How to Fest : A Guide to Encounters 2023

When & Where?

The 29th edition of Encounters Film Festival will take place in Bristol from Wednesday 27 September to Sunday 1 October, with all screenings and events taking place at Watershed cinema.

Passes & Ticketing

Passes

The best way to experience the in-person festival is by becoming a passholder. This year, there are two pass options offering different ways to experience the festival :

1. Festival Pass - £75

The full festival experience! Lose yourself in unlimited access to all in-person events including screenings, industry events and evening events..

2. Discovery Pass - £25

A discovery pass has all the same benefits as the ‘Festival Pass’ but limited to 5 uses, allowing you to delve deep into the programme for less!

How to use your festival pass

Passholders can access all Encounters events including industry activity, screenings, networking events and awards ceremony, however you will need to reserve tickets for each event you wish to attend.

Your pass and tickets will be accessible via QR code on your phone, or you can collect a physical pass from our box office when you arrive at the festival. Please collect your pass as soon as possible when you arrive as you’ll need to show it to gain access to screenings and events.

Reserve your place at festival screenings and events

To reserve your place at screenings and events you’ll want to add tickets to your pass before they sell out. The simplest way to do that is to login to your passholder account (encounters2023.eventive.org) and book tickets. Your ticket will then be added to your pass automatically, so you can just show your pass for scanning to claim the ticket.

If you can’t access the website then please visit the Box Office in Watershed (Ground Floor) and

ask to have tickets applied to your passholder account – however please make sure you allow plenty of time as the Box Office can get very busy.

Sold out events

In the event that a screening is sold out, we will operate a rush queue for passholders. This means that any unclaimed ticket reservations will be re-assigned to any waiting passholders that are in the rush queue,. Tickets released in these circumstances will be first-come first-served.

Please arrive on time

Have you ever been turned away from a sold out screening even when you can see there are empty seats? To tackle this problem we’ll be filling any unclaimed seats with passholders who are waiting in the rush queue. Of course this may mean that we have to turn away latecomers because we’ve given their seat to another passholder. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you by arriving in good time!

Make someone’s day!

Reserved a passholder ticket but can’t make it any more? Please make someone else happy by logging in to your account and releasing the ticket.

Individual screening tickets

When can I buy?

For non-passholders, individual tickets for screenings are on sale now. Please note that individual tickets for industry events will not be on sale to the public, the only way to access these is by becoming a passholder.

‘Pay What You Can’ pricing guidelines

How does it work?

Individual tickets to screenings will be offered on a Pay What You Can Basis, supporting us in building a more open and inclusive community where events are sustainable, and where film is for everyone.

When you purchase your individual ticket from our eventive site, you will be asked to enter a price of your choice, starting from £5. We will not ask for proof or ID at any point, we just ask that you are honest. There will be an option to add an additional donation, which will support the charitable activity of Encounters.

Does it matter what price I pay?

Our ticket pricing starts from £5. If you are able to pay over the suggested price, this will help us continue to offer this pricing model for as long as possible, removing the barrier of ticket cost for those who need it most.

Online festival activity

We are excited to be in happening in person this year, however we understand if you cannot make it.  This is why we are making all the films in our competition programme available to watch online for 30 days in October. Ticketing and online pass details will be announced soon.  

Refunds

We are not able to grant refunds for passes or individual tickets, except for in the event of cancellation.

Accessibility

If you have any access queries, please get in touch with us at hello@encounters.film.

Venue information

Visiting Watershed

1 Canon's Rd, Bristol BS1 5TX

  • The main entrance and Box Office are both on the ground floor which is accessible via a ramped, electronically assisted entrance door.

  • There are two Blue Badge parking spaces to the rear of Watershed on Canons Road.

  • Guide dogs and hearing dogs are very welcome.

  • The first floor of Watershed is accessible via lift from the main entrance and includes level access to all areas.

  • All three cinemas have induction loops as do our Waterside 2 and Waterside 3 event spaces.

  • There are two accessible toilets (with baby changing facilities). One in the top foyer, beside our new toilets, or follow the signs for the Cinemas for the second accessible toilet on your left through the double doors before Cinema 1.

  • The toilets in the top foyer are for everyone - some of the fully enclosed cubicles have a sink and mirror in them, some are ambulant (a bit more spacious with supports such as grab rails) and there is also a large family room with plenty of room for a buggy. Just through the Café & Bar we still have separate male and female toilets.

Accessible screenings

Descriptive subtitles will be available for all International, National and South West Competition screenings, as well as Out of Competition screenings. Guest programmes will be captioned where possible.