Mansfield Town Film Festival Celebrates Independent Film at 2026 Awards

What better way to mark the end of this year's Mansfield Town Film Festival than with an evening spent celebrating independent filmmakers and creatives from all over the globe?

After three jam-packed days full of Q&As, mixer events, and screenings of fantastic indie films, the Mansfield Palace Theatre hosted its awards ceremony, celebrating everything from cinematography and editing to LGBTQIA+, working-class, women’s, disabled, and neurodiverse voices.

Among the 2026 winners were Friday is Mushroom Soup, which took both the Working Class Voices Award and the Heart of Mansfield Award; The Funeral Rehearsal for Best International Short, A Rose for Iris for Best Student Short, and Between Two Wheels for Local Voices. Other awards went to The Life Across the Way, CLUTTER, My Friend Songzhi, Dirt, Rule, Britannia, Why We Cry, 233 Years of Luck, UGH, Tidy Away, Shards of Us, Dead on Distribution, and The Orphan.

In just three short years, MTFF has blossomed into a hub of independent cinema and filmmaking where Mansfield is in the spotlight for all the right reasons. As we continue to campaign for more Nottingham-based filmmaking, it’s been fantastic to see the festival gain BIFA-qualifying status, giving a real springboard for local filmmakers looking to make it in the industry.

In classic MTFF style, we saw plenty of opportunities for folks to mix and mingle, whilst rubbing shoulders with some big local names in film. There was even a special video message from the legendary Elliot Grove, founder of Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards.

Not only that, but Elliot was generous enough to offer a £500 Raindance Certificate to the winner of this year’s Working Class Voices Award, which went to Friday is Mushroom Soup, directed by Arnold T. Ride and written by Katy Trevor.

For the filmmakers recognised at this year’s festival, the awards were an opportunity to celebrate their work and the stories they wanted to tell.

“Being nominated was already a lovely surprise, so winning Best Director for My Friend Songzhi felt quite unreal. It’s a very personal film rooted in my hometown of Chongqing, and having it connect with people so far from where the story began means a lot to me. I’m grateful to the team who brought it to life and to everyone at Mansfield for making me feel so welcome. It’s a night I’ll remember for a long time,” said Xia Fan, writer and director of My Friend Songzhi.

“Our film winning an award at MTFF meant a lot to me, especially having witnessed firsthand all the hard work put in by our small crew. Presenting any art form to an audience is a very vulnerable thing, so praise or recognition of any kind always goes a long way — not least from a BIFA qualifying festival,” said Dom Hopking, cinematographer on Shards of Us and winner of Best Cinematography.

Some of the award winners have also had to overcome some pretty unbelievable experiences during the filmmaking process. Local Voices Winner, Ryan Goff spoke to us about his filmmaking process, injury, and incredible comeback that led to Between Two Wheels becoming an award-winning film.

"Directing Between Two Wheels came at a time in my life that allowed me to quietly rebuild myself as a creative. This film explores the tension between speed and stillness through the life of my Uncle Michael, a man forced to reinvent himself after a devastating motorcycle crash. I wanted to portray my uncle’s world with honesty and tenderness, capturing the rhythms of his daily life without spectacle. This film almost got shelved to gather dust and never be finished. However, in April 2025, a two-tonne boulder fell onto the left side of my body whilst mountaineering in New Zealand, leaving me with a broken humerus and a severely torn ligament in my leg. For the first time in my life, I was handed a glimpse into the pain, isolation, and slowness of my uncle's hardship every day. It was in this state of healing and deep rest on the other side of the world that I found a deep appreciation for self-discovery and a rekindled love for creative projects. I started this project before my injury, and after I healed, I returned to the UK with a fire to finish it."

Local voices had plenty of success as a team from just down the road in Matlock, securing the win for Best Editing with Dead on Distribution. We heard from Alasdair Gretton about his experience at MTFF: “I have been to short film festivals around the world, and was really impressed by the standard of the film selection shown at Mansfield, which seemed far better than festivals that have been going on for decades. The fact that we were screened alongside BFI-funded projects with serious backing and were still nominated for two awards, and better yet, were able to win in the best editing category, really fills our small team of mainly high school friends from Matlock with confidence.

Our film was edited on my old gaming laptop, which nearly exploded as I put the project together, so the thought of winning an award at a BIFA-qualifying festival against Editors with far more experience has definitely encouraged us to keep going with our film projects. On that note, our next film project starts shooting this month - stay tuned!”

We also heard from Gregory Ashton, writer of CLUTTER, which was the winner of the LGBTQIA+ Voices Award: “I had the best time at MTFF - just such a great sense of community and support among so many wonderful filmmakers. We felt so honoured to win the LGBTQIA+ Voices Award, and it is clear that MTFF wants to champion diverse stories. It was a truly awesome weekend”

With another successful festival wrapped up, MTFF looks forward to continuing to champion independent cinema, amplify underrepresented voices, and put Mansfield on the map as a place where filmmakers can share their stories with the world.