Osprey Short Film Awards - Now Accepting Entries

We are now accepting entries for the 2027 Osprey Short Film Awards. Once again we are looking for new short films, under 15 minutes with a link to Cumbira. A selection of the best films will be shown at the Film Festival in March. For full details on how to enter please visit our Shorts page.

Osprey Winners Announced

Congratulations to all of the short films that were screened at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday afternoon. What a wonderful selection of shorts showcasing amazing Cumbrian talent spanning genres, themes and styles.

Many thanks to Anwen, Lady Hurt for joining us and presenting the inaugural John Hurt Award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking to Dougal Vecqueray for MRI as voted for by the audience. BLACKPOOL by Stephen Gallacher got the second highest number of votes followed by DEAR HEART by Emily Barnard & Sara Barnes.

The judges prize in the Open Category went to MEAT RAFFLE by Stuart Armstrong, building on his success of winning the Audience Award last year for Lay-By.

The Student Prize was awarded to MRI by Dougal Vecqueray, a wonderful animation made at the Aardman Academy based on his own hospital experiences dealing with a heart condition.

MRI will be screened before the sold out closing film at the Festival on Sunday evening.

Thanks to the team at the Theatre By The Lake for all their hard word getting the films on the big screen.

Osprey Short Film Award to Commemorate Sir John Hurt

We are delighted to announce that Anwen, widow of KFF Patron the late Sir John Hurt, will be the guest of honour at this year’s Festival when she presents the Osprey Short Film Awards at the ceremony on Saturday 21 March.

Lady Hurt will present the inaugural John Hurt Award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking along with the Open and Student Awards. Formerly the Audience Award, the John Hurt Award will continue to be voted for by the enthusiastic audience of filmmakers and festival-goers at the ceremony.

Lady Hurt commented: “With a long and varied career, John was a strong advocate for independent film. It’s a personal delight to present the newly named Award in honour of John, a fitting way to remember his passion for helping and inspiring the next generation.”

Ten films have been shortlisted in the 2026 Open and Student categories and feature a diverse array of genres, from charming stop-motion animations and documentaries to bold queer cinema and surrealist student work. The selection takes us on a journey from the delicate ecosystems of the Duddon Estuary to the neon-lit chaos of Blackpool. We see the world through the eyes of red squirrels, young skaters, and even a reanimated postman.

Osprey Short Film Awards - Now Accepting Entries

We are now accepting entries for the 2026 Osprey Short Film Awards. We are looking for films with a Cumbrian connection (e.g made in Cumbria or by Cumbrians), made after 2024 and under 15 minutes. For full details on how to enter please visit our Shorts page.

Scores & Awards

That was quite an Anniversary!

Thank you to all of you who came to Keswick last weekend to make it such an enjoyable weekend. It is always lovely to see people renewing acquaintanceships 12 months on – and to welcome so many new faces to KFF.

There was an incredible range of films on offer, which made it hard to choose at times – and the scores reflected the quality of the films in the programme.

Eventually, it was The Marching Band that took the audience award – the third consecutive year that a film at Rheged has taken the prize. The Monk and the Gun wasn’t far behind. You can see the Top 15 films here on the website.

The Ospreys continue to amaze with their demonstration of film-making prowess. The selection gets better each year – and what a treat to have Ian Picken, KFF’s first Festival Director, to announce the Audience Award was won by Stuart Armstrong for Lay-by. Harvey Greenfield director Jonnie Howard presented the Student Award to Asa Pegler for It Get's Better and the Open Award went to Juliet Klottrup for Travelling Home, which if you missed can now be seen on the Nowness platform.

Osprey Short Film Award Winners

Congratulations to all of the short films that were screened at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday afternoon. 

David and Michael Groom, the brothers behind Between The Lights which opened the Festival to a sold out full house on Thursday, announced the winners. The Student Prize (which is for any film made by students or film makers under the age of 19) went to MISJUDGED. Crafted by the creative minds of first-time filmmakers aged 8-11 at Signal Starters it features a plasticine seagull and a tentacled sea-witch who come together to share tales of hasty judgments.

Signal Film & Media were also behind WISHBONE which picked up the judges prize in the Open category and the Audience Award voted for by the 100 plus people who came along to watch the films. This film is a heartfelt journey through the life of a determined Barrovian living on Duke Street and you can now watch it for free here: https://signalfilmandmedia.com/wishbone/

Many thanks also to Caris Rianne from Rianne Pictures and the Women X Film Festival who joined the judging panel this year and did a brilliant job of hosting the event on Saturday and to all the team at the Theatre for getting the films on the big screen. 

Osprey Short Film Awards 2024

Our judges have selected 9 films for the 2024 Osprey Short Film Awards which will be screened at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday 2nd March from 2pm. Those in attendance will get the chance to vote for the audience award alongside the prizes awarded by the judges.

The films all have a link to Cumbria and the selection includes animations, documentaries, dramas and comedies. Expect to see a seagull and tentacled sea-witch, the end of The Great War, the nuances of body language, an untethered water spirit, an unusual audition, a life changing experience, a Barrovians' memories, secrets and Carlisle gangsters.

More details on all of the films can be found on our Shorts page.

Osprey Short Film Award Winners

Congratulations to all of the short films that were screened at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday afternoon. The Judges Prize was awarded to MOVING WITH by Jonny Randall, a short film which captures the precious moment in time between mother and son and their local landscape. Featuring dance artist Lucy Nicholson and her son Benji in their home village of Staveley. Jonny and Lucy collected the award from Winners' director Hassan Nazer.

The audience selected THE CHAMELEON WOLF for the Audience Award which was announced by Sarah Beddington the director of Fadia's Tree. This charming animation about a flatulent wolf cub who gets lost in the forest was made by 8-11 year olds at a Signal Starters Film-in-a-week workshop. The work of Jorgie, Byron, Jon Joe, Ruby, Benjamin, Imogen, Isla, Darcy, Laila & Mila filled the theatre with laughter.

Osprey Short Film Awards 2023

Our judges have selected 10 films for the 2023 Osprey Short Film Awards which will be screened at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday 25th February from 2pm. There'll be a chance to vote for the audience award on the day and we hope to be joined by directors Sarah Beddington (Fadia's Tree, showing before the Ospreys at 11am) and Hassan Nazer (Winners, Friday 24th at 9pm) to announce the winners.

The films all have a link to Cumbria and the selection includes animations, documentaries, dramas and comedies. Expect to see a flatulent wolf cub, mysterious strangers, explorations of memory through sound, running a Wainwright, dancing in nature, life contemplations, memories from artist Kurt Schwitters, an important look at virtue signalling and the work of the Wild Ennerdale partnership.

More details on all of the films can be found on our Shorts page.

Osprey Short Film Awards 2023 - Still Open For Entries

Have you made a short film with a Cumbrian connection? If so it could be part of Keswick Film Festival next year. We're looking for new short films under 10 minutes and you have until the end of the year to submit. A panel of judges will select a number of films to show at the Festival and award prizes. For more details see our webpage or FilmFreeway page.

Osprey Short Film Award Winners

Around 100 people turned up to the Osprey Short Film Awards on Saturday afternoon at the Theatre By The Lake. The 10 shortlisted films were screened along with two new short films from director Carl Hunter.

The judges prize was awarded to MIDAIR by Louis-Jack, a bouldering film featuring some of the UK's strongest climbers in iconic Lake District locations, set to a pumping techno soundtrack.

The audience selected RAMBLER MAN directed by Angus Imrie for the Audience Award. Written, produced and starring cumbrian native Ewan Pollitt who collected the award. The film, also starring Tim Bentinck (best known for his long-running role on the radio as David Archer) explores mental health, masculinity and our emotional connections with the great outdoors.

More Short Films For Saturday

On Saturday 26th March, in association with the Osprey Short Film Awards, long-time friend of the festival Carl Hunter (Sometimes Always Never, Grow Your Own) will be showing two of his short films. In More Than Time he documents the streets of Liverpool as they have never been seen before. During lockdown, anonymous messages about 'missing and memory'; were left on an answer machine. These ghostly messages float above still photographs of an empty Liverpool. The film is a place where memory populates the streets of a once vibrant city, instead of its people. 

He will also be screening Still Rings a poetic reflection to the second lockdown in the COVID pandemic, in the company of award winning poet Jacqueline Saphra. Carl took a photograph from the same place on Crosby beach every day and Jacqueline wrote a poem every day. Words and pictures take us on a journey where sound is used to reimagine memory, creating sonic ghosts that serve to help us remember what we were missing.

Osprey Short Films 2022

The judging panel has chosen 10 short films to screen at the Theatre by the Lake on Saturday 26th March. All of the films have a connection to Cumbria, whether that be on screen or behind the camera. The films range in length from a little over one minute to eleven minutes and cover an eclectic mix of subjects - running, walking and bouldering in the Lakes, a study of the Duddon Valley, stories of friendship and relationships, living with and alongside dementia and the modern-day disaster that is losing your mobile phone! 

Official Selection 2022

• A Perfect Day For Piracy by Pete Winterbottom (5 mins 26 secs)
• I Think I Know My Own Mind by Ronald Amanze, Jilly Jarman & Sarah Wallcook (5 mins 4 secs)
• #HELLP! by M J Poynton (5 mins 30 secs)
• Midair by Louis-Jack (4 mins)
• Rambler Man by Angus Imrie (11 mins 22 secs)
• Sing To Encounter Me by Laurence Campbell (8 mins 55 secs)
• Tender Buttons by Kitty Handley (8 mins 21 secs)
• The Show by Richard Rowden (9 mins 18 secs)
• Touching The Water by Hannah Maia, Maia Media (7 mins)
• War Torn by Luke Bain & Alexander Dodds (1 mins 3 secs)

More details on all these films can be found on our Osprey page.

Osprey Short Film Award Winners

There may not have been a Keswick Film Festival in 2021 but the Osprey Short Film Awards still went ahead. Entries for the competition were invited back in March 2020 and despite the difficulties of working for much of the year with lockdown restrictions Cumbrian filmmakers responded magnificently in both the Student and Open categories. 

The 12 shortlisted films were shown at the Alhambra on the 23rd October and prizes were awarded to Shadow Of The Mountain by Simon Phelps in the Open category and The Love Song Of T. S. Eliot by Kitty Handley in the Student category.

Shadow Of The Mountain

The Love Song Of T.S Eliot

We are now accepting entries for the 2022 Festival due to take place 24-27 March, for more details please see our FilmFreeway page.

Osprey Short Film Awards Shortlist

We'll be holding this year's Osprey Short Film Awards on Saturday 23rd October 1:30pm at the newly reopened Alhambra. A limited number of free tickets will be available for this socially distanced event.

The following 12 films have been selected covering a number of genres and styles, budgets and technical resources and all showcasing imagination and creativity in under 10 minutes.

2021 Official Selection

• 'Accidental Death' of a Young Black Londoner, The Case of Rashan Charles - Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi
• After The Rain - Lorna de Mello
• All In A Day's Work - Jay Gilmour
• Flames Tear The Soul - Tizzy Canucci
• Of Friction and Gravity - Richard Skelton
• Pandemotion - Kit Taylor
• Shadow of the Mountain - Simon Phelps
• Surplus Women - Lucy Atkinson
• The Catfish Club - BFI Film Academy 19-20 with Signal Film & Media
• The Love Song Of T. S. Eliot - Kitty Handley
• The Not So Super Man - Joel Sheldrake
• What Goes 'round... - Joshua Alexander

More details of all of the films can be found on our website https://www.keswickfilm.org/festival/shorts

2020 Osprey Short Film Award Winners

More than 100 people came along to the Alhambra on Saturday afternoon to watch a selection of short films. Directors Richard Heap and Mike Tweddle, whose films opened the festival on Thursday evening, handed out the prizes.

The audience selected CROSS by Gillian Harker for the Audience Award and the Judges awarded their prizes to LEARNER by the Signal Film and Media BFI Film Academy group in the Student category and A PINK CHRISTMAS by Adam Ibbotson in the Open category.

Many thanks to all who came along and to the film makers for creating an amazing selection of films.

Osprey Winners

More than a hundred people came along to watch the Osprey Short Film Awards on Saturday afternoon. Directors James Gardner (Jellyfish) and Mike Tweddle (Sparrowhawk) helped hand out the certificates to all of the filmmakers.

The main prizes were awarded as follows:

Open Category: A Mercy Kill by Richard Skelton
Student Category: Cake by Alana Barton
Audience Award: Holding Space by Rebecca Kenyon

You can find more details about all of the films on our website and photos from the event are available on our Facebook Page.

Osprey Short Film Awards 2017

We are now accepting entries for the 2017 Osprey Short Film Awards at the 18th Keswick Film Festival. To be considered for the awards a film must

• Have a significant connection to Cumbria or Keswick Film Festival
• Be no more than 10 minutes long.
• Have been completed during 2016

For full details on all the rules and how to enter please visit the Short Film Awards section of the website.

Osprey Short Films 18 & Under Winner: The Eletheromaniac and the Nostalgic

Watch the winning short film in the 18 & Under category from Harriet Wigginton and read about it in the Times & Star.

The Eletheromaniac and the Nostalgic from Hatty Wigginton on Vimeo.

Osprey Short Films Open Category Winner: Mourning

Watch the winning short film in the Open category, Mourning by N. Andrew Elliot.