After a very successful second year, the third edition of Elevation Film Festival will be based at Real Ideas Organisation in Plymouth, alongside artist installations and workshops running at Maker Heights across the water in Cornwall. The festival will take place on 2-4th October 2026.

Elevation celebrates emerging voices in artistic, experimental, and expanded cinema across southwest England, the UK and internationally.

We welcome filmmakers to showcase their work across a weekend of screenings, talks and workshops, connecting regional and international artists in a vibrant community celebration of moving image culture. We accept national and international submissions of artists' and experimental film, installation and expanded cinema performance, plus films of any genre made in Devon & Cornwall.

Elevation is an in-person film festival with screenings being held at our collaborators, Real Ideas, Devonport Guildhall and Market Hall venues in Plymouth, UK. These buildings are part of Devonport Creative Culture which is in its early stages of brining a vibrant creative community to the area. Alongside the screenings, installations and workshops will be running at Maker Heights. Centred around a historic barrack block building occupied by a community of visual artists and musicians, Maker features a campsite, inspiring views and access to beaches and woodland.

Taking place from 2 to 4 October 2026, Elevation is supported by the Arts Council, Maker Heights Ltd, Notch Studios as well as our collaborators Real Ideas Organisation.

Elevation Arts is a CIC curated by a team of film enthusiasts and artists based at Maker Heights and Plymouth. The directors are: Richard Ashrowan - the founder and former Director of Alchemy Film Festival in Scotland, Emily Saunders - Scriptwriter and Operational Lead for Real Ideas, Patrycja Loranc - Film maker, PhD researcher and studio holder at KARST, Chris Stacey - MA in theatre, radio DJ and event manager.