Novella Film Festival 2025

Join us for the fourth edition of Novella Film Festival, a short film festival that celebrates the future of film, with a focus on creativity and inclusivity. The festival will take place on Saturday 6th December, with 5 short film programmes on offer throughout the afternoon, as well as a film quiz, our awards ceremony and networking drinks in the evening.

Our passion at Novella is to give a platform to voices and communities that are underrepresented in film, on and off screen. To do this, we have 10 diverse categories that span not only diverse genres but also diverse perspectives. We will be screening films that take a specific look at the experiences of women, people of colour, and the LGBTQIA+ and disabled communities. Our festival features films from all around the world, as well as films made here in the UK. Each screening block will contain the top three films from two of our categories.

We will also be screening a selected film from The Film Joint, a Nigerian film festival that we have partnered with.

Click HERE to see our full festival programme.

SCREENING SCHEDULE (subject to change):

Screening block A: The Film Joint Selection + LGBTQIA+ Narrative + Music Video
12.35 - 2.00

Screening block B: POC Narrative + Environmental Narrative
12.50 - 1.55

Screening block C: Documentary + Disability Narrative
2.15 - 3.40

Screening block D: Female Narrative + Experimental
2.25 - 3.30

Screening block E: Animation + Fiction
4.00 - 5.20

Novella Film Quiz
6.15 - 7.00

Awards Ceremony
7.10 - 8.00

Please note that seats are unallocated, and seating will be on a first come first serve basis so make sure to arrive with plenty of time to get a good spot! All levels of the Chiswick Cinema are served by a passenger lift with level access to each screen, and both screens have a wheelchair bay with a companion seat. The front row of both screens is step free.

We’re really excited to be hosting our event at the Chiswick Cinema, a community led independent cinema that is a five minute walk from Turnham Green and Stamford Brook Underground stations. The cinema is fully accessible, and they will have plenty of drinks and snacks on offer, but there are also lots of different food and drink options in the surrounding area.