Revealing the 2025 Into Film Awards Nominees

We're absolutely delighted to reveal the nominees for the Into Film Awards 2025. With 24 films nominated across eight filmmaking categories, the Into Film Awards celebrates and showcases the phenomenal breadth and depth of young filmmaking talent across the UK.

This year's Awards received hundreds of entries from every corner of the UK, with our triumphant nominees below covering a breathtaking range of compelling and timely subjects including everything from mental health, social media addiction, and disconnection with modern society, to the war in Ukraine, gender identity, multiculturism, the potential harms of AI, and nature conservation. The nominated films - all of which you can watch below - offer a fascinating insight into the things that young people in the UK care about.

Further to that, our Time for Action category (sponsored by Swatch) specifically asked young people to create a film that raises awareness of issues important to them and explores the changes they would like to make in the world, whether big or small; personal or society wide.

Our filmmaking nominees - and this year's Ones to Watch and Filmmaking Champions - will be joining us at the Into Film Awards ceremony at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square in London on Tuesday 24 June 2025, where a host of filmmaking talent will be on hand to present the various awards our winners. We're also delighted that actor, presenter and author Rose Ayling-Ellis will be joining us to host this year's ceremony.

The 2025 Into Film Awards nominees are...

• Hit the film titles below to jump to and watch each film

Best Animation - 5-11 (Sponsored by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, UK)

• Cae yr Arth (Cae the Bear) - Made by a class of 30 young people aged 9-10 from Caedraw Primary School - Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
• Offline Virus - Made by Dulcie-Bella, aged 11 - Banbury, England
• The Wellington Cobbler and Wrekin Giant - Made by 23 young people aged 8-11 from the film club at Meadows Primary School and Nursery - Ketley, England

Best Animation - 12-19 (Sponsored by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, UK)

• And Then What? - Made by Evie, aged 19 - Croydon, England
• Animated Voices - Made by 10 young people aged 13-14 working with Gritty Realism Productions - Cardiff, Wales
• Mouse House - Made by Katie, aged 16, from Pate's Grammar School - Cheltenham, England

Best Documentary (Sponsored by IMDb)

• The Freedom of the Sea - Made by Rosie, age 19, from Varndean College - Brighton, England
• Kicking through Transition - Made by Indy, aged 15 - Woking, England
• Mariupol - Made by Daria Savchenko, aged 18, from Gower College - Swansea, Wales

Time for Action (Sponsored by Swatch)

• Can we talk about Mental Health? - Made by 8 young people aged 16-19 from Citadel Youth Centre - Edinburgh, Scotland
• Severn Wild - Made by 18 young people aged 16-19 working with MediaActive Projects and BFI Academy - Wem, England
• Tipping Point - Made by Araminta, aged 16 - Conwy, Wales

Best Film - 5-11 (Sponsored by Working Title Films)

• Ballet d'Or - Made by Fletcher, aged 11, and Jude, aged 9 - Newcastle, England
• S.I. - Superficial Intelligence - Made by 20 young people aged 10-11 from Burnham Market Primary School - Burnham Market, England
• Ynyr yr Ysbryd (Ynyr the Ghost) - Made by Briall (aged 10), Celt (10), Elai (9) and Fflur (10), from Clwb Ffilm Dyffryn Nantlle - Penygroes, Wales

Best Film - 12-15 (Sponsored by Paramount Pictures)

• Daydreaming - Made by 24 young people aged 11-14 from Sawston Village College - Cambridge, England
• Superhero School - Made by 11 young people aged 12-13 from Park School - Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Vacation - Made by Indi, aged 15 - Waterlooville, England

Best Film - 16-19 (Sponsored by Warner Bros. Discovery)

• Beware the Zoomies - Made by Araminta, Cole, Micah, and Ethan - Conwy, Wales
• Come Inside - Made by 9 filmmakers aged 17-19 from Screen Education Edinburgh - Edinburgh, Scotland
• No Dice - Made by Grace Holt, aged 19, from Wales High School - Sheffield, England

Best Story (Sponsored by Amazon MGM Studios)

Nominees in this category were selected from among all of the films submitted to this year's Into Film Awards, across all categories

• Deadlines - Made by Ben Melocha, aged 19 - Leicester, England
• More Than One Way to Go Home - Made by Edward, aged 14 - Sanquhar, Scotland
• Tragicake - Made by a group of 10 young people aged 18-19 from the BFI Film Academy - Holywood, Northern Ireland

Audience Choice Award (Sponsored by Universal Pictures International)

Coming soon!

Next week, you'll have the chance to personally support your favourite young filmmakers from our amazing nominees by voting for their films via our social media channels. Your votes will decide the winner of the coveted 2025 Audience Choice Award! 

Voting opens on Tuesday 6 May 2025 - stay tuned for more information!

Filmmaking Champions (Sponsored by Lucasfilm Ltd.)

Our selected Filmmaking Champions are all Into Film Award winners. Find out more about them below.

• Dale Forder from St Luke's CE Primary School - Northampton, England
  Dale has been supporting young people's filmmaking since 2021. He started working on film projects during the COVID lockdown, when working with youth theatre groups and needing to find alternate ways for them to be creative without directly working in large groups, as well as a way to demonstrate their progress to parents. Dale now runs an extra-curricular film club at St Luke's CE Primary School in Northampton. The club is available to children across years 1-6, with the older children often helping the younger ones, helping them learn responsibilities and the importance of helping others. Dale strives to give the young people as much creative freedom as possible and encourages them to only create films that help tackle topical issues of importance to young people. Previous films include You Are Enough, a film about exam stress and secondary school anxiety; Dyslexia & Me, a documentary/drama hybrid exploring children's understanding of dyslexia (which won Best Film - 11 and Under at the 2024 Into Film Awards); and their most recent project, Navigating The Net, which is about internet and computer safety.

• Steve Swindon from TAPE Community Music and Film - Llandudno, Wales
  Steve runs TAPE Community Music and Film, a community arts charity in North Wales that he started 17 years ago, where filmmaking is a cornerstone of their work. A lot of TAPE's recent work has been with young people at Ysgol Y Gogarth, an additional learning needs school in Llandudno. Working with 16-19 year olds with a wide range of additional needs, Steve strives to be a creative advocate for the ideas and ambitions of the young people he works with. He is committed to creative inclusion and encouraging new ways of working, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to have their ambitions and ideas heard and explored through film. Pupils there have been supported to set up their own production company, Hope Productions, and their film Battery - a perfect example of Steve's work in action - was nominated for Best Film - 16-19 at the Into Film Awards 2024.

• St. Colmcille's High School - Crossgar, Northern Ireland
  Based in a small, rural community, where young people face a number of challenges, and limited access to opportunities and the arts, St. Colmcille's has gone above and beyond in using film to broaden the horizons of its pupils and open up a world of possibilities. In February 2022 the school began a cross-circular project focused on the use of film. Departments across the school worked together to provide pupils with a range of transferable film-based skills, weaving filmmaking into normal lessons, and ultimately seeing each class create their own films. Now, each year they host a glitzy premiere evening, complete with red carpet, a limousine, photo booth, ‘paparazzi' and popcorn, giving the young filmmakers and the wider community - a unique and unforgettable experience.
  In 2024, their film Cereal Killers was nominated for Best Film 12-15, and ultimately won the Audience Choice Award.

Ones to Watch (Sponsored by EON Productions)

Our selected Ones to Watch are all Into Film Award winners. Find out more about them below.

• Dinah Naitamu, aged 18 - London, England
  Dinah is a director, writer and actor who is currently attending the London Screen Academy. Her biggest goal is to increase opportunities for underrepresented groups, both in front of and behind the camera, and tell stories that are often excluded from the mainstream. In 20 years, she wants to be halfway to EGOT status (winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award), and working with the likes of Zendaya, Quinta Brunson and Ayo Edebiri.

• Indi, aged 15 - Waterlooville, England
  Indi is one of only two people to receive multiple nominations at this year's Into Film Awards. He was also nominated at last year's Into Film Awards for his film film Saving Yourself (and the World), which went on to be nominated for several other film festival awards, including the Horsham Film Festival. Indi is a prolific filmmaker who has already created two horror films and a short production for his Film Studies GCSE this year, as well helping a local drama group create and edit a series of short films. This year he plans to enter more film festivals, including Brighton Rocks, and aspires to one day have a film shortlisted by the Sundance Film Festival.

• Michael, aged 18 - Newton Aycliffe, England
  Michael started making films at just 8-years-old, and by 16 his first feature film, documentary Streets of Steel: The History Of Witton Park, was screened at Witton Park Village Hall in January 2024. The positive response he received from the local community underlined how important and successful his commitment to unearthing hidden histories has proved. Continuing in this vein, Michael has recently been commissioned by Teescraft Engineering and councillors from Durham County Council to create a documentary on the Stockton and Darlington Railway to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2025. This dedication to working with and in his local community is also apparent in Michael's work with Kynren (an outdoor theatre event) and the Hardwick Live music festival. Michael has also volunteered as a videographer for Bishop Auckland FC for the past 5 years, filming matches and conducting post-match interviews.

As well as the category sponsors detailed above, we would also like to extend a huge thank you to Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Limited, who are sponsoring the travel and transport for the Into Film Awards. You can find out more about all of our sponsors below.

Watch the nominated films below...

Cae yr Arth (Cae the Bear)

Made by a class of 30 young people aged 9-10 from Caedraw Primary School - Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Feeling disillusioned by life in a bustling city, a kindly bear stumbles upon a rare piece of nature, and decides to try and help it flourish. But despite his best efforts, the big city may not be the right environment...

Offline Virus

Made by Dulcie-Bella, aged 11 - Banbury, England

Animated in a striking Japanese-influenced manga style, this vibrant music video shows a social media-obsessed girl losing all of her colour and vitality as she spends too much time online.

The Wellington Cobbler and Wrekin Giant

Made by 23 young people aged 8-11 from the film club at Meadows Primary School and Nursery - Ketley, England

Visible from their own film club window, this stop motion animation depicts the myth of how The Wrekin, a famous hill in Shropshire, was supposedly formed, by way of a clever shoe repairman and a fiendish giant...

And Then What?

Made by Evie, aged 19 - Croydon, England

Created with animation software Blender, this short 3D animation is a cautionary tale about pervasive social media and the risk of jumping to conclusions, as two friends discuss a classic case of crossed wires.

Animated Voices 

Made by 10 young people aged 13-14 working with Gritty Realism Productions - Cardiff, Wales

Made by young people living in Cardiff that hail from ethnic minority backgrounds, this animation sees them exploring their personal experiences of life in the UK, in their own words, and using their own animation.

Mouse House

Made by Katie, aged 16, from Pate's Grammar School - Cheltenham, England

In this charming stop motion animation for all ages, a family of mice set out for a local allotment in search of food, only to return home and find that one of their number has been left behind to fend for himself. Will he ever make it back home to the Mouse House?

The Freedom of the Sea

Made by Rosie, age 19, from Varndean College - Brighton, England

Having emigrated in the wake of the Iranian revolution in the 1970s, one family - now long-settled in Brighton - discuss the difficult decision to leave their home, and the way being able to swim in the sea together is a perfect encapsulation of the freedom they found in the UK.

Kicking through Transition

Made by Indy, aged 15 - Woking, England

A teenager named Indy reminisces about his decision to come out as trans, and how that decision went on to affect his passion for playing football and his love of the beautiful game.

Mariupol

Made by Daria Savchenko, aged 18, from Gower College - Swansea, Wales

This affecting documentary sees one woman recounting her harrowing experiences in Mariupol, Ukraine, as the Russian invasion unexpectedly turned her life upside down. And though she's now settled in Swansea, Wales, her testimony demonstrates the extreme and enduring trauma that many survivors continue to face.

Can we talk about Mental Health?

Made by 8 young people aged 16-19 from Citadel Youth Centre - Edinburgh, Scotland

This call to action utilises many different kinds of animation to highlight not only the mental health struggles that many young people face, but to also address the systemic difficulties that exist in trying to access support. In the young people's own voices this is a direct plea asking all of us, from teachers to government ministers, to do better.

Severn Wild 

Made by 18 young people aged 16-19 working with MediaActive Projects and BFI Film Academy - Wem, England

This lyrical film is an impassioned plea to protect our country's rivers, using beautiful animation, historical materials, and a poetic script to detail the far-reaching and catastrophic effects that humanity and civilisation have had on the River Severn, but also highlighting hopeful plans to restore the river and return it to its natural state.

Tipping Point 

Made by Araminta, aged 16 - Conwy, Wales

A short film that nevertheless packs a mighty punch, this is a stark wake-up call for anyone who's ever found themselves spending hours mindlessly scrolling on their phone; a film with a vital message, urging and reminding us all to live our lives to the fullest.

Ballet d'Or

Made by Fletcher, aged 11, and Jude, aged 9 - Newcastle, England

Eight year old Frankie finds himself caught between two passions when he contemplates quitting ballet to focus on football, until he makes a surprising discovery about his football coach that changes everything.

S.I. - Superficial Intelligence

Made by 20 young people aged 10-11 from Burnham Market Primary School - Burnham Market, England

Worried by the amount of homework they've been given, two children build their own deep thinking artificial intelligence robot named S.I. to complete all their homework for them. However, the more S.I. learns, the more out of control it seems to become...

Ynyr yr Ysbryd (Ynyr the Ghost)

Made by Briall (aged 10), Celt (10), Elai (9) and Fflur (10), from Clwb Ffilm Dyffryn Nantlle - Penygroes, Wales

When a young boy named Ynyr wakes up as a ghost, he finds that the experience isn't as fun as he might have imagined. And when he's interviewed for the local news channel about his lonely new existence, he draws the attention of the Council of Ghosts... can they help him find his place?

Daydreaming

Made by 24 young people aged 11-14 from Sawston Village College - Cambridge, England

Seemingly caught daydreaming in their classes, we see the inner thoughts of three pupils. Between a meeting with artist Frida Kahlo, an encounter with Isaac Newton, and even a trip back in time to the Battle of Hastings, it's clear that vacant looks and blank faces may not always be telling the whole story!

Superhero School

Made by 11 young people aged 12-13 from Park School - Belfast, Northern Ireland

In a school for superheroes, the rivalry between Speedy and Quicklight usually ends with Speedy ahead. However, that all changes when Quicklight steals Speedy's superpowered trainers. Can the class of colourful heroes band together to help Speedy regain his powers?

Vacation 

Made by Indi, aged 15 - Waterlooville, England

Bored out of his mind, a teenage boy finds himself captivated by a mysterious new video game. As he becomes increasingly hooked, he finds that eating, hygiene, and all other aspects of life simply fade away, until a concerned neighbour finally comes to check on him. But not all is as it seems...

Beware the Zoomies: An Unsolved Mystery

Made by Araminta, Cole, Micah, and Ethan - Conwy, Wales

In this pitch-perfect and very funny documentary pastiche, one poor girl's unfortunate case of 'the zoomies' is explored by a doctor, her two long-suffering friends, and the uncontrollably energetic victim herself.

Come Inside

Made by 9 filmmakers aged 17-19 from Screen Education Edinburgh - Edinburgh, Scotland

In this deeply affecting drama, a young woman named Mia tries her best to take her of ailing father, who is suffering from early-onset dementia, and finds his memory and mental faculties fading by the day.

No Dice

Made by Grace Holt, aged 19, from Wales High School - Sheffield, England

Four people of a certain age embark on an epic fantasy adventure by virtue of a role playing board game in this hilarious comedy that makes great use of special effects, and shows that there's no age limit on having fun.

Deadlines

Made by Ben Melocha, aged 19 - Leicester, England

As the work piles up, a put-upon office worker lashes out and discovers something sinister and unsettling about her office computer. This smart, David Cronenberg-inspired horror taps into modern insecurities around AI and the replaceability of humans in the face of ever-advancing machines, as well as commenting on the faceless, sterile nature of some corporate jobs, and the mental health struggles that can arise when the pressures of work become overwhelming.

More Than One Way to Go Home 

Made by Edward, aged 14 - Sanquhar, Scotland

Inspired by the filmmaker's own personal experiences, this film follows a young autistic girl, who has to find her own way home when her brother leaves her to fend for herself. A well shot film that conveys some of the difficulties that autistic people can face, and demonstrates how the right support can be key to overcoming those challenges.

Tragicake

Made by a group of 10 young people aged 18-19 from the BFI Film Academy - Holywood, Northern Ireland

On her 18th birthday, a girl sets out to bake the perfect birthday cake. However, a past baking misadventure hangs heavy on her shoulders, and comes back to haunt her in unexpected ways. Can she overcome her baking demons? A funny, smartly made film with a lovely story about perseverance and putting past mistakes behind us.