A new and exciting event will be coming to central Wales this summertime. The Heart of Wales Film Festival, which is in conjunction with its name sake Pride festival, is set to take place this year. The film festival has many categories that people can choose from and enter.
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The film festival will run alongside the Pride festival, which is due to take place on June 25. The one-day event has an exciting schedule, jam-packed with activities free for all the family celebrating 'Rural Pride' including a parade, picnic in the park with drag story-time, stalls in the town square for queer-owned businesses and local allies, performances, talks and lectures on queer issues and a film festival.
The festival, which is running with the acronym 'HOWFFies', will be judged by a panel of leading industry professionals and alongside members of the Heart of Wales Pride Committee. All films are set to be exclusively screened at the Heart of Wales Pride's Cinema Stage.
"So the film fest is free and open to any genre of film, the only stipulations are that submissions are under three minutes and filmed on a smartphone or tablet device. The reason for this is we wanted as few barriers standing in the way of the filmmakers as possible. Pretty much everyone who owns or has access to a phone and hopefully those who may never have thought to make a film before might decide to give it a go," said organisers Luke Bailey and Ella Peel.
"Although submissions are welcome from LGBTQIA+ filmmakers anywhere in the world, our expectation is that it’s those local that will be most engaged with what we are trying to accomplish. It’s the community that we are most passionate about championing. The hope is that lots of tourist and locals attend our Pride, so for us to magnify the lived experience of LGBTQIA+ rural Wales at our film festival is essential.
"We don’t always have the trappings of the city, nor do we want them and that’s something we consciously lean into. It’s what makes Llandovery the wonderful town it is and what will give our Pride its own unique rural flavour. We just have to work to make sure that our submissions reflect that I suppose and it’s what we’ll do. So if any potential rural filmmakers want to get in touch about the festival, we are always available.
"We have some exciting announcement with regards to who will be judging our films so make sure you’re following our socials for those updates. We’ve made sure that the judging panel are not only brilliant artists, carving successful careers in the film industry but also identify as LGBTQIA+. This was essential to us because we wanted our competition to, not simply be judged by incredible talent, but through a prism of authenticity that highlights the possibilities for emerging LGBTQIA+ talent." To keep up to date with the latest what's on news from across Wales subscribe to our dedicated newsletter here.
