Challenging times loom on the horizon. As we navigate through one crisis after another, we find ourselves at a pivotal juncture where we can question the status quo and effect change in our surroundings. This assortment of short films, intimately tied to these shores, showcases some of the most brilliant talents and their resolute determination to drive progress. These are not just films; this is a movement.
Area Boy
Nominated for Best UK Short
Director: Iggy London | UK | 2023 | 19 Minutes
An aimless teenager, Eli, has moved to the outer edges of a provincial town with his mother. He tries to escape the bleakness of life and questions of self-identity by balancing his time between his delinquent friends and the church community. Torn between two worlds, Eli must find himself and embrace who he truly is.
Cast: Joshua Cameron, Malcolm Kamulete, Jolade Obasola, Mensah Bediako
Writer: Iggy London | Producer: Lorine Plagnol, Georgia Rose | Director of Photography: Christian Huck | Editor: Mark Keady | Music: Rob Lewis
Housewarming
Nominated for Best UK Short
Director: Liam White | UK | 2024 | 18 Minutes | UK Premiere
Content Warning: Swearing/Threat (throughout)
Saskia has just moved into her first house, but the dream is soured by an unexpected arrival. The latest short film from BAFTA-longlisted writer/director Liam White, if you thought his last short Punch-Drunk was tense, expect to be pushed even further…
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Cast: Charly Clive, Barry Ward, Naomi Yang, Lucy Russell, Holli Dempsey, Sam Baron, Lee Fenwick, Julie Higginson, Sanjay Patel
Writer: Liam White | Producer: Liam White, Guy Lindley | Director of Photography: Paul Mortlock GBCT | Editor: Andrew McKee BFE | Music: Greg Schierlinckx
Only You and Me
Original Title: Dim ond Ti a Mi | Director: Griff Lynch | Wales | 2023 | 15 Minutes | International Premiere
In the picturesque Welsh countryside, Mabli journey’s to meet her boyfriend Meirion’s family where she discovers a world very distant from her own. She soon discovers the sinister truth behind the family’s customs, and the real purpose of her visit.
Cast: Mabli Jên Eustace, Siôn Alun Davies, Rhodri Evan, Eiry Thomas, Emily Fray
Writer: Griff Lynch | Producer: Bethan Jenkins | Director of Photography: Tom Doran | Editor: Mali Evans | Music: Tony ac Aloma, Griff Lynch
Good Boy
Director: Tom Stuart | UK | 2023 | 16 Minutes
Out of money and out of luck Danny attempts to rob a bank with his overbearing mum but is scuppered by figures from his past. With his mum in the back of his van, and a dead pigeon on the passenger seat, Danny has a growing sense of desperation.
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Cast: Ben Whishaw, Marion Bailey, Dino Fetscher, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Paul Chahidi
Writer: Tom Stuart | Producer: Kay Loxley, Max Marlow, Elettra Pizzi, Tom Stuart | Director of Photography: Adam Singodia | Editor: Selena Macarthur | Music: Joe Wilson
Always Show Courage When Burning To The Ground
Director: Joseph Wilson | UK | 2023 | 11 Minutes | World Premiere
Content Warning: Sexually explicit content
God (Jeffrey Hinton) awakens an old gay sauna in search of Venus (A Man To Pet), a Roman Goddess, in a hope to try and save the world from climate change. The film was influenced by Jorge Donn’s 1982 Bolero, mimicking its repetitive choreography and its enchanting score.
Cast: Jeffrey Hinton, A Man To Pet
Writer: Stephen Eyre | Producer: Juliette Larthe | Director of Photography: Ronnie McQuillan | Editor: Joseph Wilson | Music: Stephen Eyre
Dangerous Romance
Nominated for Best UK Short
Director: Daisy Jacobs, co-director Christopher Wilder | UK | 2023 | 12 Minutes | World Premiere
Fifty-something PG does her best to please, but no-one pays attention to her needs. Addicted to romantic novels, lost in dreams of wild sex and rescue, her days fly by, unseized, unlived.
Who will save her from this dangerous romance?
Cast: Vivienne Gibbs, Scott Handy, David Schofield, Selva Rasalingam
Writer: Daisy Jacobs | Producer: Jacqui Davies | Director of Photography: Tristan Oliver BSC | Editor: Vera Simmonds | Music: Das Koolies
Fierce-ish Grace
Director: Amaya Owen Rowlands | UK | 2024 | 5 Minutes | World Premiere
Grace is a hybrid. At work she’s a diluted, no-worries-if-not girly. At home she’s strong, defiant and empowered, particularly when muttering fantasy comebacks into her pillow at 4am. As Grace prepares to confront her boss, she’ll finally unleash a version of herself that only her bathroom mirror has ever seen.
Cast: Bukky Bakray
Writer: Celia Legard, Amaya Owen Rowlands | Producer: Celia Legard, Emily Betts, Freddie Robarts | Director of Photography: Ronnie McQuillan | Editor: Teresa Hunter | Music: Max Winter, Phill Owen, Ryan Everett
Whose Voice Is It Anyway
Director: Kate Caryer | UK | 2023 | 5 Minutes
A darkly funny mockumentary about two identically ‘disabled’ forty-year-old women: Lottie and Charlie, who have athetoid cerebral palsy. Both celebrate their 40th birthday with family and friends, yet one is given the choice and the ability to communicate, and one is not.
Cast: Kate Caryer, Jelena Budimir, Sophie Wright-Palmer, Sophie Wright-Palmer, Beverley Bishop, Stephanie Beattie
Writer: Kate Caryer | Producer: Amanda Dorsett, Dominique Unsworth | Director of Photography: Robert Macfarlane | Editor: Kam Parmer | Music: Patrick Henchman
Hundreds and Thousands
Director: Rhys Aaron Lewis | UK | 2023 | 4 Minutes
A vignette following the exploits of Matteo and Alicia, two misfits who come up with a get-rich-quick scheme on the hottest day of the summer: illegally selling ice cream out of their car. Crime with sprinkles of romance in this offbeat comedy short written and directed by Rhys Aaron Lewis.
Cast: Maayan Amiran, Naweed Zaman, Rhys Aaron Lewis, Daniel Ndaguba
Writer: Rhys Aaron Lewis | Producer: Rhys Aaron Lewis | Director of Photography: India Opzoomer | Editor: Rhys Aaron Lewis | Music: Cyril Giroux
