Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival

Encounters Film Festival is a short film, animation and VR festival in Bristol, England. Based in Bristol, Encounters runs a six-day festival in September and its main venues are Watershed, Bristol Beacon and Arnolfini, on Bristol’s harbourside.

Encounters Film Festival

Location	Bristol, England
Founded	1995; 30 years ago (1995)
Language	England
Website	www.encounters.film

History

The festival began in 1995 as Brief Encounters, a one-off event. Animated Encounters was set up in 2001 to celebrate and showcase animation. In 2006 the two festivals united as the Encounters Short Film Festival.^[1]

Special guests at past festivals have included Matt Groening,^[2][3] Hayao Miyazaki,^[4] Ray Harryhausen^[4] and Andrea Arnold.^[5] Notable competition alumni include Denis Villeneuve,^[6] Lynne Ramsay, Rungano Nyoni, Julia Ducournau, Charlotte Wells,^[7] Ruben Östlund,^[8] Joachim Trier, Molly Manning-Walker and Radu Jude.^[9]

Since 2010 Encounters Festival has been a qualifying festival for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film^[10] and Best Animated Short, alongside the equivalent BAFTAs^[11] categories. In 2011 Encounters Festival announced a new partnership with the European Film Academy Short Film Initiative, becoming a member of the 15 European festivals that present the nominations for the European Film Awards.

The festival celebrates its 30th edition in September 2025.^[12]