Gay Times and MUBI are joining forces to find and celebrate the next generation of filmmakers who are championing cinematic queer storytelling. Here’s how to submit your short film for the chance to have your work seen, supported and recognised.
Queer cinema has captured first kisses and final goodbyes, chosen families and fractured ones, desire, yearning, joy, shame, protest and possibility. It has given us characters who refuse to be easily understood and stories that stretch far beyond familiar comingout narratives. At its best, queer cinema shows life in all its beauty and chaos.
Now, Gay Times and MUBI are coming together once again to find the filmmakers shaping what queer cinema could become next.
The Gay Times & MUBI Queer Short Film Prize is an open call for emerging directors with an original story to tell. We are inviting filmmakers to submit short films that explore queer life in all its richness: intimate, political, tender, funny, strange, uncomfortable, euphoric or entirely unexpected.
Three short films will be selected for a special London showcase event in November this year, with each of the three winning directors receiving:
The prize is looking for directors with a clear creative voice, rather than a long list of credits or access to a major production budget. A great short film can be expansive or stripped back, meticulously polished or purposefully raw. It can unfold across a city or take place entirely in one room.
For directors in the queer community, making the work is only part of the challenge. Finding the funding, connections and platforms required to reach an audience can prove equally difficult, particularly for filmmakers at the beginning of their careers.
The Queer Short Film Prize has been created to help close that gap.
Gay Times has spent over four decades documenting queer culture, amplifying LGBTQIA+ voices and championing the people moving our community forward. MUBI has built a global home for distinctive, ambitious and carefully curated cinema and has released films by many LGBTQIA+ directors including Céline Sciamma, Lukas Dhont and Emma Seligman. Together, Gay Times and MUBI want to give the emerging filmmakers who are committed to platforming LGBTQ+ storytelling the opportunity to place their work in front of an audience that cares deeply about the future of film.
We are interested in what you have to say and how only you could say it. Your film does not need to represent every corner of the LGBTQIA+ experience. In fact, the strongest stories are often the most specific. We are looking for work with emotional truth, creative ambition and a perspective that stays with us after the credits roll.
Submissions are open to emerging filmmakers who have not directed a first feature film, have been residents of the UK or Ireland for at least 2 years, and are available to attend the London showcase in November (travel and accommodation not provided).
Submitted Short films must be completed after January 1st 2025, and adhere to the theme Queer Life: The Beauty and the Chaos. Films must be between 10 - 20 minutes and submitted by Friday 14th of August 23:59.
To enter, click here to complete the submission form. Make sure to read the full terms and conditions, including information about eligibility, rights, accessibility requirements and key dates.
Queer cinema has never waited for permission. It has emerged from bedrooms, clubs, collectives, community centres and borrowed cameras. It has survived censorship, rejection and underfunding because queer people have continued to insist that our lives are worthy of attention.
Your film could be part of that lineage, and part of whatever comes next.
Enter the Gay Times & MUBI Queer Short Film Prize now via this link.
Get inspired by MUBI’s Pride Unprejudiced Collection, with 30 days free mubi.com/gaytimesprize
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