40th Leeds International Film Festival

CATEGORIES AND CONSIDERATION

1) You only need to submit into one category. If your film is eligible for consideration in other categories, we will also consider it for those categories.

2) If your film is selected for a different category to the one you submitted into, we will request approval from you for this before confirmation.

3) All submissions are fairly considered by specialist and diverse teams of British and international programmers.

4) The date of entry bears no relation to the selection decision.

5) We regret we cannot give individual feedback on submissions.

6) Where there are cash prizes for the winner of a short film competition, the prize is awarded to the director or shared equally if there is more than one director.

ELIGIBILITY

7) Films must be submitted by 31 July 2026. Film selection decisions are final and no submission fee refunds are possible.

8) Films must be completed after 1 January 2025 to be considered for the competitions.

9) If you have more than one film to submit, you may be eligible for fee discounts for multiple entries - please email for more details.

10) We do not have a student short film competition but if your film school would like to submit multiple films they may be eligible for a discounted submission rate. Please email

11) The duration for feature films is 41 minutes and over, and for short films 40 minutes and under (including credits). Submissions for the screendance and queer shorts categories need to be 20 minutes or under.

12) For the music videos category, LIFF is only able to select submissions made with the permission of the artist whose music is featured.

13) For all submissions not in the English language, we ideally require embedded English descriptive subtitles or otherwise standard subtitles.

14) We can only accept a work-in-progress submission that is nearly completed - for example, where the final sound mix is not yet complete - and it must be completed by 1st September 2026. Please note, we cannot guarantee our programmers can watch an updated version of a film at a later date if they have already considered the film.

15) If you have a film for children and families, it may be more suitable for our sister event Leeds Young Film Festival - please email for more details.

PREMIERE POLICY

16) For feature film competitions, we require a UK Premiere. For features not selected for our competition, we prefer a UK premiere where possible but it is not a requirement. Please email if you would like clarification if your film has already screened or is going to be screened in the UK before LIFF 2026.

17) For short film competitions and other shorts programmes, we do not have a premiere policy.

SELECTED FILMS

18) If your submission is selected, you will be required to provide a DCP of your film. LIFF can help in the creation of a DCP which will be supplied to the filmmaker for a charge to cover the cost of making it.

19) All films will be required to provide subtitles or ideally descriptive subtitles to ensure our ongoing commitment to accessibility.

20) LIFF does not pay screening fees for selected submissions.