Are you a rising filmmaker? Do you have a film to share with an international audience? This is a curatorial announcement of the 2025 edition of Odyssey, our annual film festival, responding to the theme of #sports this year.
Mission Statement
Theme of Odyssey 2025: #Sports
We are pleased to announce that Odyssey 2025’s festival theme is “Sports” this year, focusing on the touching, inspiring, and often untold narratives within the sports arena and the larger society. Based in the UK, engaging with Greater China with an international vision, we are dedicated to celebrating the fusion of sports and culture, uniting athletes, enthusiasts, artists, and audiences from across the globe in a vibrant celebration of human capabilities. We hope to bring the concept of sports, via cinema online and offline, closer to the everyday lives of ordinary people and emphasise that all can find joy and value in being active. Our understanding of “sports” goes beyond professional, it extends to any form of physical activity – it’s the spirit that we seek.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston S. Churchill
Inspired by the 2024 Paris Olympics and the progressive spirit of sportsmanship demonstrated at the event, where individuals are united by a common sporting ethos, we seek to foster the transcultural exchange of optimistic narratives but also offer a platform to honour those who remain unseen. Our goal is to heighten awareness of the importance of peace during tumultuous times, cherish moments and places where we are united as friends and family, and celebrate every individual who challenges physical and mental limits in pursuit of personal betterment.
As the largest and most influential film festival in the UK in conversation with Greater China in our own unique style, we commit annually to novel themes that engage with timely, urgent, and significant topics that will bring us together. We continually refine our curatorial philosophy and aesthetic and strive to create a safe and inclusive space for all discussions. We are independent, and we actively advocate issues around the UN’s SDGs via our film festival activities.
Odyssey is accredited by the British Council and has been recommended by Screen International.
“All of us go through some form of suffering at some stage in our life, be it mental or physical. The degree to which we help one another — and draw support from each other, be we people of faith or of none — is a measure of our civilisation as nations.”
– King Charles III
Call for Submissions
Awards for 2025
The Jury Panel will decide for the following award categories this year:
THE BEST FEATURE
It includes all genres.
THE BEST SHORT
It includes all genres.
THE BEST DIRECTOR
The competition is across features and shorts.
THE BEST MADE IN UK PRODUCTION
As it states.
THE BEST INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
Multilateral, multicultural.
THE BEST UK-CHINA COLLABORATION
It doesn’t have to be a collaboration under the official treaty.
THE BEST FILM FOR INTERNATIONAL CONVERSATION
About or via sports.
THE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR ACTION
As it states.
THE BEST EDITING FOR ACTION|
As it states.
THE BEST SDGs CAMPAIGN COMMITEMENT to UN’s 17 SDGs AND 2030 AGENDA
As it states and please see below specific guidance for 2025.
Since the 2023 edition, we have taken the initiative to connect our festival’s mission with the UN’s 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By focusing on the theme of “Global Sustainability” in 2023, Odyssey was the first international film festival that fostered a conversation space for rising filmmakers and audience to learn more about the topic of sustainability. We hope to see how films can respond to the 17 SDGs in its own creative way. This curatorial innovation allowed many filmmakers to look at their work from a new perspective.
For our 2025 edition, we will continue this commitment. The specific SDGs that we focus on this year will include:
SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being
SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
Sample Films
Sports Queen (Sun Yu, 1934)
Legend of Dragon (Danny Lee, 1990)
Shaolin Soccer (Stephen Chow, 2001)
Perhaps Love (Peter Chan, 2005)
The Karate Kid (Harald Zwart, 2010)
Men On The Dragon (Sunny Chan, 2018)
Leap (Peter Chan, 2020)
Zero to Hero (Jimmy Wan, 2021)
Surf Nation (Jessica Q. Chen, Jeremiah M. Bogert Jr., 2022, Odyssey 2024 Official Selection)
Girl of the Wind (Yuen Nan-Hsi, 2023, Odyssey 2024 Audience Award)
Our Best Foot Forward (Luke Grenfell-Shaw, 2023, Odyssey 2024 Founder’s Special Award)
Submission Guidelines
1 | Submission Fee
The submission fee for the Early Bird Open Call is £20/film per submission.
The submission fee for the general deadline is £30/film per submission.
The submission fee for the extended deadline is £50/film per submission.
2 | Premiere Requirement
There is no UK or international premiere requirement for all submissions. The premiere status will not be used as a selection criteria, but the thematic relevance.
3 | Genre & Production Date
All genres are welcomed for this call, we will be selecting films according to how a specific film responds to the festival theme as a reference. Your film should be completed or released after the year of 2021.
4 | Language & Subtitles
All submissions require English subtitles if the original language is not in English.
5 | Originality
All submitted films should be original work, the entrant is the legal holder of the copyright of the work. There should not be any dispute over intellectual property rights and, when required, relevant supporting documents or authorisation will be provided as required by the organisers.
6 | Programming
The festival reserves the right to place entries into alternative strands if the curatorial team feels it is to the benefit of the title. Each submission must be entered separately. Entries will be assessed and successful submissions will be programmed for screening/enter the festival competition. If your film is selected we reserve the right to show your film at a date and time of our choosing.
7 | Formats
For the selection process, all submissions must be made via FilmFreeway.
Successful submissions that are selected for the festival programme must submit a DCP for offline screening and a High Res. mov./mp4 for online screening (minimum 1080)
8 | Selection
The festival’s curation team reserves the right to invite films for the competition and programme. The screening schedule will be announced after the selection process. The final award winning entries will be selected by a festival jury and audience votes.
9 | Screenings
It is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure that films for both online and offline screening are deposited with the festival organisers at least 28 days before any scheduled screening.
10 | Publicity
The festival reserves all the right to use extracts from submissions for festival publicity and marketing purposes. Press kits are not required, but are useful, so please feel free to send these with your submissions.
11 | General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
UK-China Film Collab follows its GDPR compliance which can be found here for the festival submission process.
The organisers and the curatorial team will make a final decision based on a comprehensive review of the quality of the production, the narrative (aesthetics) and the thematic fit. Selected entries will be notified by email after the final selection date.
The Rights and Obligations of the Organisers and the Entrants
The rights and obligations of the organisers
1) The organisers are obliged to keep the content of the submissions confidential, but an overview of the submission contents, confirmed by both parties, may be displayed on the official public account.
2) The organisers have the right to promote and screen the content during the event.
The rights and obligations of the entrants:
1) The entrant undertakes that he/she is entitled to the full intellectual property rights of the submitted content worldwide or has been authorised by the intellectual property right holder and can exercise said intellectual property rights by all submission rules and that the intellectual property rights of the entry are owned or exercised by the entrant.
2) Entrants undertake that their submissions are legitimate, do not violate the relevant laws and regulations of the UK and China, do not contain content that infringes on the copyright and other rights of others, and do not infringe on the legal rights of any third party.
For any enquiry about submission, please feel free to contact the festival’s curation team via: odysseycuration@ukchinafilm.uk
We look forward to receiving your films!
Odyssey 2025 Media Pack for Press.
