The LIDF in association with the London Review of Books is calling for submissions. The call is open and international. All subject matter is considered. Short and Feature length films are accepted. First time and established filmmakers all welcome. Films must be produced after January 1st 2010.

The LIDF is the UK’s largest independent documentary festival. Since 2007 the festival has worked to ensure that London is host to exciting, diverse, challenging and inspiring films from every corner of the globe.

The festival is committed to providing the highest quality platform for international documentaries and their directors. It does this by working with globally recognised partners and venues, such as the British Museum, the Barbican Centre, and the TATE Modern. It also provides a year-round programme of screenings and other events.

LIDF has always sought to create conversations in film, teasing out the issues from documentaries that offer a considered view of the world today. This year, the LIDF is encouraging the conversation to continue, through international Video-on-Demand partnerships.

Successful submissions for LIDF will from now on be offered the opportunity to be seen by a passionate community of online doc-lovers as well as the industry professionals and enthusiasts who attend the festival. With set-top boxes and connected TV now a reality, the way we consume media is changing at an impossibly fast rate. Increasingly it is the viewer who decides what they want to watch and when and that’s why LIDF is proud to offer their filmmakers the opportunity to engage with a global community beyond the festival itself.

We look to support new and innovative filmmaking talent, and to ask filmmakers to participate in the ‘conversations’ and debates that run alongside the screenings. 2012 will see new and significant additions to the festival and new award categories.

Submissions can be via Withoutabox or the LIDF Official Entry Form

We look forward to seeing your films.

Official Entry Form

Frequently Asked Questions

Entry Regulations

LIDF, the UK’s largest independent documentary festival, is proud to announce this year’s winning films. An almost impossible task given the outstanding programme. The results reflect the truly international scope of the festival.

Best Campaign Film
Our Generation; director, Sinem Saban; Australia

Audience Award
Special Mention
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel; director Brigitte Berman; Canada
The Desert of Forbidden Art; director, Tchavdor Georgiev, Amanda Pope; Russian Federation, United States, Uzbekistan
Timeless River; director, Anja Medved, Nadja Velušček; Italy, Slovenia
My Perestroika: director, Robin Hessman; United States

Winner
Europolis, the Town of the Delta; director, Kostadin Bonev; Austria, Bulgaria

Best Short Film
Special Mention
One Day in Smara; director, Fany de la Chica; Spain
Martin the Ghost; director, Aslak Danbolt; Norway
Vertical City; director, Avijit Mukul Kishore; India

Winner
Undertow Eyes; director, Petra Costa; Brazil

Best Film
Special Mention
I was Worth 50 Sheep; director, Nima Sarvestani; Sweden
In the Garden of Sounds; director, Nicola Bellucci; Italy

Winner
Grandma, A Thousand Times; director, Mahmoud Kaabour; UAE, Qatar, Lebanon

A Participatory Screening

“The pocket in question is a pocket of resistance. A pocket is formed when two or more people come together in agreement” – John Berger

On the 28th Feb the LIDF launched a new stage of its now three year project of film and social change workshops in Pakistan. PocketVisions is the umbrella organisation for the LIDF’s work in training and film activisim. Over the next three weeks the short films made during last year’s workshops will be screened across Pakistan. Films that tell the stories of Pakistan’s citizens – how they live and work, the challenges they face, and their aspirations for the future.

Next week at The Book Club we will screen films from the project and hope to encourage further debate and involvement.

If you are interested in the present situation in Pakistan – and who shouldn’t be – in how young filmmakers make their first steps, and in how film can create change, please come along and take part.

If you are already involved in similar projects, or would like to be, we would be delighted if you would share your experiences with us on Wednesday and together we can work towards an extended debate and new projects at the LIDF 2011.

Wednesday 16th March
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Door: £7
100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH – 020 7684 8618
www.wearetbc.com

Thinking and Drinking: Conversations in Film
Invisible City – A Participatory Screening

Welcome to a night of film, discussion and thinking about the city. LIDF invites you to contribute and co-create as we formulate new and exciting ways to continue our Invisible City project begun at last year’s Festival.

Based around three films, ‘open space’ discussions, and psycho-geographical mapping of our city, this night promises to be a thought provoking and absorbing preamble to LIDF’s Invisible City 2011. Tonight we want to hear about your unique experiences of the Invisible City, a mysterious phenomenon with many possible interpretations and meanings: places, ideas, encounters, gestures, nooks, crannies, moments in time and space… all part of our individual experiences of London.

The aim of the event is to devise film, narrative, and participatory means of exploring the Invisible City, so that these ideas can be illuminated, used, discovered and shared by others.

This process of discovery and mapping will take place between films and wine served downstairs at The Book Club.

Wednesday 16th February
Time: 7pm -  8.30pm
Door: £7 including complimentary glass of wine
100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH – 020 7684 8618
www.wearetbc.com

The full film line-up ……… Read the rest of this entry »

I am Agha | Atif Ahmad, Kiran Mushtaq, M.Umar Saeed | 2010 | 7min

Two years ago the Filmmaking for Social Change project was set up to enable young Pakistani filmmakers to produce documentaries which raise awareness of the negative impact of violent extremism, conflict, social exclusion and poor governance. The films have since been screened to appreciative British audiences  at the LIDF09 and LIDF10. To date 16 documentaries have been produced by 45 young filmmakers through hands-on training workshops. These documentaries focus on stories of individual lives affected by bomb blasts and riots in Pakistan, the effects of extremism on arts and culture, interfaith harmony, and poverty in Pakistan.

LIDF Media Forum Karachi is the next stage in the project. A symposium and screening that will debate, celebrate and explore issues facing documentary filmmakers in Pakistan and beyond, and their part in encouraging social change and active citizenship. It will mark the launch of the Filmmaking for Social Change roadshow – an extended period of public screenings and debates across Pakistan that will showcase the films made during the project. Films that tell the stories of Pakistan’s citizens – how they live and work, the challenges they face, and their aspirations for the future.

28th February, 9.00 – 18.00
Avari Towers, Fatima Jinnah Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

The forum will focus on:

• A presentation by the students of their Filmmaking for Social Change films;

• A celebration of the best of international documentary film presented by the LIDF;

• Knowledge-sharing, and synthesis of emerging practice and the latest thinking on film as a tool for social change;

• The role played by the media in creating the opportunities for citizens to participate, interact, give rein to free and constructive expression, and demands for accountability;

• An appeal to Pakistani filmmakers, broadcasters and NGOs to engage with the LIDF and strengthen international collaboration in the documentary field;

Final programme

09.00: Welcome
09.15: Keynote address
Patrick Hazard: Filmmaking and Social Change
09.45 – 11.15: Films from the project (Part 1) + Q&A with the students
Break
11.30: Films from the LIDF
12.30: Presentation by Abrar Hassan (Morango Films): The Role of the Independent Media
13.00: Lunch
14.00: Films from the project (Part 2) + Q&A with the students
15.30 – 16.00: Films from the LIDF
Break
16.30: Presentation of certificates by Masood Hamid (DAWN) to the student filmmakers followed by informal breakout discussions and networking
17.00: Round table discussion and audience Q&A: Film and Social Change – Babar Sheikh (Filmmaker), Aisha Arif Khan ((Faculty, Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi and Indus Valley), Patrick Hazard (LIDF)
17.45-18.45: Q&A session between Patrick Hazard and the press
18-45-19.30: Refreshments / Informal meet and greet with the press

Spaces are limited. To reserve a place  or write to tickets@lidf.co.uk

Valetina Monti | 2009 | Italy | 62min

Afghanistan radio has traditionally been the voice of authority – there is no tradition of radio as a democratic, participatory medium that can be used to satisfy the needs of local communities – until today.

23 year old Afghan journalist Humaira Habib is founder and editor-in-chief of Radio Sahar, the first independent community radio station born after the fall of the Taliban regime and entirely run by women. In a unique example of a new democracy building process in Afghanistan, Humaira and the girls of the radio fight every day for the rights of Afghan women.

Focusing on the young Afghani idealists who are trying to make a difference in a country where the very basic principles of democracy were completely destroyed, award-winning filmmaker Valentina Monti explores the value of freedom of expression and information and reveals that Afghanistan is a very different country from the stereotype created in the Western media.
+ Q&A with director Valentina Monti and Patrick Hazard, Director LIDF

Barbican, Cinema 1, 18:30
9 February 2011

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 (subject to availability)

BOOK HERE

Thinking and Drinking: Conversations in Film
Six UK Short Docs from the LIDF 2010

We are delighted to be starting a new partnership with The Book Club (‘…currently the venue for hip literary events.’ The Independent). The Book Club brings together wit, wisdom, creative events, food, drink and a brain-teasing, eclectic programme.

The new partnership allows the LIDF to meet, greet, entertain, chat and watch films with the London community of documentary film enthusiasts. It is our first chance to really sit down in an informal setting and ask what do you want from your London documentary festival. It is a chance for closer involvement, for forging deeper partnerships and generating as yet unknown connections and ideas.

We look forward to meeting you on the 19th January when we kick off with drinks and a selection of our favourite UK short docs.

‘Conversations in Film’ is a new event where film and discussion go hand in hand. Each month we will look at documentary film as it straddles the worlds of reportage, anthropology, activism, and mass entertainment. A chance for dialogue and the London documentary community to gather, a chance for debate, for support and inspiration.

Wednesday 19th January
Time: 7pm -  8.30pm
Door: £7 including complimentary glass of wine
100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH – 020 7684 8618
www.wearetbc.com

The full film line-up ……… Read the rest of this entry »

Timothy Albone, Lucy Martens | 2010 | UK | 85 min.

In just a few years, the Afghan cricket team has risen from the sport’s lowest ranks to phenomenal success in the highly competitive international arena.

Garnering a ‘Best of the Fest’ nod from Edinburgh this year, this is the remarkable and inspirational story of coach Taj Malik Aleem and his team, who became the sport’s unlikeliest heroes during a triumphant campaign culminating in the crucial World Cup qualifier in South Africa.

Executive prodcued by Oscar-winning director and cricket enthusiast Sam Mendes, Out of the Ashes follows the squad over two years as they go from playing in their shalwar-kameezes on rubble pitches to battling their way around the globe and up the international league tables. In a country more often associated with war and rigged elections, their incredible journey is an absolute joy to behold.

+ Q&A with directors Lucy Martens and Timothy Albone, producer Leslie Knott and Cricketing legend Bill Allen OBE

‘Best of the Fest’, Edinburgh International Film Festival

“Puts a human face to a nation that many have turned their back on…”  Sam Mendes, Exec Producer, Out of the Ashes

“Uplifting, fascinating…  An intriguing and extremely watchable film.”  Screen

“Filmic gold…. Remarkable” Sunday Times

“The real-life contemporary Cinderella story of how Afghanistan’s ragtag cricket team rose up through the sport’s international ranks is charmingly recounted in Brit-made docu….This often humourous pic is ultimately more about people and passion that it is about the game itself.” Variety

Producers: Leslie Knott & Rachel Wexler, Bungalow Town Production Ltd

Barbican, Cinema 1, 18:30
7 December 2010

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 (subject to availability) BOOK HERE

Noel Chanan | 2009 | UK | 40min

In 1983 poet Ted Hughes and American printmaker and sculptor Leonard Baskin, his collaborator for many years, took part in an unrehearsed audio recording in which they talked about their long-standing friendship and the nature of their collaborative work on illustrated books of Hughes’s poems.

The outcome of the recording by renowned filmmaker and photographer Noel Chanan is a lively, entertaining, and revelatory documentary where Hughes and Baskin explore in intimate detail the genesis of such key works as CROW and CAVE BIRDS.

Includes previously unseen photographs, extensive illustrations of Baskin’s dramatic prints and sculptures and readings by Hughes himself.

+ Q&A with Noel Chanan, poet Tom Paulin, Nicholas Penny (Director of the National Gallery), and Nicholas Spice (London Review of Books)

The Artist and the Poet will be preceded by the short film THE GHOSTVILLE PROJECT

Tim Daly | 2009 | UK | 12min

This short documentary was shot in October 2009 on the remote Cowal Peninsula in the West of Scotland. It details arts collective Agents of Change’s transformation of the abandoned village of Pollphail into an open air art gallery. The brutalist 1970s concrete structures had never seen human inhabitants. The site was originally constructed ostensibly as a base to house workers needed to construct concrete oil rigs, but the plan was subsequently abandoned, and now it is ideally suited to the separate styles and methods employed by the collective. Drawing inspiration from the marked contrast between the architecture and the surrounding landscape of rolling hills, forests and lochs, the artists worked for three days through challenging physical conditions to produce foreboding yet hauntingly beautiful artwork all over the site. The viewer is rewarded with a unique insight into the world of the graffiti artist and an opportunity to experience the creative process behind such a huge undertaking.

18:30 / 17 November 2010
Barbican Cinema 1

Tickets: £8.50 online / £10.50 full price; Members £6.50 online / £8.50 full price; Concessions £7.50; Under 15 £5.50
subject to availability BOOK HERE

DocSpot: Shout (15*) + Q&A + Exhibition

20:45 / This powerful portrayal of youth and growing up and a forgotten part of the Middle East conflict won the Best Film of the London International Documentary Festival 2010

Born in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, best friends Ezat and Bayan journey across the UN monitored no man’s land to study in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Leaving behind their village, friends and family, the two young men at first enjoy the freedom their new home affords them; however, they soon learn that the city is a place where sides must be picked and words carefully chosen.

The Netherlands 2009 Dirs. Ester Gould & Sabine Lubbe Bakker 75 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.

+ Q&A with director Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Chris Doyle (Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding) and Shaza Shannan (British Syrian Society)

Chris Doyle – Director of The Council for Arab-British Understanding. As the lead spokesperson for CAABU and as an acknowledged expert on the region, Chris is a frequent commentator on TV and Radio. He gives numerous talks around the country on issues such as Palestine, Iraq, Islamophobia and the Arabs in Britain. He has had numerous letters published in the British and international media.

Sabine Lubbe Bakker is a dutch film maker with a passion for the Middle East. Having orginially trained in political science, she has been in the motion picture industry since 2005. ‘Shout’ is her first feature.

Shaza Shannan is currently the Head of Cultural Committee at British Syrian Society and the Vice Chair at CAABU – she organises events focussed on Middle Eastern issues. She is the Business Change Manager at British Council and also holds a position teaching arabic at SOAS.

20.45, 29 September 2010
Barbican, Cinema 1

Tickets: Standard – £8.50 online (£10.50 full price) / Barbican Members – £6.50 online (£8.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50 / Under 15 £5.50
subject to availability. BOOK HERE