Sculpture Trails Film Festival 2026

Welcome to the STFF 2026. We have been selecting and screening programmes of short experimental films and animations at The Raveningham Sculpture Trail since 2020. Over the summer period this attracts between 5K and 6K visitors. In 2025 we also curated a popular MicroKino programme at the Bayfield Sculpture Trail. This year we are presenting the MicroKino programme as a new Sculpture Trail Film Festival on both sites throughout the period of the trails.

Raveningham Sculpture Trail 16 July – 6 Sept 2026. Raveningham Centre, Beccles Road, Raveningham, Norfolk, NR14 6NU.

Bayfield Hall Sculpture Trail 17 Sept – 19 Oct 2026. Bayfield Hall, Bayfield, Nr Holt, Norfolk, NR25 7JN.

We are seeking independent animated and experimental short films of between 2 minutes and 5 minutes in length responding to the theme RITUAL. 

All nominee films will receive a nominee laurel, and all selected films will receive an official selection festival laurel.

All winners will receive a digital certificate naming the award, film director and film title .

BEST film categories: Best interpretation (Ritual). Best production (craft values).

To submit a film, you must have created the project yourself, own the rights or have permission from the owner of the content to submit the film to us.

Rules and Terms: Please read all the rules and requirements below before submitting your project:

1. We do not accept any films completed before 2022.

2. Any non-English language films must include English subtitles.

3. All fees are non-refundable.

Sculpture Trails Film Festival proudly accepts entries on FilmFreeway, the world’s #1 way to enter film festivals and creative contests.

Apply online at www.filmfreeway.com

Deadline: 30th May 2026 

RITUAL – An exploration of ritual as a universal human impulse. Rituals anchor us, transform us, and connect us across time, culture and community. We invite artists to delve into the rhythms of repetition, celebration, remembrance, gestures, objects, gathering, transformation and renewal.

We welcome interpretations from the personal to the communal, the sacred to the secular, the ancient to the emergent. Together, we will create a sculpture trail that sparks curiosity, ignites imagination, and gives artists the space to take creative risks. This is our moment to honour the strength of our artistic community, the transformative power of the arts and to share your vision with thousands of visitors along the trail.

Artists are encouraged to consider:

• Daily routines and private practices
• Ceremonial and cultural traditions
• Cycles of nature, seasons, growth, decay
• Acts of transition and rites of passage
• Collective memory and shared mythologies
• Invented or speculative rituals
• Ritual as performance, process, or participation

The Raveningham Sculpture Trail is produced by Creative Odyssey CIC who are committed to encouraging public interaction with contemporary art in a rural setting as well as creating space and opportunity for artists to experiment, show and sell their work to a diverse audience. There will be 4 awards for artists – People’s Choice 1st £250, 2nd £200, Best Film £150 and Curator’s Choice £250.