Barnes Film Festival | UK June 2021

Barnes Film Festival, founded in 2016 by Sam Cullis, is now preparing for its sixth film festival, which takes place in Barnes in June 2020. The festival showcases filmmaking talent from across the UK together with award-winning films from around the world.
Barnes Film Festival celebrates diversity, passion and creativity, and connects all filmmakers – and anybody interested in film – with industry professionals. As well as the Filmmaking Competition, the Festival will host inspiring film events for all, including workshops, discussions, screenings and gatherings, with leading figures from the film, documentary and animation industries. Whether you’re a filmmaker, or a film fan looking to discover something new, there’s something at Barnes Film Festival for you! Come along to the next Festival and be part of something fantastic.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

“Barnes Film Festival will run from 18-25th June and ahead of that, we want to acknowledge our shortcomings as an institution. We acknowledge we are part of the problem, starting by the lack of representation within our own team. Within the film community and industry, access and representation is not fair, not all voices have been heard, not all images have been offered visibility. We acknowledge our responsibility as an institution, and we commit ourselves to do better, and to call on our industry to work with us for this change. It is not enough to show films by Black filmmakers, or to have Black people and communities represented on screen: we need to actively change the rules of the game. We need to work collaboratively: to form coalitions, to resist, and eradicate systemic racism within the film industry.
We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. As a team and as individuals, we will always actively support this struggle. We recognize, in particular for Black colleagues, filmmakers and audiences, for the Black community in London too, this is a particularly painful moment. The pandemic conflates a crisis in the heart of communities that have already been historically oppressed: we are thinking in particular of those who are already vulnerable to this triple threat. We are all responsible for this and no one can withdraw.
This cannot be done in a short turnaround, but it must be done – and it must start now. We commit to do our share – continue to aim to offer safe spaces, respect, love and care to Black filmmakers who participate and contribute to the Festival and to our Black colleagues who work with us everyday. This is even more crucial now – under the pandemic – we are carefully crafting ways to self-care whilst caring for others, and to resist perpetuating the cycle.
Whilst we know this is not enough and there is a long way to go, in our home, in our work, in our hearts, within our communities, we invite everyone to take part in this change. We want to give a platform to those filmmakers who are addressing these issues in their films, and we want to support the Black filmmakers living in the UK.
Like BlackLivesMatter, we affirm the diversity across the intersections of Black life, and encourage everyone to do the same.”

Barnes Film Festival Team

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