The Bristol Radical Film Festival began in 2012 to showcase contemporary and historical works of overtly political filmmaking. Our non-for profit, volunteer-run, zero-budget festival promotes and screens both classic and newly-released films that seek to disrupt, deconstruct, and divert from the mainstream.

At our events, films are a pretext for action and debate as much as they are important aesthetic and cultural objects in themselves. We always have a discussion or Q&A after our screenings, as we know that the films we screen are part of larger cultural movements that audiences engage with, rather than simply objects of consumption.

Our interpretation of the word ‘radical’ is an open one: while we believe that radical social, economic and political change is needed for a more equal, just and sustainable society, that fundamental belief can be articulated in a variety of ways. Film is a rich medium and we are very keen to exhibit works that interrogate political and aesthetic radicalism using new and challenging techniques.