Lived Perspectives (3)

Festival start: 15 October 2025      Festival end: 15 October 2025

Lived Perspectives is a film festival for short films made or co-produced by filmmakers who identify as disabled, neurodivergent, or mad. All submissions must include a short description of how your film meets the requirements.

The 3rd edition of Lived Perspectives will be open for submissions on Wednesday 24th April 2024.

Please note that the screening event will be taking place in October 2025. The submission period is longer than usual to allow our small but dedicated team to make very exciting plans for the future.

Thank you so much to everyone who submitted their work to our 2024 competitions. Every film we received left us with something unforgettable, whether it was an image, an emotional moment, the honesty, the sense of ambition, or the love of filmmaking. We would love to hear from you in the future, telling your stories on your own terms.

Best Film
Best Student Film
Audience Award

If you are considering entering your film for competition when submissions open, please ensure that you read the terms & conditions of the festival first.

Lived Perspectives is a non-profit community interest company. Our payment options reflect how we aim to make our festival as open and accessible as we can.

1. Submission for those on a low income/struggling to manage their daily expenses and for students is $5. Those on a low income can submit for the Best Film competition using the student price option.

2. We ask that those who can afford to pay the full price of $13 to do so. You will be helping us to finance future editions of Lived Perspectives and support other members of our community.

We also have a limited number of fee waivers for those unable to pay the student/low income option for the Best Film category, to be considered contact us at contact@livedperspectives.co.uk

Lived Perspectives provides stage for filmmakers who identify as disabled, neurodivergent, or mad to share their perspectives and experiences. It is a space for engaging with new viewpoints and ways of viewing disability and difference, challenging stereotypes, and promoting a forum for self-representation.

Maximum submission length is 30 minutes.

All films selected for screening must have burned in subtitles.

At our first edition we had an extended Q&A with celebrated multimedia artist and anti-discrimination activist, Dolly Sen. We also screened films by Steven Fraser and Mindwick.

At our second screening we awarded work by Ray Jacobs, Connor Love and Matt Warlow.

Awards & Prizes
Best Film

This category is open to films made or co-produced by filmmakers who identify as disabled, neurodivergent, or mad. All submissions must include a short description of how your film meets the requirements.

All films submitted will be considered for the Best Film award. The winning film will be chosen by our panel of judges.

Best Student Film

This category is open to films made or co-produced by filmmakers who identify as disabled and/or neurodivergent and who are currently students. All submissions must include a short description of how your film meets the requirements (including your place of study).

All films submitted by students will be considered for both the Best Student Film and Best Film awards. The winning film will be chosen by our panel of judges.

Audience award

All films officially selected for screening on the day of the festival will be eligible for the Audience Award. As the name suggests, the audience will choose their favourite film at the end of the event.

Rules & Terms
Please find below the terms & conditions for the 2025 Lived Perspectives film competitions.

Submission deadline: 1st September 2025
Festival date: 15th October 2025

By submitting your film into the 2024 Lived Perspectives film competition, via any platform, you are agreeing to the following Terms & Conditions.

1. Categories & Submission Criteria
a) The competitions comprise of the Best Film, Best Student Film and Audience Award categories. Films selected for screening at the festival will be automatically eligible for the Audience Award category which will be selected by an audience vote at the end of the festival.

b) Lived Perspectives welcomes all genres of films for competition as long as they meet the eligibility criteria, as well as adhering to the general Terms & Conditions laid out in this document.

c) To be eligible for Best Film and Best Student Film, films must be no longer than 30 minutes in length, including credits.

d) To be eligible for Best Film and Best Student Film, films must be made or co-produced by filmmakers who identify as disabled, neurodivergent, or mad. All submissions must be accompanied by a short description of how the film meets this requirement.

e) To be eligible for Best Student Film, films must be made or co-produced by filmmakers who identify as disabled, neurodivergent or mad who are also current students (this can be at any level of education). Submitters must promptly produce official proof of their status of current student upon request.

f) Production on the film must have been completed after 1st January 2020.

g) Films that are promoting a product or service are not eligible for any category.

h) Films in a foreign language must be subtitled in English. All films selected for screening must have burned in subtitles.

i) By submitting to the Lived Perspectives film competition filmmakers are giving permission for their film to be screened at Lived Perspectives live screenings, without charge to the festival.

j) Lived Perspectives reserves the right to use any images and film clips submitted for competition for marketing purposes, both in print and online, without prior permission from the filmmaker. Material may be adapted or edited as Lived Perspectives sees fit for the purposes of promoting the festival. Lived Perspectives will not make films available to the public (except for screenings which form part of the festival and clips for promotion) without prior permission from the filmmaker.

2. Submission & Fees
a) There is no limit on how many films a filmmakers may submit. They will be charged per film.

b) Lived Perspectives does not have the capability to offer refunds to filmmakers whose films are not accepted to competition, for any reason whatsoever.

c) The deadline for submitting entries is 1st September 2025. Any entries submitted after this time may still be charged but will not be eligible for competition.

3. Intellectual Property, Legal Claims and Indemnities
By submitting the film to Lived Perspectives, the Applicant and Film Owners (the “Submitting Parties”) hereby warrant and represent that:

a) the Film is wholly original and is not copied from and does not include any other work that is the subject of copyright or other protection, unless such work is in the public domain or the Submitting Parties have obtained any and all consents, releases, licenses, and other authorizations or waivers of any kind necessary for the inclusion or reproduction of any person, character, location, thing, trademark, sound recording, musical composition, or other work in the Film;

b) the Film does not defame any person or violate the common law or statutory rights, including, without limitation, the rights of privacy and publicity or any other right of any person;

c) the Film is not the subject of litigation, nor any dispute which would give rise to litigation;

d) there are no agreements, nor will there be any agreements made subsequent to the date of this Film submission, that would or could have the effect of impairing the Submitting Parties’ ability to provide the Film as contemplated herein, or otherwise conflict with any provision of these Terms;

(e) the Submitting Parties have the full right, power, and authority to submit the Film to Lived Perspectives for Festival consideration, and to grant all of the rights granted hereunder and in the Festhome registration form, and there is no obligation or restriction which would in any way impair, limit, or impede the Submitting Parties from fully performing all obligations pursuant to the submission and these Terms.

4. Lived Perspectives reserves the right to exclude from competition any films or material that it deems offensive or defamatory. No discussion will be entered into and the festival’s decision is final.

5. Films may only be submitted using online platforms. Film files of those films selected for screening (films in the Official Selection) must be provided as .mp4; .m4v or .mov. DCP files only on request from the festival.

6. Films that are chosen for screenings will be screened digitally. We will contact you regarding this if your film is chosen for screening, and expect a suitably formatted film to be made available to Lived Perspectives in time for screening.

7. The decision of Lived Perspectives is final and no conversation will be entered in to regarding placement of films in the competition.

8. Information provided in the application form will be used solely by Lived Perspectives and will not be passed on to any third parties. Prizes are subject to change without notice.

9. These Terms and Conditions are subject to change without notice.