About

Kingston International Film Festival brings independent filmmakers, industry professionals and the local community together for three glittering days of screenings, workshops, and events, culminating with the Sunday evening Awards Presentation.

As well as the memorable KIFF Awards, the winners will receive their magnificent prizes, the total value of which is over £50k. For details of our 2024 prizes see our winners page.

KIFF provides a platform for filmmakers from around the world, and in particular up and coming talent, to showcase their projects on the big screens of the Odeon, the Curzon, Rose Theatre, and an outdoor screen in the riverside setting of Canbury Gardens. As well as screenings, we offer workshops and masterclasses facilitated by leading industry professionals along with some great networking events.

Kingston upon Thames, just 16 mins from central London, is the perfect setting for a film festival. On the banks of the Thames with it’s riverside restaurants and pubs it is also an historical market town with a vibrant atmosphere

Come and visit us 6th – 8th June 2025 and enjoy the very best of film at our FESTIVAL FOR EVERYONE!

"Our long-term ambition is to build the festival into an internationally recognised event that showcases the work of the world’s leading independent filmmakers, as well as becoming the premier platform for discovering remarkable new British talent.”

David Cunningham, Founder & Festival Director.

James Coombes Photography

KIFF PATRONS

Dame Vanessa Redgrave

A career spanning six decades winning an Academy Award, a BAFTA, two Golden Globes, two Primetime Emmys, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.

Vanessa is also the recipient of a BAFTA Fellowship, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Mike Newell

Undoubtedly one of the UK’s most prominent film and television directors and producers. Mike won the BAFTA for Best Director for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), which also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film.

Following the success of his films, Mike then went on to direct, among others, the films Donnie Brasco (1997) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

India Amartefio

Born in Kingston, India has a wealth of credits under her belt including Line of Duty, Sex Education and The Midwich Cuckoos.

In 2023, she portrayed the title role of a fictionalised Queen Charlotte in the period drama series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story for which she was nominated at the NAACP Awards for Outstanding Actress as well as the Astra TV Awards.