Big Syn Institute and London’s Piccadilly Lights, are inviting films in between 59s to 5 min in duration to be screened on Piccadilly Lights as part of the current edition of Big Syn International Film Festival. Winning film/s will be screened on Piccadilly Lights in November.

The entries could be stories or opinions of change, resilience and adaptability covering all major global or local issues such as climate change, poverty, cost of living crisis, war, injustice, discrimination, disability, mental health, and many more. Individuals (13+ yrs), filmmakers, schools, students, organisations, families, charities, neighbourhoods and communities can submit films 59s – 5 min until the official deadline. Public voting starts in October. Please follow us on Instagram to stay updated.

Please go through the detailed information about submitting entries and social media engagement required for public voting of entries.

IMPORTANT: The Piccadilly Lights Screen has no audio. So, please ensure all entries have closed caption subtitles or text overlay if it has any dialogues in it. If you need some help or guidance with these, please feel free to contact us here before you submit your films.

For all submissions of this category, please follow the instructions below after you have submitted your entry/entries (using option A or B below) to receive the attention of the Jury and public support, to maximise your chances of winning.

IMPORTANT: In submitting to this category, you agree to screen your film in full or in part at the discretion of Big Syn Institute and Piccadilly Lights with our without the other prize winner/s and for publicity of the film festival. 

The winners are selected by public voting and then by the Jury of the Piccadilly Lights Spotlight Prize.
Shortlisted videos will be published on Instagram for voting. Winner/s will be chosen from the most liked videos, by the jury members.

Types of films accepted;
– Micro shorts
– Experimental videos
– Charity films
– Educational videos
– Public service videos
– Trailers of short films, feature films, animations and documentaries
– Social media videos

After you have submitted your entry using either options (A or B) below, please could you;

1. Follow the social media accounts of Piccadilly Lights and Big Syn International Film Festival to stay updated about screening and voting schedules:

Instagram: @piccadillylights & @bigsyn_film_festival
Twitter: @PicLights & @londonbigsynff
Facebook: @PiccadillyLightsW1 & @londonbigsynfilmfest

2. Upload a short clip of your film on your Instagram account, use hashtags #piccadillyspotlight and #bigsynfilmfest[last2 digits of the year] and tag @piccadillylights & @bigsyn_film_festival in the comments/caption of the post, to announce your participation for the Piccadilly Lights Spotlight Prize. Ask your friends and followers to like the clips so that they can vote for the video/s when voting opens. More the supporters tagged and asked to follow the accounts, more are the chances to get votes and win the category. 

Please submit your films as applicable below: Option A or B;

A) If you are a professional filmmaker and have a FilmFreeway.com account, please use the link below to submit your film for the Piccadilly Lights Spotlight Prize. Please ensure you follow the instructions above as well.

B) If you do not have a FilmFreeway.com account please submit your film using the form below. 
Please ensure you follow the instructions above as well. Please leave a space between the links of your video/s when submitting multiple videos using the form below.