Budding filmmakers could win £7,000 in competition held by Bath film festival

Filmmakers are in with a chance of winning £7,000 towards making their dream movie a reality thanks to a competition held by a local film festival. The IMDb Awards hosted by the FilmBath Festival is looking for one-to-ten-page screenplays written by UK filmmakers, and the best one will get £7000 towards producing it, plus £1000's worth of hired equipment.

There's also a New Filmmaker Award, which will crown the best one-to-ten minute film with £2,000 towards producing it, and the £,1000's worth of hired equipment. Festival Director Jasmine Barker thinks the judges will be looking for "innovative and clever and thoughtful" entries.

She also spoke glowingly about the power of film to open minds: "Our strapline is 'seeing the world through a new lens', the idea that you're stepping into someone else's shoes even for a short minute. Film is such a big empathy tool."

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While the panel hasn't been announced yet, previous judges have included The Crown director Philippa Lowthorpe, Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge and IMDb CEO Col Needham. Each award will have film scripts or film shortlisted, with the winners announced at a glitzy awards ceremony.

Jasmine knows the allure of the FilmBath Festival better than most. Before she became director, she was a festivalgoer who discovered the event in 2016.

Jasmine, who graduated from Bath Spa University, believes strongly in the city's potential as a growing part of the film industry: "Bath's very lucky in terms of where we are. We're close to London and Bristol but we have our own USP [Unique Selling Point] as it were."

Indeed, Bath's breath-taking architecture and genteel charm has made it a favourite for film crews. Bridgerton, The Duchess, and Les Mis all shot some of their scenes in the city.

We posed a unique thought experiment to Jasmine: if someone from the distant past who lived in a world without modern technology was shown a film, how would they react? Would they be amazed, frightened, confused?

She said: "They'd just think it was magic. But film is magic!"

The IMDb awards are open for late submissions until Monday, July 1. You can read all the rules and apply online.

The FilmBath Festival is being held between Friday, October 18 and Sunday, October 27 this year.