WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER – CLOSE-UP CINEMA, SHOREDITCH
8:00 pm to 10:30 pm OPENING – “ADVENTURES IN SHORTS 1” Q&A and NETWORKING DRINKS
Q&A with some of the filmmakers followed by networking in the Close-Up Bar.
THE MEDALLION – by Ruth Hunduma (United Kingdom)
Ruth and her mother go back to Ethiopia and explore her mother’s story as a survivor of the Red Terror genocide. Amidst a new civil war, they rediscover a country bursting with history and culture.
THE RED BIKE – by Torben Bech (Denmark)
Jack receives a bike as a birthday gift in this quiet, atmospheric, and mood-filled story about family, poverty, and the wish that perhaps everything could be different.
SUCH A LOVELY DAY – by Simon Woods (United Kingdom)
On a glorious English summer’s day a dark secret threatens to disrupt a perfect family gathering.
FAMILY – by George Foote (United Kingdom)
Hugo Harrison examines how his family have defined his life choices in this thoughtful portrait of a chef unconsciously chasing his father’s approval.
A LADY OF PARIS – by Steven Benedict (Ireland)
A little dog tries to help an elderly lady get through a lonely Christmas.
BALLOON – by Peter Dodd (United Kingdom)
A boy Elephant, trying to get some peace from his baby sister, comes up with a plan to distract her, which backfires in spectacular fashion.
OPEN – by Richard Paris Wilson (United Kingdom)
A man tries to open a pistachio nut … and other things.
PATIENCE – by Louis Chan (United Kingdom)
A District Nurse mentors a final year student which leads to an unexpected rollercoaster of highs and lows.
SAFE – by Debbie Howard (United Kingdom)
An office cleaner finishes work late one evening and heads home – a man at the bus stop has other ideas.
MOUSE – by Ewan J. Fletcher (United Kingdom)
A pin-sharp thriller, which both uses and subverts the tropes of the horror and thriller genres.
THURSDAY 21 NOVEMBER – CLOSE-UP CINEMA, SHOREDITCH
8 pm – 10:30 pm MUSIC SHORTS, A NARRATIVE SHORT, A FEATURE, Q&A and NETWORKING
A short collection of visually stunning music shorts, followed by a narrative short and a feature, concluding with networking in the Close-Up Bar.
A DREAM AT LAST – by Vernny Arguello Vargas (Costa Rica)
In an oneiric journey, with water as a purifying element, we travel on the longing for what we imagined would be forever, but never was.
EATING HEARTACHE – by Jason Tran (Australia)
The theme is heartache but is to be interpreted by the viewer’s own life experiences.
THAT’S ON ME – by Beatriz Santamaria Pinha (United Kingdom)
An Ed Sheeran music video telling the story of Alger, a retired injured biker, who is seeking joy and an escape from boredom through the exploration of new passions.
NIPPLEGATE! – by Antje Nikola Moenning (Germany)
Social media fears female nipples more than hate – a satirical must-see that questions censorship!
IN MY NOSTRILS – by Emma Daniela Grape (Latvia)
A young boy living his last day in a dream-like state wakes up from seeing his envisioned version of death in a dream.
PSYCHO – by Samuel Pothier and Husam Taha (United Kingdom)
A screen adaptation of Jack Kittel’s 1973 cult country hit featuring dreams, demons, delusions – and death.
DEATH GRIP– by David Silset (Denmark)
Noah is addicted to porn. Can he recover and rekindle his love for his girlfriend?
EATING THE FUTURE (Feature) – by Katy Jenkyns (United Kingdom)
An eco-investigator, traumatised by her work accessing factory farms, journeys into our food systems to look for hope.
FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER – THE SOHO HOTEL CINEMA
8 pm – 10 pm SHORT FILM COMPETITION “Adventures in Shorts 2”
The Best Collection of Short Films available this year. Part of the highly prestigious UK Film Festival Shorts Competition.
RENÉ GOES TO WAR– by Luca Ferri, Morgan Menegazzo, and Mariachiara Pernisa (Italy)
In the woods of Slovenia, little René spends his summer holidays playing alone, fantasising about defending the national borders from an enemy attack.
AN ORANGE FROM JAFFA – by Mohammed Almughanni (Palestine)
Mohammed, a young Palestinian, is desperate for a taxi to take him through an Israeli checkpoint. When the driver discovers that Mohammed has already failed to cross the checkpoint, the trouble begins.
ON THE WAY – by Samir Karahoda (Kosovo)
Father and son go to the airport to pick up a gift sent from abroad by the boy’s godfather. Amid bureaucratic hurdles, with little or no hope for real political and social changes in the country, can they find hope?
DRAGFOX – by Lisa Ott (United Kingdom)
Sam’s search for identity is interrupted by a mysterious fox. Together they embark on a magical journey to discover the surprising things they have in common, and how to celebrate the ways in which they differ.
WITH ALL DUE HUMANITY – by Kacper Checinski (France)
In an employment office, Hélène, the deputy director, receives an alarming email from a desperate unemployed woman. But just how far is she willing to go?
FRACTI – by Lavinia Petrache (Switzerland)
Humans live their routines inside an ethereal village floating in the sky till one of them causes the world to end.
THIS FILM MIGHT BE WHITE – by Sebastian Johansson Micci (Sweden)
At a final feedback meeting it is suggested that a new commercial might be perceived as too white. The discussion escalates as to how to fix it, and above all whose fault it is.
THE DEATH KNOCK – by Paul Tanter (United Kingdom)
True-life magazine journalist Jenny Jones faces her first “death knock”. A man’s been struck by lightning while doing the chippy run, but is there something fishy about the widow?
SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER – THE SOHO HOTEL CINEMA
7 to 10 pm – UK Premiere of the Feature Film “THE UNDERTAKER” followed by AWARDS CEREMONY and AFTER PARTY
THE UNDERTAKER – by Michael Wright (United Kingdom)
In a small town in Northern England sometime in the 1960s, an undertaker is caught in a life and death moral dilemma. Is there a way back to redemption? Stars Paul McGann, Tara Fitzgerald and features Murray Melvin’s last performance.
AWARDS CEREMONY
9:15 pm AFTER PARTY – Venue TBA at the screening.
SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER – CLOSE-UP CINEMA, SHOREDITCH
3:30 – 5:30 pm – UK PREMIERE of the Feature Film “YELLOW BUS”
An unmissable, deeply moving, thought-provoking feature debut.
YELLOW BUS – Wendy Bednarz (United Arab Emirates)
In the sweltering Arabian Gulf heat Ananda dreams of a better life than the one she left behind in India. The dreams are shattered when her child is forgotten on a school bus under mysterious circumstances.
Wendy Bednarz’s debut fiction feature Yellow Bus is a unique collaboration between Jordanian producer Nadia Eliewat and Indian Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga. Featuring an award-winning lead cast Tannishtha Chatterjee (“Brick Lane” and “Parched”), Yellow Bus showcases its transnational essence, using five different languages: Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, and Tagalog.