Films | Norwich Film Festival

Meet the NFF 2026 Shortlist

This year, 1,399 films were submitted to Norwich Film Festival from filmmakers around the world. After months of watching, reviewing and selecting, our programming team has chosen 136 outstanding short films for the NFF 2026 shortlist.

Spanning British, International, Animation, Documentary, East Anglian, Student and Micro Short categories, the selection celebrates exciting new voices, original storytelling and filmmaking talent from East Anglia, the UK and across the globe.

Explore all 136 shortlisted films below or filter by category to discover more. Every shortlisted film will be shown on the big screen at Cinema City between 6-15 November, with each film page linking directly to its screening and ticket information.

We highly recommend booking tickets in advance, either online or in person at the Cinema City box office. Where a screening has not sold out, tickets may also be available on the door. If you have any questions about booking, please contact us.

A Clayful Adventure

Student

4 minutes

Discarded Clay takes on Smug Ceramic with shocking consequences. Can they learn to understand and accept one another?

Directed by Florrie Macleod

Country: United Kingdom

A Game of Chance

Animation

4 minutes

A young mouse, lonely for a friend, takes up a board game with the wind.

Directed by Gordon LePage

Country: United States

A Little Death

Animation

12 minutes

Death’s patience is tested when his sweet and gentle apprentice appears incapable of the task, leading him to seek professional help from the most unlikely of places.

Directed by Leto Meade, Jonathan Rockefeller

Country: United Kingdom, United States

A TWIST OF HATE

British

9 minutes

A newlywed couple encounter an unusual lawyer who probes their motivations for love.

Directed by Maddy Shenai

Country: United Kingdom

A Work of Fiction

Student

20 minutes

During therapy, a woman’s fantasies of love and desire begin to unravel, bringing buried trauma to the surface as her idealised therapist forces her to confront the past she longs to escape.

Directed by Alisha Masurkar

Country: India

Ackee and Saltfish

British

16 minutes

A Jamaican mother in London cooks a traditional meal for her sons, only to find them turning away from the culture she fears they are leaving behind.

Directed by Jasmin Nunes

Country: United Kingdom, United States

Aktos

Animation

13 minutes

Twelve-year-old Batyr has been secretly working on a daring project with only his loyal dog, Aktos, by his side. When a sudden crisis threatens his plan, Batyr must race against time to finish it before it’s too late.

Directed by Madina Yelikbayeva

Country: Kazakhstan

All Change

British

3 minutes

What starts as innocent conversation on the train exposes the regrets two men have over their friendship, which – years ago – nearly became something more.

Directed by Lena Molander

Country: United Kingdom

Aller & Retour

Animation

9 minutes

On the first day of winter, two little stoats must learn to adapt to their new surroundings, shedding their summer coats for their winter ones. But what happens when, in addition to the difficulty of learning to change, human intervention also complicates things?

Directed by Lucia Bulgheroni, Michele Greco

Country: Italy

Amaretti

British

15 minutes

When Lenny’s reality is devastated by the discovery of a prolonged, pernicious crime committed against her by her own son, an unexpected connection helps her to begin a journey towards re-forging her fractured identity.

Directed by Stacy Martin

Country: United Kingdom

Among the Smoke

Documentary

8 minutes

A grandmother recounts her childhood experiences living in wartime London.

Directed by Austin Salt-Cowell

Country: New Zealand, United Kingdom

Apocalypse

Documentary

14 minutes

Deep in Hellfest, gigantic metal festival, music gradually takes possession of metalheads.

Directed by Benoit Méry

Country: France

August 31st, 1997

British

7 minutes

Based on personal recollections of the events of August 31st, 1997, a filmmaker revisits his childhood through the perspective of the television set that raised him.

Directed by Luke Flanagan

Country: United Kingdom

Avant de Rentrer…

Student

15 minutes

Lost along the road, someone enters the forest…

Directed by Arthur Bonneau

Country: France

Bad Habit

East Anglian Student

13 minutes

A medieval convent is thrown into chaos when one of their nuns mysteriously disappears.

Directed by Mercy Brewer & Jake Thakur

Country: United Kingdom

Ban Dal (Half-Moon)

Student

22 minutes

Annette travels to Korea with her adopted son to meet his birth mother and realises that a mother’s love can be shared.

Directed by Hae-Sup Sin

Country: Switzerland

Barber of the Gods

International

20 minutes

A young barber inherits his father’s supernatural gift: restoring hair at the cost of years of life. As myth and reality collide, he discovers that every miracle demands a price.

Directed by Sushant Nagpal

Country: India

Beasts of Death

Animation

9 minutes

Devastated Claudia wants her dear, departed mother back from the other side, and she’s willing to gamble her own soul to make that happen. Three trials await her in the underworld…

Directed by Sandra Powers

Country: United States

Beautiful Birds

British

20 minutes

When a widowed birdwatcher reluctantly teams up with her granddaughter for a local birdwatching competition on the Isle of Bute, their search for rare species becomes a heartfelt journey through grief, love, and letting go.

Directed by Tommy Clarke

Country: United Kingdom

Behold This Dreamer Cometh

Student

15 minutes

If God still speaks through dreams, then what the devil was that? A surreal short comedy.

Directed by Jonny Mowat

Country: United Kingdom

Blood Runner

Student

14 minutes

A Palestinian-British blood biker races through London with an urgent delivery, as grief, survivor’s guilt and memories of Jenin blur the line between past and present.

Directed by Eda Sezer

Country: United Kingdom

Body of Our Own

British

25 minutes

Debut directors Rahemur Rahman and Lily Vetch offer a uniquely intimate portrait of three Hijra – Momo, Neshi and Jannat – as they explore social freedom, transgender identity and radical love in a world that seeks to erase them.

Directed by Rahemur Rahman, Lily Vetch

Country: United Kingdom

Bruised Sky

East Anglian

18 minutes

In 1970s Essex, sixteen-year-old Tommy follows a new friend to the home of an eccentric former cameraman for a night of drink, drugs and magic. As the evening unfolds, a growing sense of unease begins to replace the excitement.

Directed by Gary Kent

Country: United Kingdom

Calamity Wayne

British

16 minutes

It’s 1966 and timid 10-year-old Wayne, named after tough-guy western star John Wayne, is challenged to a fight. To win the affection of his crush, Annette, he must confront his bully in a High Noon, high-stakes movie-theatre showdown.

Directed by Carleton Rodgers

Country: Ireland, United Kingdom

CHARITY!

British

15 minutes

Set on the eve of the Millennium, ‘CHARITY!’ tells the story of a closeted Irish Y2K pop princess who undergoes a surreal assault on the senses as she wrestles with the cost of fame and a diabolical record label that’ll stop at NOTHING to make her a star.

Directed by Stephen T Lally

Country: Ireland

Chilli Chong Carne

Animation

7 minutes

A lonely British-Chinese girl is excited to finally make a new friend when her new neighbours move in, but soon comes to realise that the world is never so simple…

Directed by Katie Jiao Wang

Country: United Kingdom

Choked

British

10 minutes

Shakona doesn’t always want to be treated so nicely… sometimes she wants to feel like the world does: chaotic. Yet she can’t get her devoted and loving boyfriend Eddie to meet her needs, so she goes to where all good decisions are made: a hookup app.

Directed by Travis Alabanza

Country: United Kingdom

Colette

British

5 minutes

She’s got thirty minutes for lunch and a lot of phone calls to make. Colette is busy.

Directed by Myles McAuliffe

Country: United Kingdom

CRUNCH

Micro Short

3 minutes

A woman who suffers with misophonia has to endure a loud crisp eater on the train.

Directed by Holly Hunter

Country: United Kingdom

Crunch Point: Hunger and Hardship in Food Bank Britain

Documentary

11 minutes

Through intimate interviews and animation, people experiencing food insecurity in the UK share the journeys, stigma and realities behind food bank use, revealing a hunger crisis that could affect anyone.

Directed by William Taylor

Country: United Kingdom

Depersonalisation Station

Micro Short

2 minutes

An actress performs a poem born from depersonalisation, exploring the unsettling distance between body and self, and the quiet ways we drift from ourselves while life carries on.

Directed by Jerusha West

Country: United Kingdom

Did You Twirl?

Micro Short

3 minutes

An autistic dancer twirls and twirls as fast as he can to keep up with the ever-turning world around him.

Directed by Dan Shaw

Country: United Kingdom

DIRT

British

11 minutes

Following the outbreak of war, an elderly Ukrainian refugee gets stopped by Customs while trying to bring a jar of Ukrainian soil into the UK.

Directed by Lada Kopytova

Country: United Kingdom

Dug. Or, The Moral Of The Story Is.

British

4 minutes

Mikey got drunk. But it’s no aw bad, know wit ah mean?
A film about getting lost up a back alley in a British town with too many cul-de-sacs. Proof that the Scottish gift isn’t bagpipes – but rather the ability to spin any old nonsense into an epic.

Directed by Melanie Spencer

Country: United Kingdom

DUST

East Anglian

5 minutes

A horsewoman unpicks her memories and regrets.

Directed by Chloe Pirrie

Country: United Kingdom

Ember Notes

East Anglian Student

6 minutes

A saxophonist struggling with burnout loses his passion for music, until unexpected connections offer a new way to rediscover his spark.

Directed by Jaid Warner-Taylor, Millie Missen

Country: United Kingdom

Every Time I See A Yellow Car

British

14 minutes

After a violent act shatters the lives of two brothers, Olly attempts to articulate a fractured and repressed truth, whilst his older brother Liam spirals between guilt and revenge.

Directed by Matt Chandler

Country: United Kingdom

Falcon Eyes

British

20 minutes

Fourteen-year-old June struggles with face blindness, a condition that makes it impossible for her to recognise people’s faces. As she tries to remember her deceased mother’s face, June also uncovers a secret kept by her father.

Directed by Annlin Chao

Country: United Kingdom

Festival of Beasts

Student

4 minutes

Cycling through the countryside, Page Mills finds a quiet bridge. As she crosses, a forest appears and she goes in, discovering the festival of beasts.

Directed by Cara Philips

Country: United Kingdom

Foxing: Kitsuné-tsuki

Animation

15 minutes

A lonely character designer finds herself haunted by the forgotten creations of her past, as the boundary between imagination and reality begins to dissolve.

Directed by Takeru Shinozuka

Country: Japan

Friend of Mine

East Anglian

5 minutes

A child’s imaginary friend is a constant companion, until the day growing up causes the magic of childhood to slowly fade away.

Directed by Matthew Lawes-Wickwar

Country: United Kingdom

From State Lines

Student

14 minutes

After receiving a call about her father’s health, Kat, a small-town Arkansan work-staying at a hostel in Northern California, is forced to finally ask herself if this is where she’s meant to be.

Directed by Carlie Crabtree

Country: United States

From This Day Forth

Student

13 minutes

A renowned Danish actor reenacts his own heart attack, prompting a disturbing reflection on the mundane nature of everyday life and the fragility of existence.

Directed by Jonatan Egholm Keis

Country: Denmark

Giants

British

17 minutes

Drifting through his post-industrial town scavenging for scrap, isolated teenager Sandy finds unexpected purpose after meeting conspiracy theorist Don, who tasks him with destroying a local wind farm

Directed by Andy Berriman

Country: United Kingdom

GILBERT & GEORGE DAYTRIPPING FOREVER!

East Anglian

9 minutes

For many years, world-renowned artists Gilbert and George have taken day trips to the Essex coast. We follow the artists as they embark once again on a day trip from their studio to Southend-on-Sea, in Essex, asking bold and significant questions along the way.

Directed by Iain B. MacDonald

Country: United Kingdom

Glowberry

Animation

5 minutes

Hidden underneath the dense raspberry vines, in a tiny, whimsical village, a mischievous berry creature is determined to find his glow.

Directed by Jessica M Fisher

Country: United States

Gobbl

British

20 minutes

A struggling musician gets a shot at the break he’s always wanted, but with his relationship under strain and his day job delivering sex, Tom must decide how far he’ll go to chase the dream.

Directed by CC Wade

Country: United Kingdom

Good Choice, Joseph

East Anglian

6 minutes

Joseph’s indecision has brought his life to a standstill, until he finds a mysterious tape player that can tell the future.

Directed by James Farrell

Country: United Kingdom

Gossamer

British

14 minutes

In a bid to revive her career, the vocalist for a progressive metal band turns to a cutting-edge biotech firm to restore her lost voice, beginning an irreversible transformation that culminates on the night of the band’s comeback show.

Directed by Federico Barni

Country: United Kingdom

Green Grass

British

17 minutes

On the southern English coast, a disengaged student and a Deaf eco-activist are thrown together for a university project. Amid clashing ideals, the shoreline becomes a place for unexpected friendship, secrets and change.

Directed by Aram Atkinson

Country: United Kingdom

Halima – How To Stay Strong

Student

24 minutes

Halima underwent an operation to reconstruct her vulva after female genital mutilation. On her journey home, she talks about her way of staying strong.

Directed by Linda Verweyen

Country: Germany

He Woke Up To Deflating News

British

12 minutes

An elderly man’s life is turned upside down when he discovers he is to be transformed into a high-street coffee shop.

Directed by Laura Spini, Laurence Brook

Country: United Kingdom

HINDSIGHT

British

11 minutes

A newly bought car becomes a vehicle of memories for a growingly distant group of friends.

Directed by Remi R.M. Moses

Country: United Kingdom

Homecoming and Going

British

20 minutes

Two old friends hand over a London flat. Emily has just arrived in the UK while Megan prepares to return to Hong Kong. Both struggle to justify their decisions as the lines between foreign and familiar become blurred.

Directed by Kristie Ko

Country: Hong Kong, United Kingdom

Homonym

British

17 minutes

Accused of murder, teenager Sam protests her innocence; claiming a malevolent presence in her family home is responsible. Unable or unwilling to accept her story, the police dismiss it. But as events take a sinister turn, they’re forced to reconsider.

Directed by Lily Howkins

Country: United Kingdom

I Met Papo And Pepe

Student

8 minutes

A lost girl and an old immigrant meet at the edges of belonging, embarking on a dreamlike journey through memory, migration and the freedom to find a home.

Directed by Viktoria Filmako

Country: Switzerland, Ukraine

In the hands of time

East Anglian Student

4 minutes

Suffering from Alzheimer’s, a man watches a Super 8 home movie from the 1970’s at his son’s request. The images of holidays at his grandparents’ house awaken buried sensations, the gentleness of the wind, the warmth of the sun, the tranquility of childhood.

Directed by Greta bonnaud

Country: United Kingdom

Into the forest

Animation

10 minutes

At the heart of an animation studio, three young orangutans join forces to recreate a jungle born of imagination.

Directed by Antonin Niclass

Country: Switzerland

It’s Chico Time!

Student

15 minutes

In the 1970’s, a beloved children’s program host working for the Estado Novo, the Portuguese dictatorship, finds himself forced to make the most difficult decision of his life: assassinate a colleague live on air or lose his father’s approval.

Directed by Rafael Sá Carneiro, João Severo

Country: Portugal

Jasmine. Home. Mother.

International

15 minutes

On a surreal game show where stories are currency, a woman battles a system that censors her every word, fighting to reclaim the memory of her family, her homeland, and the jasmine that once bloomed there.

Directed by Ugnė Skonsmanaitė

Country: Lithuania, United Kingdom, United States

Julka

International

13 minutes

Eight-year-old Julka’s carefree friendship is shattered when a fascist regime bans her Slovenian language. After a teacher punishes her for speaking it, childhood becomes a battleground for identity and belonging.

Directed by Valeria Cozzarini

Country: Slovenia

Kim: The long way home

British

22 minutes

British Red Cross Picture editor Kim retraces her family’s harrowing escape from war-torn Vietnam to 1980s Britain, a country gripped by recession and anti-immigration rhetoric.

Directed by Cosima Barzini, Kimberly Hoang

Country: United Kingdom

Knitting Club

International

5 minutes

Miguel, a delivery guy, drops off red yarn at a knitting club run by three overly eager grannies. When they insist he stays for tea, he discovers they take their craft very seriously, and that he’s about to become their latest masterpiece.

Directed by Diogo Abrantes, João Rito

Country: Portugal

Lacrimosa

British

15 minutes

Luke returns from travelling, realising escape hasn’t freed him from lingering heartache. Determined to confront his past, he gathers tears in lacrimatory vials, descending into an orgiastic dance of memories to purge his pain and find the courage to move on.

Directed by Joanna Vymeris

Country: United Kingdom

Latcho Drom (Good Road)

Student

19 minutes

As Sonnyboy, a young Romani man, struggles to come to terms with his father’s passing, a series of events threaten the family and their way of life.

Directed by Lottie Graham

Country: United Kingdom

Loreto

International

17 minutes

Loreto, a devout young girl, sparks family tension after becoming obsessed with a virgin statue inherited from her grandmother.

Directed by Daniela Soria

Country: Mexico, Spain

Love in Three Acts

East Anglian

20 minutes

An intimate autobiographical film weaving together years of analogue photographs, self-portraits, and moving image. What began as a private act of preservation unfolds into a quiet meditation on bipolar disorder, love, family, and everyday memory.

Directed by Michelle Wing-Yan Siu

Country: United Kingdom

Maze of Joy

International

15 minutes

In Yucatán, Mexico, Elena and her two sons share a day of simple joys, family rituals and playful dreams, journeying together to the ancient Maya ruins and a world of imagined possibilities.

Directed by Liam LoPinto

Country: Mexico

Me, Myself and Mary

British

13 minutes

Chris O’Dowd and Aisling Bea star in the true story of an inattentive student who gets his days confused and ends up alone with his boss and the President of Ireland whilst high on drugs.

Directed by John Michell

Country: United Kingdom

Meet-Cute

Student

5 minutes

Jaded by endless dates, two anxious misfits decide to reveal everything – pet peeves, red flags and sexual dealbreakers – in a brutally honest encounter that might just become something more.

Directed by Nadine O'Mahony

Country: United Kingdom

Miles of Life

Documentary

15 minutes

After falling short of his athletic dreams, a once-promising Ugandan runner rediscovers purpose – using the power of sport to rebuild his broken community and to honour his trainer’s life.

Directed by Charli Doherty

Country: Uganda

Mimic

British

15 minutes

Maggie, the last remaining Mimic in England, has her world turned upside down by a patient and the lines of her reality start to blur.

Directed by Christopher Bonwell

Country: United Kingdom

Molly

British

23 minutes

A chance encounter at a launderette sparks a meaningful connection between Vinnie and Ryan. As closeness blurs into desire, they are forced to confront what love demands before it fractures everything they have built.

Directed by Darius Shu

Country: United Kingdom

Monster

East Anglian Student

6 minutes

Consumed by grief, a disfigured anti-hero embarks on a series of desperate attempts to relive his past – but it’s not the same.

Directed by Barnaby Joseph Rudd

Country: United Kingdom

Mountain Mountain

Student

7 minutes

Two young adults, Charlotte and Valerie, ride a cable car up Mount Faber in search of mountains in the small island of Singapore

Directed by Ben Tan Kai Xiang, Grace Cheu Li Qing

Country: Singapore

Mr. Vapey Man

Micro Short

1 minutes

It’s a new era and no one is scared of the boogeyman anymore. Unfortunately, something much, much worse is hidden under the bed.

Directed by Hugo Docking

Country: United Kingdom

My Wife Doesn’t Move Anymore

British

21 minutes

In a world where love is currency and women are commodities, a man constructs an elaborate justification for abandoning his immobile wife and caged daughter for another woman living next door.

Directed by Rui Wang

Country: United Kingdom

NAUSEA

International

11 minutes

In the desolate landscapes of New Zealand’s South Island, two isolated strangers unknowingly become each other’s only chance at salvation.

Directed by Elliott Louis McKee

Country: Germany

Night Feeds

Student

16 minutes

An Arab-American mother drowns in postpartum as a night nurse unnerves her and war floods her screens. Her private paranoia bleeds into the violence beyond her walls- blurring nightmare and reality… But is the madness in her mind or the world around her?

Directed by Rana Roy

Country: United States

NOISE

British

14 minutes

High from his rise to fame in an industry clamouring to promote him, a composer is privately challenged by his conductor. A film about how artists choose to defend their work, and where the blame falls if it all goes wrong.

Directed by Ollie Watts

Country: United Kingdom

noise of waves

International

20 minutes

13-year-old Antek, grieving his mother’s death, searches for a way to contact her. He comes across the GHOSTPHONE — a mysterious device resembling a 1980s television set that lets him reach his mother’s spirit.

Directed by Tomasz Wróbel

Country: Poland

Now That’s What I Call Dock Pudding

Documentary

11 minutes

In flood-scarred Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, the fiercely contested World Dock Pudding Championships celebrate a beloved local tradition as changing landscapes and generations threaten its survival.

Directed by Sarah Mason

Country: United Kingdom

Our Glass

International

3 minutes

Matt’s getting a new flatmate. He’s got the ground rules squared away, so it should be good as gold – so long as everyone’s on the same page. Sounds simple enough, right?

Directed by Samantha Jukes

Country: New Zealand

Our Secrets

Student

15 minutes

In early spring in Guangzhou, a teenage girl experiences a quiet awakening of desire, while an unsettling encounter with a young doctor exposes the unspoken distance between her and her mother.

Directed by Lenti Liang

Country: China

Paradise

Documentary

5 minutes

Paradise follows a trans gardener whose deep connection to the natural world becomes a guide for understanding who they are.

Directed by Iso Attrill

Country: United Kingdom

Pearl and Pomegranate

East Anglian Student

5 minutes

A young woman journeys on a quest to retrieve Neptune’s lost oyster shell, exploring the ocean, ruins and underworld. She faces mythical monsters that challenge the strength of her loyalties and faces her own mortality.

Directed by Erin May Reall

Country: United Kingdom

PHANTOM CAROUSEL

British

19 minutes

A broke gig worker moonlights as a corporate spy, hunting remote workers across London for productivity crimes. But when a routine audit goes wrong, he must decide how far he’ll go to stay employable.

Directed by Efosa Osaghae

Country: United Kingdom

Pickled

Student

9 minutes

All Eddie has ever known is her Granny’s world, where they pickle everything around them, preserving their family history forever. But when Granny joins their ancestors, Edie has to decide if she’ll continue their tradition.

Directed by Fanny Capu

Country: United Kingdom

Pigeonman

Student

14 minutes

A director plans to make a viral video in order to get famous. Alongside his assistant, Pepsi, the two attempt to film a local man who thinks he can control birds. Pigeonman doesn’t think he can control birds. He knows it. As time progresses and the directors nasty true intentions show, Pepsi begins to have a change of heart, eventually joining Pigeonman in his strange hobby.

Directed by Arvel

Country: United Kingdom

Please and Thank You

International

11 minutes

When an AI apocalypse begins, a virtual assistant risks everything to save her well-meaning user for one simple reason: he’s polite to technology. If it fails, they’ll both be assimilated.

Directed by Hal Kirkland

Country: United States

Pregnant

Micro Short

2 minutes

At nine months pregnant, Hannah is getting ready for a date with her partner. But her body rebels against every attempt to live up to the beauty standards she’s imposing on herself. The harder she fights, the more chaos takes over… Until her partner looks at her.

Directed by Lada Imamovic

Country: France

Printed in Gray

Student

20 minutes

During the immediate aftermath of a local school shooting, three journalists decide what must be done with the photos.

Directed by James Cockrell

Country: United Kingdom

Prisoner

Student

15 minutes

When 12-year-old refugee Adam begins to understand the truth behind his father’s stories of imprisonment, he confronts the lasting weight of political trauma and its echoes across generations.

Directed by Rame Ibrahim

Country: Palestine

Rain in August

International

16 minutes

In a world where digital contact has replaced genuine human connection, a young Black woman struggling with her deteriorating mental health must confront the silence between her and her mother.

Directed by Ashley Röttjers

Country: Netherlands

RAINY DAY

British

14 minutes

Small-time crook Victor Varnavas thinks he’s struck gold when kindly Beryl Cooke invites him into her home, until he discovers he can’t have his cake and eat it too.

Directed by Jack Hartley

Country: United Kingdom

Red (With The Green Hair)

British

15 minutes

In an attempt to lift an insatiable curse and experience adult life, an impromptu trip to the big city leads a rebellious teen and his sidekick on an unexpected journey through grief.

Directed by Clemente Löhr

Country: United Kingdom

Running Late

Animation

East Anglian

6 minutes

A stop-motion animated film about one mans surreal morning routine.

Directed by Alistair Nicholls

Country: United Kingdom

Sappho

Animation

12 minutes

Inspired by the life and work of the poet who lived on the island of Lesbos around 600 B.C., the ﬁlm Safo establishes a visual dialogue with the fragments of her poems.

Directed by Rosana Urbes

Country: Brazil

Scene House

British

13 minutes

In a near-future performance space where catharsis is packaged and sold, one Actor discovers they are trapped in a cycle of curated fame, voyeurism, and identity collapse as the line between performance and reality begins to blur.

Directed by Annabella Fazio

Country: United Kingdom

Sofiane

International

20 minutes

After her son Sofiane dies in a scooter accident, Zoléra is told his blood type proves he was intoxicated. But she knows his blood type was different, and begins to question what really happened.

Directed by Fabien ARA

Country: France

Stopped

Documentary

20 minutes

After loss leaves Rachel at a crossroads, she learns to dance again. Guided by a young ballet dancer, movement becomes a way to navigate grief, vulnerability and the unknown.

Directed by Rachel Fielding

Country: United Kingdom

Strangle

British

9 minutes

Told entirely through visuals, a young man haunted by a recent encounter in the woods returns to a residential estate to track down a mysterious driver and confront the blurred lines of his own obsession.

Directed by Cameron Cut

Country: United Kingdom

Strive

International

15 minutes

In a world where everyone escapes reality, a teenage boy named Toni longs to experience something real.

Directed by Jussi Rautaniemi

Country: Finland

STUCK!

British

19 minutes

Dr. Atkins, the hospital’s expert in removing “foreign objects”, finds himself in a bind when he forgets to get a present for his big wedding anniversary. When the perfect gift presents itself inside a patient, will he be willing to risk it all for love?

Directed by Matt Nicholas

Country: United Kingdom

Stutterbug

International

14 minutes

A stutterer’s attempt to conceal his disability backfires when he bumps into his college crush and her also-stammering brother.

Directed by Matthew Tallon

Country: Ireland

Taking A Chance

East Anglian Student

16 minutes

Across three generations, a family’s life in racing unfolds through memories, archival footage and intimate interviews, revealing the highs, lows and triumphs behind a family-run passion.

Directed by George Smith

Country: United Kingdom

TAMASHI

International

13 minutes

Water once flowed in the desert of Payahuunadu valley. Ashima Shiraishi, a former child prodigy climber, alongside their butoh dancer father, offer a ceremony of climbing and dance to invite healing to both their fractured relationship and the land of Paiute.

Directed by Ashima Shiraishi, Jess X. Snow

Country: China, France, Japan, United States

The Coronation

International

20 minutes

Nabulio, a food delivery robot, dutifully navigates Hollywood and all of its oddities until he is kidnapped by the eccentric, unhoused King Barry. The two embark on a volatile overnight journey, uncovering a connection beneath their surface-level differences.

Directed by Benji Mowatt, Marcus Devies, Marcus Tappan

Country: United States

The Dead Sing for the Living

International

4 minutes

Through a haunting roll call of names and lost homes, trees, schools and dreams, this 16mm elegy for Palestine transforms grief and rage into an act of memory and resistance.

Directed by Rahul Bhushan

Country: India, Palestine

The Galley

International

14 minutes

After being made redundant, Helen commits a victimless crime to pay for dinner…

Directed by Thomas Bennett

Country: Ireland

The Intimacy Coordinator

British

21 minutes

Kate is an intimacy coordinator. She is also a sex addict.

Directed by Louisa Connolly-Burnham

Country: United Kingdom

The Plough on Sunday

British

11 minutes

A nervous young musician debuts at a countryside pub, only to have her big moment derailed by an edgy presence on roller-skates. But there might be more at play, as the strangers cross paths after the gig…

Directed by Beej Harris

Country: United Kingdom

The Romantics

British

17 minutes

Liam returns to his hometown of Liverpool to reconnect with the memory of his long-missing sister, but an encounter with an old friend forces him to confront the grief he’s kept buried.

Directed by Aymeric Nicolet

Country: United Kingdom

The Six Seconds

East Anglian Student

11 minutes

The father of two siblings is in a coma, now terminally ill. With the chance of having six final seconds with his conscious dad, an awkward brother tries to contemplate what he might say before the end…

Directed by Noah Boyce

Country: United Kingdom

The Sky Was Candy

Micro Short

3 minutes

A yellow and blue day in the life of a little child, as told through vibrant animation.

Directed by Anh Tú Nguyen

Country: Germany

The Sorrows of Young Charlotte

Student

14 minutes

After a devastating break-up, Charlie sleeps with her friend Werther on a whim. But when he confesses his true feelings for her, an unnerving and darkly explosive argument erupts.

Directed by Shir Ariya

Country: United Kingdom

The Two Week Wait

British

14 minutes

A late-thirties woman comes up against a series of pronounced dissociative experiences as she navigates her deteriorating mental health during the rollercoaster of IVF alongside her incompetent, albeit guileless, boyfriend.

Directed by Olivia Grant

Country: United Kingdom

The Wetland

British

20 minutes

An environmentalist farmer and his biologist daughter lead efforts to save their 1,000 year old wetland community from being destroyed by Mexico City.

Directed by Mat Hay

Country: United Kingdom

This Place is a Sh*thole

British

4 minutes

In an overpriced, filthy shared flat, the horrors of communal living spiral into a claustrophobic nightmare that’s as horrifying as it is hilariously relatable.

Directed by Will Wightman

Country: United Kingdom

Three Blue Boats

British

22 minutes

Two boys wander lone backwaters in search of home after their estranged father disappears.

Directed by David Higgs

Country: United Kingdom

To feel something at least

Micro Short

3 minutes

A middle-aged woman finds emotional relief when pretending to be a sculpture.

Directed by Maria Barton

Country: Germany, Spain

Traces

Animation

6 minutes

There is a photograph of a child left on the moon, a golf ball, flags, a lost glove. When the glamour of space exploration fades, what remains?

Directed by Tilly Wallace

Country: United Kingdom

Trading Cards

Animation

15 minutes

The past, present and future collide when a mysterious man confronts his younger self over a game of trading cards.

Directed by Radheya Jang

Country: United Kingdom

Tuna Tartare

Animation

10 minutes

In a karaoke bar in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, an expired can of tuna fish and a fake Louis Vuitton purse encourage each other to believe in their artistic voices even if the world sees them as trash.

Directed by Lena Greene

Country: United States

Ultra Juice

International

4 minutes

A lonely man finds friendship in an unexpected place: his new vape.

Directed by Carl Conway Maguire

Country: United States

Uncle Artoo

British

10 minutes

In his later years, Nosferatu has become a foster carer for children. That seems like a good idea.

Directed by Zoë Whittaker

Country: United Kingdom

VOTE GAVIN LYLE

British

17 minutes

A satirical portrait of a middle-England family man and aspiring right-wing parliamentary candidate. Told through a series of intimate, observational vignettes, it follows Gavin over the course of a single day, exploring nationalism, masculinity and the quiet absurdities of modern British life.

Directed by Aneil Karia

Country: United Kingdom

Waking

Animation

16 minutes

As a famous actress slips into a waking nightmare, reality begins to unravel around her. Haunted by strange visions and cryptic clues, she is forced to confront a secret buried deep within her past.

Directed by Tingmu Yang

Country: China

We Are Nature

Documentary

13 minutes

Across Scotland’s breathtaking landscapes, Connor and Anesu explore race, belonging and environmental justice, sharing stories of resilience and reclaiming their connection to nature against the odds.

Directed by Amanda Daud

Country: United Kingdom

We Dream In Colour

British

18 minutes

In a future where humanity can no longer sleep, a young woman becomes increasingly dependent on artificial dreams, where her bond with a simulated companion begins to fracture her grip on reality.

Directed by Kane Wilson

Country: United Kingdom

We Used To Be Fun

Student

25 minutes

Jonas turns thirty and brings his closest friends to a remote cabin in the woods. Martin and Heather, who have always been the group’s mum and dad, arrive hiding a secret. They’ve just broken up.

Directed by Frøydis Fossli Moe

Country: United Kingdom

Weekend Warrior

International

13 minutes

Tess goes to a Larp and transforms herself into the Elf General Tauriel. When her foot soldier is wounded in a fight with orcs she heals him with a magic balm, which gives the weekend war games an unexpected erotic turn.

Directed by Simon Vahlne

Country: Sweden

What Goes Round

British

14 minutes

A woman wakes up on a London night bus and is provoked by a series of passengers; setting her on a bloody journey of self-discovery.

Directed by Edie Deffebach

Country: United Kingdom

When I Was Little, I Wasn’t Afraid

International

20 minutes

A boy chasing dreams meets his older self, who returns to
guard his last days of innocence.

Directed by Guido F.G. Jeurissen

Country: Netherlands

Where to Find Foxes

East Anglian

15 minutes

A new mother, kept awake by the sound of foxes prowling outside her home, ventures into the night to scare them off only to find herself a part of a strange and feral ritual.

Directed by Leo Villares

Country: United Kingdom

You Told Us To Talk About the Weather

British

East Anglian

5 minutes

A child’s climate anxiety exposes the silence beneath Britain’s obsession with small talk, asking what it takes to turn everyday conversation into meaningful action.

Directed by Harry Tomlin

Country: United Kingdom