The North Bellarine Film Festival was established in 2017 with the objectives of bringing high quality and diverse cinema to the Bellarine Peninsula and to help foster regional, state and national filmmaking talent.

 

Its presentation of rich and diverse programs of Australian and international feature films and its growing focus on short films produced by independent filmmakers from across Australia has resulted in the North Bellarine Film Festival growing into a major regional event.

 

The North Bellarine Film Festival established its annual Emerging Filmmaker Award in 2019 to recognise Victorian filmmakers twenty-five years of age or younger who demonstrate outstanding talent and the strong desire to succeed at their craft. The Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award will be introduced at the 2024 festival in November.

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The Emerging Filmmaker Award and Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award would not be possible without the generous support of, respectively, the Portarlington Film Society and the Geelong Waterfront Film Foundation.

 

The festival, with the generous support of the St Leonards Film Society, established the People's Choice Award in 2023. All award finalists are eligible for this award which is chosen by audience ballot.

 

Now in its eighth year, the North Bellarine Film Festival continues to attract an ever-growing audience of film buffs from across the region to its annual event in November and to smaller events held at wineries and other venues throughout the year.​