Roses are red, valentines is near...

The days are getting longer and brighter, Spring is around the corner and all the shops are now trying to convince us we need ‘Valentines PJs’ two months after charging us £40 for Christmas PJs. (Are Easter PJs are going to be a thing next?) Sundance gave us a gorgeous selection of exciting new indies to look out for and the shorts festival circuit has begun in the UK - where London Short Film Festival had the coolest vintage cinema van ever!? Here’s your monthly roundup of news and updates from RP HQ along with some changes upcoming on our newsletter...

Sundance 2025: Our Most Anticipated Films ☀️

Always with an exciting selection of features, Sundance has got us excited for the year ahead of films, and we’ve already got our eye on a few female directed favourites that we hope will be hopping across the pond for us to see. Brides by Nadia Fall, Oh, Hi! by Sophie Brooks. Bunnylovr by Katarina Zhu, Atropia by Hailey Gates and The Ugly Stepsister by Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt. Honourable mention to Twinless by James Sweeney which did well across the awards and stars the internet’s favourite Dylan O’Brien. Our founder, Caris, has popped together a Letterboxd list of others she’s looking forward to here.

Women X 2025 Announcements 🌸

We’ve done the venue run throughs and so happy to be back at home with Darlington Hippodrome and Theatre Hullaballoo for the fourth time! Which means we have our dates locked in. Women X 2025 will take place from Friday 19th September - Sunday 21st September. Mark your calendars for our 6th edition, where we’ll be once again celebrating the best of short films by women and gender non conforming filmmakers, along with all the fun events, workshops, talks, games, parties.

ALSO... We're excited to share that this year we're accepting pitches for events and exhibitions at the festival, we have an additional space this year and would love to collaborate with it. Whether it's a panel discussion, live podcast, partnered screening, a workshop, a games night, an specialised accessible screening, or an art exhibition, we want to hear your ideas. Submit your pitch by emailing [email protected] with your proposal.

A reminder too on film submissions, we’ve enhanced our criteria this year so films up to 40 minutes can be considered. Our Spring deadline is March 8th (International Women’s Day!) all submissions are via Filmfreeway and we do not grant free entry (we’re volunteer run!).

Alumni News 🏆

SAFE by Debbie Howard continues to storm festivals across the UK, recently it won Best Director at The Soho London Independent Film Festival.

BACK OF THE NET by Klara Kaliger, Ella Dorman-Gajic and Athanasia Bartzoka is heading across the pond to screen at the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival.

I WOULD LIKE TO LIVE ON THE MOON is screening at Crystal Palace International Film Festival.

Sarah Grant wrapped up shooting of her debut feature FIGHT ME this past weekend too!

More Inbox Treats 💌

We're switching things up a bit this year, launching a new edition of our newsletter called RP DVD Extras 📀. This is all thanks to your feedback, where many of you expressed a desire to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes with the festival, our development slate and the team. You'll find a more personal touch, sharing insights and stories that give you a glimpse into our process, while the RPeaPod will continue with it’s general monthly industry and RP related news and updates

Don't worry; we won't spam you like that shop you once bought some slippers from 3 years ago. We’ll still only be in your inbox twice a month, and you can always opt out if you choose. Plus, if we hit over 5,000 subscribers they’ll shake us down for MORE money to send newsletters (we’re currently at 4,973... 👀) so we won’t take it personally.

RP: Evolve in the Lake District - Final Call 🖊

We’ve got only a few spaces left for our writers workshop retreat day, where we’ll be combining some of our popular workshops with some peaceful writing time. It’s a great chance to spend some TLC on your next short film script and meet some other creatives in a non icky networking fashion.

It’s Saturday 22nd February in Keswick, where we’ll have a lovely space in the Skiddaw Hotel along with a gorgeous walk around Lake Derwentwater as well as some social drinks with our friends at MINT Chinese Film Festival in the evening!

You can still grab 10% off with our earlybird code LAKES10 but only for another week, so head here if you’re interested while spaces last.

Corrr that was a long one, if you reached the end of this email go treat yourself to a biscuit with your brew.

All our love,

Team RP xo