Film Festival

for inspiring stories

First Edition

CHECK THE FULL FESTIVAL PROGRAMME HERE

The Bay International Film Festival (TBIFF) is a new annual film festival with live cinema screenings and awards running in Morecambe, North West England.

The festival includes 3 programmes:

1. "Reel Rewind": retrospective screenings of classics (this year - Stanley Kubrick's films);
2. "Northern StarS" & "Northern StarT": feature film screenings (either made by Northern Filmmakers or having Northern premiere);
3. "Stories Beyond Borders": international short film competition to select and award the best visually captivating and thought-provoking short films from around the world. By promoting international independent short films TBIFF is creating a cultural dialogue between the audiences of North West England and the world. We are especially interested in filmmakers that have an ambition of making a social impact, bringing awareness of old and new problems in the society and making an attempt to inspire audiences for thoughts and changes. In addition to general submissions, each year we will have a special topic category. The films covering the topic from this category can get a special award. The Topic of the 2023 edition is “The Impacts of War” in the way you understand it.

The inaugural edition of the festival will happen in October 2023, starting from 3 weeks of a retrospective of films by Stanley Kubrick and climaxing with the 3-day festival closure with Film Forum, networking events, an Awards Ceremony, and 3 screenings of the best short films of this year at the Reel cinema with 200 seats for our audiences. Our festival team is working hard to deliver an unforgettable festival experience for all our guests from around the world.

The festival is inspired by the unique location of Morecambe Bay and the communities surrounding it. Intimate in scale and ambitious in its artistic scope, TBIFF'23 aims to promote international independent films in the Lancashire and Cumbria areas as well as create a cultural dialogue between the audiences of North West England and the world. We want to inspire local audiences and international filmmakers with great films, thoughtful conversations, and joyful encounters.

Want to be the first to know our news?

FESTIVAL PATRON

"I am thrilled and honoured to be a patron of the festival. As a film producer originally from Morecambe, the prospect of being part of a new film festival in my hometown is just brilliant. I’m so excited to help build something that will continue to grow as a major event for film-makers and film-lovers alike." Festival Patron Philip Herd

Philip Herd is an independent film producer from "Chromatic Aberration Pictures" known for "Unicorns" (2023), "My Policeman" (2022), "Archive" (2020) and "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (2011).

Honorary Guest

Jan Harlan worked with Stanley Kubrick for over thirty years and was Executive Producer on: Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, assistant to the Producer for A Clockwork Orange and Executive Producer on A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Kubrick.

Jan directed the feature-length documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures and the film Dvorak Who? about the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Alexander Baillie and other short documentaries for Warner Bros.

He has for several years been a regular guest lecturer at the European Film College, and also at the University of Hertfordshire, where he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2011.