Leeds International film festival and hyde park picture house

Leeds Queer film festival

We are creating a space to showcase queer cinema with a focus on independent and DIY films. We aim to screen films that elevate and prioritise the voices and work of those most marginalised within our queer communities. We also welcome films from queer people that don’t explicitly have a ‘queer’ focus. We are not for profit and any money raised goes towards supporting queer filmmakers as much as possible and we aim to make the festival as affordable and accessible as we can. The festival is organised by volunteers and is open to newcomers each year

The Leeds International Film Festival

The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is the largest film festival in England outside London. Founded in 1987, it is held in November at various venues throughout Leeds, West Yorkshire. In 2015, the festival welcomed over 40,000 visitors and showed over 300 films from around the world, shorts and features, commercial and independent.

LIFF is a qualifying film festival for the Academy Awards and the winning films in the Louis Le Prince International Short Film Competition and World Animation Award are eligible for the Academy’s Short Film Awards. The festival’s British and Yorkshire short film competitions are BAFTA qualifying.

Short Film Awards
Louis Le Prince International Short Film Competition- £1,000 Prize
World Animation Award- £1,000 Prize
Best British Short- £1000 Prize
Yorkshire Short Film Competition- £500 Prize
Dance Short Film Competition- £500 Prize
Music Video Award

Chance to  give young talent the opportunity for exposure, as well as rewarding them for their contribution.

Work largely with The Hyde Park picture house

Despite the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Hyde Park Picture House was built and opened ready for business on the 7th November 1914. The pages of the Yorkshire Evening Post were almost entirely devoted to news of the war but a small advert announced the opening of the new Picture House. It proudly proclaimed itself to be "The Cosiest in Leeds". 

The first film to be shown at the picture House was Their Only Son, billed as a patriotic drama and was followed the next week by the famous invasion drama An Englishman's House. Although few new cinemas could be built during the war years audiences continued to grow. By September 1914 over 6000 men had enlisted in Leeds and the cinema provided news bulletins, war footage and morale boosting dramas as well as the escapism of lavish productions. In the years to come the cinema would become the highlight of many people's week.

A vibrant heart within the thriving Hyde Park community. Over time it became the backdrop to many little off screen dramas. It was a hot spot for young couples and many a romance blossomed in the back row. The advent of the talkies in the late 20's didn't hurt the stride of the little Picture House in the slightest and a quick conversion to sound was easilly enough achieved but the road was now open for many a new hurdle. The 30's saw the building of several new city centre 'super cinemas' capable of seating up to 3000 people at once.

The 50's saw the development of television. In the 80's it was video, the 90's was the new multiplex surge and the new millenium brought with it DVDs and the full power of the internet. BUT with all these changes the Picture House is all the more able to be a constant, a regular friendly face in an ever changing social landscape.