London Recruits on 4 Oct. A compelling journey into the heart of apartheid South Africa. - Headfirst
👀 A short film night takes place in Bristol on 4 Oct. Submissions are open. - Eventbrite
🏭 The official premiere of the documentary W: A Return to Oz, an exploration into the famous Warehouse Club in Plymouth, takes place on 5 Oct. Eventbrite
🎪 Tickets for Sistaland Festival in Bristol are now on sale. It promises a year's worth of creative fuel. - Sistaland
🎧 You should listen to locally made podcast Emerging: How to Eventually Make it in Film & TV. - Pocketcasts
🗺️ This locations app might be a useful resource (yet to try it out myself). - CineTrail
🤑 A local short film has a crowdfunder. This film examines the quiet tensions of mixed-race identity through an English-Pakistani son who is forced to fake his way through a family gathering after his mother has told relatives he speaks fluent Urdu. - Greenlit
🔥 Screenskills are running unscripted TV camera bootcamps in Plymouth & Cardiff next year. - Screenskills
🗣️ Sheffield Doc Fest are looking for Film Programme Advisers. Deadline 11 Sep. - SheffDocFest
👩🏼🎨 Trigger in Somerset are hiring a Puppet Maker. Deadline 15 Sep. - Trigger
📆 Saltash Studios are hiring an Event Manager. Deadline 16 Sep. - Saltash Studios
🏃🏿♀️ Technical Runner needed on a Channel 4 crime series in Cardiff. Deadline 19 Sep. - Production Base
🤙 Exeter Phoenix are hiring a Marketing Assistant. Deadline 21 Sep. - Exeter Phoenix
💰 BFI Doc Society has just increased their funding pot for documentary shorts, features and immersive. Rolling submissions. They are also planning on regular online Q&A sessions. - BFI Doc Soc
📮 Upcoming film festival submission deadlines: Cornwall (11 Sep), Bournemouth International (12 Sep), Cardiff Mini, Portsmouth Shorts::Cut (both 15 Sep), Cardiff Animation (22 Sep) & Two Short Nights (30 Sep). - FilmFreeway
👽 Encounters Film Festival takes place in Bristol on 24-28 Sep. - Encounters
🌊 Save the Waves Film Festival comes to Bristol on 2 Oct. - Eventbrite
📽️ Wellington Film Festival takes place 3-5 Oct, including a Q&A with James Purefoy. - Wellington Film Festival
🧱 In The Walls Independent Film Festival takes place in Weston-super-Mare on 4 Oct. - FilmFreeway
👩❤️👩 The personals: Nothing this week. Get in touch for a free listing.
🍿 On film club: Shame dir. Steve McQueen (available to rent) & Falcon Lake dir. Charlotte Le Bon (on Channel4).
📣 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. bsky website
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.
