5th Edition · Holme, near Cambridge

Not quite a festival. Not quite a circus.

LowDown is the film festival that behaves like a convention — silent cinema and a drive-in under the stars, panels and workshops by day, and a grand finale in the Big Top. Set across a whole English village.

Earlybird closes in
Days
Hrs
Min
Sec
Features & ShortsFiction · Doc · Animation
Jun 28 – Jul 2, 2027Five days in Holme
4 years runningNow in its 5th edition
The Idea

A festival with the gates thrown open.

Most festivals sit you in the dark and send you home. LowDown does the opposite. Based in the village of Holme near Cambridge, we mix the best of a film festival with the buzz of a convention — so filmmakers don't just screen their work, they meet each other, run panels, teach workshops, and actually stick around.

Across the village and its surrounding fields you'll find independent features and shorts on real screens, a drive-in, silent cinema, traders, film & TV props, and a grand finale in the Big Top. It is, we think, an experience unlike any other festival in the UK.

More about LowDown
The Big Top at duskGrand Finale
What You'll Find

More than screenings.

A few of the things happening across the village during festival week.

Silent Cinema

Wireless headphones, open sky. Watch side by side in total quiet — then all laugh at once.

Drive-In

Pull up on the grass, tune in, and watch a film from your own front seat under the stars.

Panels & Workshops

VFX, practical make-up, editing, writing and more — led by filmmakers, open to all.

The Big Top

Our grand finale presentation and awards, held under canvas in true festival style.

Traders & Props

A handful of traders plus real film & TV props to wander among between screenings.

The Networking

The whole point: a village-sized space to meet peers, swap ideas and find collaborators.

Holme village, festival weekCambridgeshire
Where

A whole village, for five days.

LowDown takes over Holme — a village near Cambridge in the flat, wide-skied Fenland of Cambridgeshire — and the land around it. Screens go up in barns and fields, the drive-in fills a meadow, and the Big Top rises for the finale.

It's a proper day out as much as a festival: come for a single screening or camp in for the whole run. Filmmakers who travel in tell us the setting is half the magic.

Browse the programme
Kind Words

What filmmakers say.

★★★★★

A wonderful experience — professional, attentive, and the films selected were top-notch.

Charmaine Simpson
★★★★★

We couldn't have screened at a better or more personal film festival. We hope to be back soon.

Daniela Gomes
★★★★★

Great experience — thank you to the organisers for featuring my film.

Ronel Myburgh
Filmmakers

Bring us your film.

Features and shorts, any genre. The 5th edition is open for entries on FilmFreeway now.

Enter on FilmFreeway