Selection of the Best of The Fest over 10 Years.

CHUCHOTAGE
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

CATS, WHY DO WE NEED THEM?
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

KING OF SEA
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

TOAST
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

THE WATER’S EDGE
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

PATTERNS
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

MOTH
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

QUIETUS
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

DOMAR
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

THE FATHER, THE SON & THE RAV KALMENSON
Dir: tbc
UK 3mins

desc tbc

Filmmakers share their films and stories; a fun Q&A with Mark and Jamie.

SILENT NIGHT
Dir: Michal Cygan
UK 11mins

Grace, who is deaf, gets a job as a graphic designer at travel agency. Since her new colleagues don’t know sign language, Grace feels isolated. However, at the office Christmas party, she will receive an unexpected gift.

WHEEL GONE KID 4
Dir: Wayne Kelly
UK 11mins

In the aftermath of the plane crash! Houdini lands in hospital, The Wheel Gone Kid lands on his feet and Spanners and Tuppance land in trouble with Chief Inspector Conker played by legendary football manager Neil Warnock. Though he gives them a clue to where Aki and Yoshe might be. Can Spanners and Tuppance follow Conker’s tip off and help Houdini recover his millions from The Wheel Gone Kid?

UK Premiere.

CURRENT
Dir: Shuheng Zhang
USA 8mins

An Uber driver who wants to make a movie himself is booked to go to a film festival for the first time…

ROOM 224
Dir: Jack Haynes
USA 19mins

A lonely banker hires an escort for a night of escape, but can they find unexpected solace in one another?

Drama and documentary shorts.

FOR THEM
Dirs: Lucca Murto
UK 12mins

When Aline, an immigrant in London, wakes up with an unwanted visitor on her doorstep, she must think fast to save herself and secure her future.

GOLDFISH
Dir: Islam Hassouna
MALAYSIA 15mins

With a goldfish to care for and no money, two young siblings in Kuala Lumpur race against time to feed their new pet and keep it hidden from their mother.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Dir: Laura Gregory
UK 6mins

At a New Year’s Eve party, heavily pregnant Grace and her friend Beth, are faced with every woman’s worst nightmare – for Beth, a man who can’t seem to make up his mind. For Grace, having to try and not wee herself because of a stubborn zip on her jumpsuit. But an unexpected ‘visitor’ is about to make this New Year’s Eve one they will remember forever…

HELIX
Dir: Ben Blissett
UK 12mins

After waking up in an abandoned structure, a man with no memory must escape a mysterious unknown creature and a seemingly endless deathloop to return to his family.

IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU
Dir: Coco Taylor
UK 13mins

Lottie is falling in love with Josh, but as she navigates the emotional rollercoaster of their romance she starts to wonder if she is being loved or love-bombed.

REFLECTION
Dir: Julia Libera
UK 7mins

We invited 30 women to participate in a documentary film. Thirty women share their reflections and thoughts about themselves in front of a mirror.

SAINT CATHERINES
Dir: Orla Murray
UK 12mins

A friendship group’s reality is rocked when it comes out that one of them has sexually assaulted another.

SWEET
Dir: Susanna Booth
UK 5mins

Events take a chilling turn when a woman welcomes a new neighbour.

Documentary Shorts

AGE
Dir: Siyi Gu
UK/CHINA 10mins

Women can experience age anxiety, especially in China, where tradition expects women to get married before the age of 30. At the age of thirty, the film-maker chose to defy convention and study abroad instead of getting married, which led to questioning from her family and society.

REFLECTION
Dir: Julia Libera
UK 6mins

We invited 30 women to participate in a documentary film. Thirty women share their reflections and thoughts about themselves in front of a mirror.

THE AMAZING JOURNEY OF JACOB A RIIS
Dir: Marcus Mandai
DENMARK 3mins

The legendary Danish-American Jacob A. Riis was one of the 19th century’s most innovative journalists and the father of modern documentary photography.

Tormented by unrequited love, Jacob A. Riis emigrated from Denmark to the United States in 1870, becoming an innovative journalist and photographer, and the very definition of the American dream.

THE VOYAGE OF CORAL COLONIES
Dir: Dr Alongkot Chukaew
THAILAND 6mins

The Voyage of Coral Colonies follows a nine-year-old Charn, a curious young explorer with a passion for the ocean. Setting out to discover the beauty of the coral reefs, he dives into a world filled with vibrant colors, various species of fish, and intricate coral formations. But Charn’s journey takes an unexpected turn when he encounters a wise, gentle sea turtle, A Hawksbill Sea Turtle.

YASUKE THE AFRICAN SAMURAI
Dir: Scott Palazzo
USA 7mins

Yasuke was history’s first foreign samurai, who lived and fought in 16th-century Japan. Uprooted from his home of Africa, Yasuke rose through the ranks of feudal Japan to become an elite soldier, and dear friend of a warlord. This animation film uncovers a forgotten story.

Documentary feature: River

RIVER
Dirs: Jennifer Peedom, Joseph Nizeti.
Australia 75 mins

A cinematic and musical odyssey that explores the remarkable relationship between humans and rivers. Written by Robert Macfarlane with music by Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) and featuring music by Jonny Greenwood and Radiohead and narration by Willem Dafoe.

My Friend Miles feature film and other stories

CORDY
Dirs: Jeff Hinz
USA 5mins

For John Hinz, his leukemia journey leads him to a magical cure.

MY FRIEND MILES
Dir: Pieter Solta
BELGIUM 77mins

My friend Miles (doesn’t like short titles, he doesn’t like titles at all, he loves flower petals that disappear when you hold them between your fingers, so you better get rid of your identity-identity because your identity has gotten rid of you long time ago). Miles, a particularly playful spirit, lures his friend Solta on a journey from Berlin to Friuli, Picardy and Venice, through his life, through the minefields of identity politics, and through the black hole of our oblivion as to what the world could be. Ultimately, he returns to Ireland, the land of his childhood, where he played marbles during the troubles. Solta tries to track him down, to figure him out, to picture him. Miles, however, marbles in his pockets, infinity in his fingers, constantly eludes him. A magical fairy tale about a mystic with political gusto, based on real facts.

SALAMANDER’S LAND
Dir: Ekaterina Ulyanova
RUSSIA 9mins

A wounded man regains consciousness to find himself a guest in the land of salamanders. A friendly guide leads him through the city, where he gradually comes to understand the true nature of salamander society.

UK Premiere.

The Rhythm of Life expressed in experimental films and live performance.

LET EVERYTHING HERE BE GROUNDED
Dirs: Sara Eelen & Bas Schaevers
BELGIUM 12mins

Words are formed in the landscape, giving a voice to nature, which has been endangered by humans. This poetic film aims to bring people closer to nature and to spark a conversation about grief and care for nature.

DO SHOOTING STARS EVER PASS EACH OTHER BY?
Dir: Ida Lasic
USA 6mins

A mesmeric animation film in which star-faced dancers find each other in a galaxy of connection and loss.

European Premiere

JUST ME
Dir: Ishvar Krishnan
INDIA 4mins

Memories, dreams, illusions … all clinging on to the ‘now’ to keep themselves alive. Will ‘now’ continue to be a slave to these, or will it kill them all and just be what it has always been – now?

PURPLE CAT
Dir: Josua Graf
GERMANY 5mins

A poet finds himself within the four walls he has built for himself. A typewriter, candlelight, a couch – one might think it’s the perfect retreat. But he is not alone. Time and again, a peculiar visitor makes her presence known: a purple cat.“ A poet finds he is not alone as a peculiar visitor makes her presence known: a purple cat.

UK Premiere

TOUGH
Dir: Barry Hollow
UK 2mins

A poetry film about the passage of life and the concept of freedom.

CARGO
Dir: Gizem Tataroglu
CANADA 5mins

Trapped inside the boxes, the migrants helplessly and frantically observe their surroundings. The protagonist begins to remember their past: how they once had a beautiful life, lost their child in a war in their homeland, and felt hopeless at their grave. Each migrant embarked on this journey in search of a “better life” and freedom. Throughout the process, their experiences are expressed artistically through dance. At the final stage of waiting, they all rebel and decide to tear open the boxes they are trapped in, fighting for their freedom. In their endless search for freedom, now they must rip apart these boxes to escape. In their endless search for freedom, now they must rip apart these boxes to escape.

PLAYING HOUSE
Dir: Jennifer Scully-Thurston
USA 13mins

Playing House is a cautionary tale of adventuring into a girl’s fantasy, the disappointment of that reality, rejecting a predetermined life and the vulnerability and uncertainty of taking destinity into your own hands.

A TRANSCRIPTION OF THE SHEEPBITER’S HANDWRITTEN CONFESSION
Dir: Anne Ciecko
USA 5mins

In this experimental videopoem (part pastoral, epistle, observational documentary, and memory narrative – but all true), the narrator, survivor of an unthinkable act of disfigurement, recalls a brief period of becoming both woolly and wolfen in the aftermath.

TEASING THE EDGE
Dir: Kavisha Mandalia
UK 5mins

A woman speaks to a long ago self, peeling back the layers, lifting the lid. Teasing the Edge is an experimental film which plays in the space between hope and grief.

CLOUDS
Dir: Fiona Maura
USA 5mins

The music video “Clouds” by Fiona Maura depicts a powerful journey of metamorphosis, breaking free from past constraints and emerging from the cocoon of trauma into a state of renewal and strength. Through a raw, intense dance duet with choreographer William Harris III, Fiona captures the emotional struggle of shedding corrosive connections and reclaiming herself. Blending movement and her expertise in sound healing, the visuals evoke a deep sense of transformation and empowerment. Directed with striking, evocative imagery, “Clouds” invites viewers to embrace their own journeys of healing and self-rebirth.

3 6 5
Dir: Matt Sedgley
UK 4mins

A spoken word poetry film narrating the internal dialogues, of overcoming long term anxiety and finding identity, spanning 3 6 5 days of the year.

STAR JUMPS
Dir: Cally Trench
UK 1min

‘Star Jumps’ is a very short animation film, which starts with a starry skY…

European Premiere

A FULLY EMBODIED WOMAN
Dir: Anna Kuzmina
USA 5mins

“A Fully Embodied Woman” is a short film that follows a female dancer’s journey of self-discovery. Through mesmerizing dance sequences and intimate conversations, we witness her exploring her identity and delving into her deepest thoughts and emotions. Set in her Brooklyn apartment, the film captures the dancer’s raw and authentic moments as she grapples with issues of sexuality, artistry, jealousy, and more. Ultimately, the film is a tribute to the power of femininity and its ability to express the complexities of women’s experience.

MY GREAT GREAT AUNTY ROSE
Dir: Lee Campbell
UK 3mins

‘Now as it happens, as it goes, “A whimsical poem!” exclaims Aunty Rose.’

Comedy feature: Four Mothers

FOUR MOTHERS (15)
Dir: Darren Thornton.
Ireland 89 mins

A struggling novelist who is forced to take care of three eccentric older women – and his own mother – over the course of one chaotic weekend in Dublin. Winner of the BFI London Film Festival Audience Award, this uplifting comedy-drama follows an unlikely found family on an emotionally charged journey of self-discovery and acceptance. Starring James McArdle, Fionnula Flanagan.