The Slow Film Festival is a charitable organisation founded to give a platform to filmmakers whose work engages with time and duration on screen. We show films that create space for contemplation, even boredom, encouraging an active viewing experience where the audience participate in the creation of meaning.
The festival is a space to view and discuss films that are pushing the boundaries of “slow film” as well as those that have defined its history. It aims to be a meeting point where the uses of slowness in film can be debated and where new friendships and potential collaborations can take root. We are committed to expanding the world of experimental film and welcome to both aficionados and newbies alike.
To date, the festival has collaborated on programmes with institutions including MUBI and the British Council and has screened work from artists including Ben Rivers, Kevin Jerome Everson, Jesica Sarah Rinland, Babette Mangolte and James Benning.
The Slow Film Festival (SFF) was founded in 2016 in the village of Mayfield, East Sussex, UK. As of 2023 the Festival took up a new home in at the Good Shepherd Studios in Waltham Forest, East London.
Our Values:
Charitable objects:
To promote understanding, appreciation, and critical engagement with art that employs slowness and duration in form and as an approach to artistic production, with a strong focus on artist moving image.
Diversity and inclusion:
The Slow Film Festival is committed to making a positive impact to address inequality and discrimination and pursue a programme that foregrounds social justice in the arts. Through our programming, our employment, and our partnerships we seek to encourage diversity within the world of experimental cinema. Our programme reflects our desire to work with artists and filmmakers to showcase breadth of experience that is being depicted through slow cinema and art more broadly.
Climate Crisis:
The Slow Film Festival is committed to playing its part in reducing emissions and waste. Read our full environmental policy HERE.
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI):
SFF supports the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). We stand in solidarity with Palestinian people & call upon other educational institutions to publicly pledge support. Read our statement HERE.
