Submissions are now open for the fourth edition of SET Film Festival, an independent, grassroots platform for contemporary, artist, and archival film held annually at SET Social, our arts and social club in Peckham.
Unfolding weekly across the month of November, the festival brings together emerging and established artists through a programme rooted in affordability, accessibility and exchange.
As we prepare for the 2026 edition, we’re inviting filmmakers and artists from around the world to submit short films of all genres for this year’s programme, running from 5 November to 3 December 2026.
A festival shaped through dialogue
Founded in 2023 by Amina Ali, Ellie Dobbs and Verity Monroe as part of SET’s wider arts and community programme, SET Film Festival has grown from a locally rooted initiative into an evolving international platform for experimental practice, new voices and expanded cinematic forms.
Each edition is shaped through the open call, placing documentary, narrative and artists’ moving-image practices into dialogue across a month of themed film nights. Rather than following a fixed theme, the programme emerges through the relationships between works themselves.
Alongside a curated short film programme, the festival includes a feature film presentation and a free archival film and performance night, where historical material meets present-day concerns.
Recent editions have explored questions around institutions, collective voice and counter-hegemonic resistance, reflecting the evolving urgencies and imaginaries of participating artists.
In 2024, the festival presented Kaouther Ben Hania’s feature film, Four Daughters (2024) alongside curated short programmes and a free archival evening organised in support of Peckham’s ACA campaign.
That archival night examined singing as both protest and connection, combining historical film material from the Yorkshire Film Archive and the Screen and Sound Archive at the National Library of Wales with live choral performance and public discussion.
The 2025 programme continued this trajectory through screenings, such as State of the Nation and A Bridge Has Two Ends, exploring the fragility of public institutions, political dissent and speculative resistance.
Works including Rhea Storr’s Okay Keskidee! Let Me See Inside (2025) reflected on the legacy of Black organising in London through material experimentation with film; while John Smith’s Being John Smith (2024) used his trademark sardonic humour to construct an alternative self-biography exploring identity, artistic legacy and shared commonality.
About the open call
We welcome short films across all genres, including animation, documentary, drama, experimental cinema, essay film and artists’ moving image.
Submissions are free and open internationally.
Eligible films must:
- Be under 30 minutes in length
- Completed after 1 January 2023
- One submission per artist.
Deadline: Sunday 7 June 2026, 23:59pm (BST).
Full eligibility criteria and required materials can be found in the submission guidelines.
Submission guidelinesHow to submit
All films must be submitted via the online submission form.
Applicants will be asked to provide a secure viewing link, production details, still images and clips, and accessibility information to help us prepare inclusive screenings.
Viewing links must remain active until the end of September 2026.
Accessibility and Inclusion
SET Film Festival is committed to accessibility and inclusivity across both programming and submissions.
To support accessible screenings, we ask filmmakers to provide information such as subtitle availability, caption files and sensory considerations. This allows us to prepare screenings with diverse audiences in mind.
We also actively encourage submissions from filmmakers working across diverse cultural, geographic and economic contexts, including those outside mainstream industry structures.
If you have specific access needs or questions regarding submission, please feel free to contact the festival team directly at filmfestival@setspace.uk
Submit your film
If you are working on a short film and looking for platform rooted in artistic exchange and dialogue, we’d love to see your work.
Submissions close Sunday 7 June 2026 at 23:59pm (BST).
Follow @set.filmfestival for updates or sign up to our mailing list for programme announcements.
Feature poster by Ashley Kinnard Studio.