For the second consecutive year Bradford International Film Festival is offering a prize for the best European fictional feature film that does not have UK distribution.

Last year’s inaugural European Features award went to Iceland’s Runar Runarsson for his film Volcano.

As befits a city with the UNESCO accolade of World City of Film, Bradford’s prize acknowledges the need to give a platform to new European film-makers who may be unfamiliar to UK cinema-goers.

Festival co-director Tom Vincent said: “The thinking was, if we had a competition for European features we would attract better submissions from Europe. And by inviting jurors from Britain and Europe we’ve become very well connected.

“Neil Young (co-festival director) spends a lot of time in Europe. The UNESCO City of Film badge is always mentioned straight away and that elevates the significance of Bradford still further.”

This year, among the 32 new foreign feature films in the festival, six films from the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Poland, France, Croatia and the Czech Republic have been short-listed for judging by a panel of three.

The judges are Australian film writer Stephanie Bunbury; Edinburgh-based journalist, broadcaster and film festival programmer Hannah McGill; and award-winning Dutch documentary film-maker Martijn Maria-Smits.

The films are: 170 Hz; Faith, Love and Whiskey; Kill Me; A Night Too Young; To Kill a Beaver; and Vegetarian Cannibal. The winning film will be screened again on Sunday, and awarded the prize which is sponsored by Bradford City of Film.