The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. It is a qualifying event for both the BAFTA and BIFA awards. Historically, the festival took place in early July, but now it occurs annually during autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambridge Film Trust.
Established in 1977 and re-launched in 2001 after a 5-year hiatus, the Cambridge Film Festival shows a range of UK and international films that debuted at leading film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival, as well as hosting UK premieres of films, alongside a broad range of specialist interest, archive, and retrospective strands. All films are open to the public to watch.
Long-time Festival Director, Tony Jones, stepped down following the 2019 Festival.
For almost 40 years, he oversaw all aspects of the Festival after joining in 1980.
Following his departure, a new programming panel was set up, incorporating new and existing CFF programmers.
The Panel was fully established in 2022 under the leadership of Elle Haywood, a film curator and critic with a background in film, media and technology, and includes programmers Savina Petkova, Amon Warmann, Ramon Lamarca, the panel is supported by Short Film Programmer Abby Pollock and several Programme Advisors.
Awards Each year, the Cambridge Film Festival presents several audience and Jury awards.
Since 2019 the Festival has also awarding the Youth Lab Jury Award, and the CFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award.
Cambridge Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award 2024 - Daniel Kaluuya - Actor and director 2023 - Asif Kapadia - Director and documentarian 2022 - Emma Thompson - Actor and screenwriter 2020 - No award 2019 - Tony Jones - Festival director
Golden Punt Jury Award - Best Discovery Feature
2025 - Sleepless City by Guillermo Galoe. 2024 - Nebelkind - The End of Silence by Tereza Kotyk
Audience Award - Best Fiction Feature 2025 - Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day by Ivona Juka 2024 - Nebelkind - The End of Silence by Tereza Kotyk 2023 - Creatura by Elena Martín Gimeno 2022 - Little Nicholas, Happy As Can Be by Amandine Fredon & Benjamin Massoubre 2021 - Coppelia by Jeff Tudor, Steven De Beul & Ben Tesseur 2020 - No award 2019 - Castle of Dreams by Reza Mirkarimi 2018 - Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda 2017 - 2016 - Chocolat by Roschdy Zem 2015 - Bill by Richard Bracewell 2014 - Monica Z by Per Fly 2013 - The Forgotten Kingdom by Andrew Mudge
Audience Award - Best Documentary Feature 2025 - Shades of Survival by David Ayeni 2024 - The Cigarette Surfboard by Ben Judkins 2023 - Pure Clean Water by Tony Eva 2022 - Seaside Special by Jens Meurer 2021 – Film: The Living Record of Our Memory by Inés Toharia 2019 - Streetkids United III by Jacco Groen 2018 - Letter from Masanjia by Leon Lee 2017 - 2016 - Future Baby by Maria Arlamovsky 2015 - Streetkids United II: The Girls From Rio by Maria Clara Costa 2014 - A Poem In Exile by Alba Gómez 2013 - Black Africa, White Marble by Clemente Bococchi
Audience Award - Best Short Film 2025 - Monsters by Andy Field and Beckie Darlington 2024 - Magic Candies by Daisuke NISHIO 2023 - The Snip by Ben S. Hyland 2022 - Till the Music Stops by Emilie De Monsabert 2021 - Georgia by Jayil Pak 2019 - Alina by Rami Kodeih 2018 - Bogdan i Róża by Milena Dutkowska 2017 - 2016 - Speechless by Robin Polák 2015 - Group B by Nick Rowland 2014 - The Showreel by Keir Burrows 2013 - Rhino Full Throttle by Erik Schmitt
CFF Youth Lab Jury Award 2024 - Silent Trees by Agnieszka Zwiefka 2023 - Fledgelings by Lidia Duda 2022 - Pushing Boundaries by Lesia Kordonets 2021 - Nico by Eline Gehring 2019
History
The birth of CFF - 1970s 1977 In 1977 the first Festival set the pattern, with screenings of Kurosawa's Dodes'ka-den, Visconti's Conversation Piece and Rosi's Illustrious Corpses.
Originally based at the single-screen Arts Cinema in Cambridge city centre's Market Passage, the Festival was originally conceived with a two-fold purpose: as a means of screening current international Cinema and to rediscover important but neglected filmmakers and their films, which were either out of distribution or unseen for many years.
1978 The second Cambridge Film Festival in 1978 hosted the UK Premiere of The Chess Players. It was the centrepiece of a Satyajit Ray retrospective and marks the establishment of the Retrospective Strand. The programme also included Rudolph's Welcome to L.A., Jarman's Jubilee and Harlan County, USA.
1979 The third Cambridge Film Festival in 1979 included the premieres of Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, Herzog's Nosferatu and Altman's A Wedding. 1979 also featured a retrospective on the Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda.
The early years and growth of the Festival - 1980s & ‘90s 1980 At the fourth Festival in 1980, audiences saw the UK premieres of Petit's Radio On, Roeg's Bad Timing and Loach's Black Jack.
1981 1981 marked the fifth Festival and the first Festival with long running Festival Director Tony Jones at the helm.
The Festival in 1981 screened a newly restored version of Gance's Napoleon, alongside a Bertrand Tavernier retrospective. It was also the first year to have 'away' screenings at the Arts Theatre in St Edward's Passage.
1982 1982 saw a general widening of the Festival programme and hosted the UK Premiere of another Werner Herzog film, Fitzcarraldo.
1983 In 1983, the 7th Festival hosted the Premiere Sayles' Lianna. The Retrospective Strand was focused on Indian filmmaker Mrinal Sen.
1984 In 1984, at the 8th Festival, Wim Wenders was in attendance to present his film Paris, Texas. For the Retrospective Strand, the work of Volker Schlondorff was highlighted.
1985 At the 9th Cambridge Film Festival, Francesco Rosi introduced Carmen to audiences as part of his retrospective. A second retrospective strand on Percy Adlon was also featured.
1986 At the 10th Festival in 1986, a new print of Powell and Pressburger's Gone to Earth was screened. Other screenings that year included Mona Lisa directed by Neil Jordan, and the film and TV work of David Hare.
1987 In 1987, at the 11th CFF, Peter Greenaway presented The Belly of an Architect. This was part of a 'Made in Britain' programme, which also includes a John McGrath retrospective.
1988 The 12th Festival 1988 had Jean-Claude Carriere as a guest. The Unbearable Lightness of Being was the centrepiece of a Philip Kaufman retrospective.
1989 In 1989, there were retrospectives on Robert Bresson and Working Title. There was also a tribute to John Cassavetes and a series of films to investigate the influence of Cahiers du Cinéma, and Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jnr.
1990 At the 14th Festival, the programme included a Pedro Almodovar Retrospective and screenings of Malle's Milou In May alongside Stillman's Metropolitan.
1991 At the 15th Festival, the Festival screened Premieres of Scott's Thelma And Louise and the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink. The retrospective in 1991 was of Monika Treut.
1992 At the 16th Festival, there were the UK premieres of Reservoir Dogs and August's The Best Intentions. Bruce Beresford and Agnieszka Holland attended retrospectives of their work, and there was a tribute to BFI film production.
1993 At the 17th Festival, Peter Greenaway attended the UK Premiere of The Baby of Macon. Other titles included Sayles' Passion Fish and Haas' The Music of Chance.
1994 At the 18th Cambridge Film Festival, there was the premiere of the Three Colours trilogy as part of the first-ever full Kieslowski retrospective.
1995 In 1995, at the 19th Festival, Jeunet and Caro attended the Premiere of The City of Lost Children. The Festival's centennial tribute to Buster Keaton contained his rarely seen final masterpieces: The Cameraman and Spite Marriage. Two other retrospectives celebrated Patricia Rozema and Lars von Trier.
1996 At the 20th Festival, French critic Michel Ciment introduced a French programme which included Audiard's A Self-Made Hero and Breillat's Parfait amour!. Greenaway's The Pillow Book premiered and retrospectives featured Jack Cardiff and Jan Jakub Kolski.
The Festival takes a break! - 1997-2000 Due to the closure of the Cambridge Arts Cinema, following the 20th Festival in 1996, the Festival was forced to hibernate while a new home was found.
Cambridge Film Festival is reborn - The 2000s 2001 2001 featured the premieres of Sidewalks of New York, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Otesanek, Beijing Bicycle, Betelnut Beauty, Swordfish, Scratch, The Isle & Sw9. As part of 70mm Widescreen Weekends the Festival screened 2001: A Space Odyssey, The King and I, Lawrence of Arabia, Pathfinder, My Fair Lady, and Vertigo.
2002 The festival launched with the UK Premiere of Talk To Her and closed with the UK Premiere of David Cronenberg's Spider.
Other premieres included Bowling for Columbine, Lost in La Mancha, Gerry, Heaven, and Intacto. Alex Cox attended the premiere of his Revengers Tragedy, and Richard Harris made one of his last public appearances at the UK premiere of My Kingdom. Peter Wintonick attended a season of his work, and the festival hosted tributes to Milos Forman, Tod Browning and Lon Chaney, and Darius Mehrjui.
2003 Amongst 50 UK premieres the festival screened Spirited Away, Pirates of the Caribbean, Goodbye, Lenin!, Time Of The Wolf, All the Real Girls, Belleville Rendezvous, Whale Rider and Spellbound; Cate Blanchett and Joel Schumacher attended a special screening of Veronica Guerin, Jane Birkin presented Merci Dr Rey, and Peter Greenaway attended the premiere of his Tulse Luper Suitcases Part One: The Moab Story. The festival hosted the first UK Film Parliament and held an Alexander Dovzhenko retrospective.
2004 2004 Highlights amongst the festival's 47 UK premieres included Stage Beauty, Before Sunset, Super Size Me, Clean, Comme Une Image, Coffee And Cigarettes, Riding Giants, Spike Lee's She Hate Me, and Robert Lepage's The Far Side of the Moon.
The Festival brought scores of international filmmakers to Cambridge: Sir Richard Eyre launched the festival at the opening night presentation of Stage Beauty; Julie Delpy presented the closing night screening of Before Sunset; and Robert Carradine introduced the UK premiere of Sam Fuller's The Big Red One: The Reconstruction.
2005 A packed silver jubilee programme included UK premieres of The Last Mitterrand; Crash; Broken Flowers; Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, introduced by the author of the film's source novel, Diana Wynne Jones. King's Game; Nightwatch; Saraband; Silver City (attended by director John Sayles); With Blood On My Hands - Pusher 2 introduced by director Nicolas Winding Refn, who also curated a season of films that have influenced his work; Ghost in the Shell: 2: Innocence; Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room; Rock School; and Forest For The Trees, alongside a Studio Ghibli season and a retrospective for the Russian silent director Dziga Vertov.
2006 Two significant additions to the festival proved highly popular: an ambitious programme of free screenings introducing artists' moving image work to new viewers and the daily festival podcasts. This year, Volver won the Audience Award.
2007 UK premieres included the opening night film Lady Chatterley, Anna M, The Walker, and the latest film from Studio Ghibli, Tales From Earthsea. The festival closed with UK premieres of The Hoax and The 11th Hour. A season celebrating the best in New German Cinema was once again curated by Monika Treut, and eclectic shorts and documentaries, including The Man Who Shot Chinatown and Deliver Us From Evil, contributed to the programme. Kenneth Branagh and Brian Blessed attended As You Like It.
2008 In 2008, the Festival opened with Walter Salles' Linha De Passe, and Tilda Swinton was one of the guests for the UK premiere of Julia.