Judging

Every short entered into our festival is watched in its entirety. All shorts in our festival are judged via open submissions.

All finalist shorts vying for BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM are judged by our VIP jury, which is selected annually. Their decision is final.

If there is a need to decide between multiple shorts to be selected for Official Selection with the same scoring, the decision will be deferred to the lead programmer and festival director to review the results.

FILMFREEWAY

We utilise FilmFreeway as our platform for submissions and for judging, which allows us to rate every short on the following categories: Originality/creativity, Direction, Writing/Screenplay, Cinematography, Casting, Performances of the Actors, and Production Values.

Feedback

Any filmmaker who asks for feedback will be offered it from the festival by one or more judges.

Screenings

Every year City Lights takes place in London at cinemas and venues with live screenings of the shorts that are in the Official Selection and Competition. The competition shorts are screened as part of the gala and awards ceremony on the last night of the festival in November.

Inclusion and diversity

We operate under a strict policy of zero tolerance of discrimination against any filmmaker or cast member due to their religion, gender, race, or sexual orientation. See our inclusion policy for more information.

OUR PROGRAMME TAKES PLACE ANNUALLY

City Lights has been taking place since 2015 with an annual programme. Films can be submitted to compete in the festival via FilmFreeway when submissions are open, and in line with the rules outlined on Film

We host our event annually in front of a live audience of filmmakers, guests, industry VIPs, press, and reviewers, and the general public.

NOTIFICATIONS

All entrants into TweetFest will be notified if they are successful or not. We respect our filmmakers and ensure that every entrant receives clear communication from our team. Furthermore, we are happy to offer feedback to any filmmaker who requests it.

Proudly part of the AIFF

We are proud to be part of the AIFF, and we adhere to the strict guidelines in place for all members of the association. AIFF is an association created by film festivals, for the filmmakers – Empowering Filmmakers, Enriching Festivals: Embracing Independent Vision.

BIFA QUALIFYING

We are BIFA qualifying, which means that if your film screens as part of our City Lights Film Festival, and one other BIFA qualifying festival, you can enter your short into the BIFA for consideration. Find out more.

I was over the moon to be a part of Tweetfest 2021, our film ‘This is Zoe’ received the Audience Award and many nominations. Angela and everyone involved were very warm and welcoming. I will be definitely submitting my next film to this festival. Thank you Tweetfest for all your support!!

Hayley Reeve

AMAZING festival! Had a fantastic time at TweetFest Gala Screening & Awards night. Delighted for our short film THIS LITTLE GIRL to be In Competition for Best UK Short Film & absolutely thrilled our lead actress won the BEST ACTRESS Award.

Annette Westwood

A really great event! We met some very talented film-makers in a great venue. Delighted to have our film shown and receive recognition. I had never been before but I was impressed with how well everything was run. Will definitely be submitting again in the future. Thanks for having us!

Vince Shiels