Initiative · Shot on Film

What stops a first-time filmmaker shooting on 35mm is the camera, the lab and the crew. A social impact film competition, free to enter, developed alongside Story to Screen.

The take costs money while it is running, so the rehearsal matters and the discussion happens before the roll.

The 35mm camera stood on the Richard Attenborough Stage at Pinewood during the 2026 Futures Festival, students in department roles around it. Stock and lab through Kodak, camera through Panavision, scanning with Digital Orchard.

The camera, the stock, the lab route and a crew who have done it, with camera tests and a test roll before the shoot. The full list is confirmed each time the competition opens.

Anyone over 18 in the UK. No degree, credit, production company or previous film needed.

No fee. Not a polished script: a story, a reason, and who it is for. Shortlisted entrants get development support, then camera tests.

Camera built up on a slider, crew working behind

What happens, in your own words. A page is plenty.

You keep your copyright; we ask for a licence to show the film and to promote the competition with it. What is judged, and by whom, is published before you enter. Register your interest and you are told when the window opens.

Ten pages in the order the work happens, free and open: the decision, development, budget and schedule, technical prep, rehearsal, the load, the shoot day, the lab, the scan, and the negative. Written for people who already work in the industry and have never worked on celluloid.