Est. 2022

About Wolverhampton
Film Festival

Independent film deserves more than a sideline.

Our Mission

Why We Exist

Wolverhampton Film Festival is an independent, government-funded film festival now in its fifth year. Over that time we've screened work from across the globe, with support from BFI Network, and we've watched filmmakers who had nowhere else to go find an audience.

We think every film, regardless of budget, background or postcode, deserves a fair shot at being seen. The programme runs from first-time student filmmakers to people with broadcast credits, from local Midlands work to international submissions, from genre cinema to things that resist easy description.

5th Edition

32 Award Categories

60+ Previous Winners

Global Submissions

Four Years of Cinema

Festival History

2022

The First Edition

The first WFF took place at the Chubb Buildings at Light House Media Centre, the first event of its kind in Wolverhampton. Filmmakers came from across the UK and as far as Australia. Media Dog Hire ran workshops, the programme covered global independent cinema, and the awards ceremony was hosted by Sunny Singh Grewal and Shay Kaur Grewal with International DJ 2NV.

2023

Newhampton Arts Centre

Year two brought more submissions, more screening slots and more workshops. WFF moved to Newhampton Arts Centre (now Wolverhampton Arts Centre) and BFI Network came on board as a key partner. Priyasasha Kumari, Zak Douglas and writer Omar Parvaz were among those involved. The awards ceremony was held at Wolverhampton FC Stadium.

2024

University of Wolverhampton

WFF joined forces with the University of Wolverhampton and their Film & Screen School, with the festival hosted at the university for the first time. Create Central joined as official partner, alongside returning partners Pinboard Media and Media Dog Hire. The programme included masterclasses from Alex Vasco and Omar Parvaz, a panel discussion with actors Cory McClane and Rupinder Kaur, and an evening with internationally recognised actor Nitin Ganatra OBE.

2025

Government Funded

The 2025 edition received UK Shared Prosperity Fund support, funded by the UK Government. Submissions that year included filmmakers with credits at Netflix, Amazon, Sky, Apple TV, Paramount, BBC and Channel 4. The programme included a VFX workshop with Jamie Bakewell (Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders) and a Q&A with Mark Silcox (Man Like Mobeen). The festival moved to the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton.

The People Behind the Festival

Leadership

WFF is an independent festival. Independent means accountable to its community, not to a committee. Two people built it. The same two people still run it.

Gurjant Singh

Co-Director

“Independent film deserves more than a sideline.”

Gurjant co-founded Wolverhampton Film Festival in 2022. He knew the Midlands had the talent, the hunger and the stories. It just needed somewhere to go. Starting from scratch, he built the festival into a government-funded programme with national partners including BFI Network, the University of Wolverhampton and Create Central.

His focus has always been access. Every decision about pricing, venue, programming and outreach has been made with one question in mind: who isn't here yet, and why not. Securing UK Shared Prosperity Fund support in 2025 was a direct result of that thinking.

His directorial work shapes how he programmes. He knows what it costs to make a film outside the mainstream, and every film in the selection has been chosen because it deserves to be seen.

Arun Kapur

Co-Director

“Drawn to the films that resist easy description.”

Arun is a filmmaker and the driving force behind WFF's programme. He shapes what the festival watches, who it talks to and how the work is framed. His instinct runs toward films that unsettle, surprise and stay with you. The kind that don't announce their ambition but earn it.

Since 2022, Arun has brought in industry figures including Nitin Ganatra OBE, VFX artist Jamie Bakewell (Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders), writer Omar Parvaz and actor Cory McClane. He thinks filmmakers learn most from other filmmakers, and that a good festival should feel like an education as much as a celebration.

Outside the festival, Arun works across the creative industries in the West Midlands. He brings a producer's instinct to WFF. Great film culture, he'd say, is built on logistics and relationships as much as passion.