Choose your own adventure, cast your vote on ShAFF 2023 Grand Prize Winner

By Hope Cook, Film Programmer

Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (ShAFF) is set to capture the wild outdoors and put it on display at the Showroom Cinema once again. Join ShAFF for a 3-day programme of the best new adventure films from around the world and Sheffield's doorstep. ShAFF takes place over a jaw-dropping weekend in March, curated for thrill seekers and armchair adventurers. The festival will also host a series of free talks and events, from how to repair your adventure gear to guided discussions on getting started with wild swimming.

Each summer, festival founder and director Matt Heason starts watching the mountain of films that are submitted to ShAFF from across the globe. Whittling the films down is a labour of love, resulting in around one hundred films that make the Official Selection. The films vary from two-minute mindblowers to feature-length expeditions, with this year's sessions carefully curated to challenge expectations and inspire passion for adventure.

Unique in many ways and now in its 18th year, ShAFF is the UK's largest urban adventure film festival. One of the characteristics of the festival which makes it stand out is the community it has brought together. Each year ShAFF publish the official programme in January and, unlike most other festivals, announce the winners a week before it is due to take place, inviting the attendees to see if they agree with their panel of judges. This year's 2023 Grand Prize Winner for Best Film is Free To Run, which is screening in Run Films 1 on Friday, 3 and Saturday, 5 March. We encourage you to judge this for yourselves, which you can do by using ShAFF's cutting-edge scoring system available after the film.

An exhibition of ground-breaking local adventurers is gathered in a time capsule of short films featuring a very special new addition for 2023 - Made in Sheffield Climb Films. This collection is a second selection of the best films created by local filmmakers, featuring local athletes, or shot in Sheffield and/or the Peak District specifically dedicated to Climbing. Sheffield is known to be the Outdoor City for its dedication to its parks and green spaces and the Peak District, where hundreds of people visit each year to find nature's crimps and jugs in its wild walls. This new session complements the Made In Sheffield selection of films created by local talent.

From Friday 3 March to Sunday 5 March, Showroom Cinema will host the 18th year of ShAFF, tickets are on sale now.