"Celebrating films from home and abroad, Bolton Film Festival acts as an amplifier of emerging and established talent. Through its industry talks, masterclasses and networking sessions it aims to break open the door to a creative industry that many people find difficult to access and navigate.

The festival is a BIFA and BAFTA Qualifying short film festival and a Creative England CE50, it has been consistently voted a "Top 100 reviewed" festival from over 10000+ worldwide on FilmFreeway since its inception."

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In 2017 the Bigger Picture Arts gave life to the project the "Bolton Film Festival" with the following aims:

 

1. To address the cultural shadow that falls over Bolton from the nearby city of Manchester

2. To amplify emerging films and filmmakers
3. To nurture new talent through industry talks, through mentoring and by signposting across the year to partner organisations, film funding, or in some cases to formal education.
4. To offer FREE screenings, industry talks and events to the public, demystifying the world of film and breaking down the barriers and obstacles of an industry that many feel is difficult to access.
5. To bring inward investment to the town by working with partners such as hotels, restaurants and bars to attract filmmakers, guests and audiences to their businesses.
6. To work with cultural partners across the year to make Bolton an attractive place to live and to work.

What began as small community led project soon gathered pace and the festival grew to a significant and prominent international film festival. The festival won a number of awards of recognition including the Creative England CE50 award and both BAFTA and BIFA accreditation. In late 2020 it was decided that the film festival had outgrown the community group status and the time had come to set up Bolton Film Festival CIC as a limited not for profit company. 

For more information on Bolton Film Festival please visit the website www.boltonfilmfestival.com