The Chester International Film Festival began life as the Chester Film Festival in 1977 and was held in various community venues around Chester.
Since 2018 it has been hosted by Storyhouse, initially in partnership with Edge Hill University. Since 2025, the festival has been a collaboration between Storyhouse, Chester Film Society and the University of Chester, with additional sponsorship for the receptions by Vain.

Chester International Film Festival 2026
The 2026 Festival took place at Storyhouse between Friday 13th March to Sunday 22nd March 2026.
The winner of the Audience Award for Best Feature was Colours of Time
The Leaping Boar Award for best short animation went to joint winners Cell Buddies by Studio Brute Beesten (Netherlands) and Small Hours by Oscar Wyndham Lewis (UK)

For all the details of the films shown, go to the Storyhouse web page

Previous Festivals

Chester International Film Festival 2025
The 2025 Chester International Film Festival ran from 21st March to 3rd April 2025 at Storyhouse, produced in partnership with the University of Chester, and Storyhouse. Opening and closing receptions with thanks to VAIN.
The winner of the Audience Award for 2025 was Four Mothers.
The Chester Animation Festival Audience Award went to The Pearl (Let’s make peace) by Abdollah Alimorad from Iran

Chester International Film Festival 2024
The 2024 Chester International Film Festival took place from 1st March to 8th March 2024.
The winner of the Audience Award for 2024 was Green Border
The Chester Animation Festival Audience Award went to The Curse of Dracular

See our Archive pages for more information on past festivals

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