1st NSF, UK - Summer 2026

The first NSF will debut at "Biscuit Town", Reading, UK. A cultural haven that is located a short twenty minutes, one-stop ride, from London Paddington. Applications will open December/25 on Film Freeway.

A little about our location: The Locally Famous Biscuit Factory
Once the home of the largest biscuit factory in the entire world, now a three-screen cinema, bar, coffee shop, live performance space and community hub situated at the heart of Reading’s town centre. We couldn't be happier to have such a hyper-local space to kick-off this initiative and shape up the blueprint for what NSF can become.
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Amazing screening rooms equipped with top-quality projection and sound.

Amazing screening rooms equipped with top-quality projection and sound.

Workshop space, for the Filmmakers' exchange workshop.

An unique, hyper-local, fully trendy and London-accessible cinema space.

NSF core principles:

No profit, no barrier, shared costs: NonDe is about grassroots and collectively building bridges.
At NSF there is only a small donation at submission stage to cover handling, and even this small donation is turned into value to all. The filmmakers that are selected to screen pay the event contribution. The contribution goes straight into real costs: cinema hire, projection, running the event. Everything is done with a small team of chapter founders. Costs are shared transparently with the filmmakers and everything goes towards the event. There is no profit. ‍

Rejection into participation: NonDe is about inclusion.
‍Non-selected filmmakers receive their money back in value and perks such as access to free tickets, one week private online access (post event) to the shorts, recording access to the lab that takes place during the festival, and access to the Community Film Lab toolbox.  

‍Hyper-local and replicable: NonDe is about going local, first.
We are starting with the UK edition, first event is open for UK short films. Then we will be using the learnings to set up a replicable blueprint (think TEDx), so more organizers can replicate the initiative and ignite their own local, regional, NSF editions. The goal is harnessing the full power of micro-community collaboration.

‍Focus on shorts: The NonDe mindset should be ingrained early.
Shorts are where most filmmakers start. This is where we want NSF to focus on. We feel there is the need to lay strong foundations, early, so filmmakers can feel supported and gain confidence in the early-stages.

Peer to Peer learnings: NonDe is about peer-guidance.
We want the festival to have a strong peer to peer educational drive, leveraging the potential of open and honest post-mortem filmmaking sharing sessions. These labs will be organized as a real exchange arena where people can learn, connect and leave feeling empowered, knowing they are not alone. These workshops will be in place so filmmakers can share learnings, tools and contacts. This material will feed into the Film Lab toolbox.

Film Lab Toolbox: NonDe is about sharing key resources.
As a result from the exchange labs, at each edition, we will compile a local community toolbox that is accessible to non-selected and selected filmmakers. This toolbox is a direct reflection of the solutions presented by the filmmakers at the Film Lab, and it will grow at every new edition.

‍Local and capped submissions: Filmmakers are constantly frustrated with the fact that festivals sometimes don’t watch their entire film, just check the endless Reddit discussions about Vimeo stats. We will watch every film, even more than once if needed. To be able to do so, we’ll go against the economics and  cap submissions as early as it covers the non-selected perks costs. This way our team can actually handle the films with the TLC they deserve.

‍Audience harvesting model: Our inclusive, no-losers, model is designed to make sure there will be an audience in the room when your film screens. Many short-films that make into festivals end up screening to empty rooms. That's a sad reality no one is talking about. One of the causes being most festivals rely on ticket selling for each block and leave up to the filmmakers to promote that selling. At NSF each film receives a fair amount of tickets so they can bring crew, talent and guests. The remaining tickets are not "box-officed" but, instead, distributed for free to the non-selected filmmakers on a first-come first-served basis (FCFS), which combined with the hyper-local nature of the event, helps raise attendance.

Main benefits:

Non-selected filmmakers receive: .
- Online (post-festival) private access to films for a week.
- Recording access to the "How I've Made It" workshops.
- Free tickets for screening days (FCFS).
- Lifetime access to the community toolbox.

Selected filmmakers receive: 
- Online (post-festival) private access to films for a week.
- Contributes to "How I've Made It" workshops.
- A fair amount of free tickets for crew and talent to attend the full event (not only their screening block).
- Lifetime access to the community toolbox.

Max applications capped to: 300.


A word from the founders: 
‍As you can see, these guiding principles are designed to reinforce accessibility, education and leverage on community exchanges. As filmmakers we feel the same pains, so this is a deeply personal project to us. We feel its time we bundle together and do something about this lose-lose situation we've all been through. So, we've set time aside from our busy schedules to work on this initiative in the hopes of having (even if only a tiny) impact in helping filmmakers to keep filmmaking, and being seen, in a sustainable way.
We will learn and improve the model as we go, always prioritising community interests. If you are interested in organising an NSF in your region, or in getting involved in the first UK edition in any capacity, please reach out to us at su@nondeshortsfestival.com.
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