Scunthorpe is getting its own film festival and it just received its first funding to make it happen.
The inaugural Lincs Film Fest takes place on 20 November 2026 in Scunthorpe town centre across 2021, Scunthorpe Central Library, Café Indie, and Fountain Arts.
Shepherd Creative has been awarded a grant by North Lincolnshire Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as part of Cultural Futures, a multi-year initiative to increase arts, heritage and cultural opportunities across the region, to launch Lincs Film Fest, a new annual film festival rooted in Scunthorpe and the wider Lincolnshire community, with its first festival taking place on 20 November
2026 Shepherd Creative, the North Lincolnshire-based production company behind a growing slate of short films and documentary work, has secured £5,000 in Cultural Futures funding from North Lincolnshire Council to launch Lincs Film Fest, a new community film festival for Scunthorpe and the surrounding regions.
The inaugural festival takes place on 20 November 2026 in Scunthorpe, bringing together film screenings and practical filmmaking skills workshop giving local audiences a first real taste of what Lincs Film Fest can become, and building the momentum and evidence needed to grow the festival year on year. There will be a timetable released publicly showcasing what happens at each venue, the venues involved are 2021, Scunthorpe Central Library, Fountain arts and Café Indie.
The vision for Lincs Film Fest is to create an annual celebration of film that is genuinely rooted in Lincolnshire: Community lead and accessible, focused on northern storytelling, and built around lifting up emerging and underrepresented filmmakers. The full festival programme will bring together film screenings, filmmaker Q&As, participatory workshops covering camera, lighting, and production
arts, and community events designed to reach audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
“North Lincolnshire has real creative talent, real stories worth telling,
and audiences hungry for something that speaks to them. Lincs Film Fest is about building something that belongs to this community not just a screening programme, but a genuine platform for the voices that deserve to be heard.”– Joe Shepherd, Director, Shepherd Creative& Shepherd Screen CIC
As a neurodiverse-led organisation, Shepherd Creative is committed to building a festival that reflects the full diversity of the communities it serves. Programming will actively champion work by and for people who are underrepresented in mainstream cinema, including people of colour, LGBTQ+ individuals, disabled people, and working-class communities. Accessibility both in terms of venue choice and ticket pricing will be central to the festival’s design from the outset.
Alongside the November event, Shepherd Creative is also carrying out a wider programme of work to grow the festival: a public town hall in Scunthorpe, venue mapping across the region, community consultation to shape the programme, and development of a skills workshop strand in partnership with local schools, colleges and youth organisations.
Shepherd Creative is already in early partnership conversations with Know Film, Foundation Arts and Vue Cinema.
A major funding application to deliver the first full edition of Lincs Film Fest will be submitted by February 2027, with the aim of launching the festival in 2027 as a permanent fixture in North Lincolnshire’s cultural calendar.
Shepherd Creative is a North Lincolnshire-based production company working across scripted, non-scripted, and commercial film. It is a neurodiverse-led organisation founded by director Joe Shepherd.
The £5,000 Cultural Futures grant was awarded by North Lincolnshire Council and made possible with the support of North Lincolnshire Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of Cultural Futures, a multi-year initiative to increase arts, heritage and cultural opportunities for North Lincolnshire.
A further funding application to grow Lincs Film Fest into a full annual programme will be submitted by February 2027.
The project has been made possible with the support of North Lincolnshire Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of Cultural Futures, a multi-year initiative to increase arts, heritage and cultural opportunities for North Lincolnshire.
