Encounters 30 · Bristol
200 films from 45 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 10 award winners.
The thirtieth edition — and the festival's return after a gap year in 2024 — brought over 200 films from 42 countries. The programme featured Charlie Kaufman's How To Shoot A Ghost, Mark Jenkin's I Saw the Face of God in the Jet Wash, Bill Morrison's Incident, and Georges Schwizgebel's From One Painting to Another. The animation selection included Nina Gantz's Wander to Wonder, Veljko Popovic's Zarko, You Will Spoil the Child!, and Anu-Laura Tuttelberg's On Weary Wings Go By. The DepicT! competition showcased 20 micro-shorts, and Bristol voices featured in Simon Ellis' Notes From Planet Three and Edward Rowe's Poll Pri.
Winner of the 2025 Brief Encounters Grand Prix.
Winner of the 2025 Animated Encounters Grand Prix.
Winner of the Encounters 2025 Documentary Grand Prix.
Encounters Film Festival 2025 Audience Award Winner.
Winner of the Encounters 2025 Best of British Live Action award.
Winner of the Encounters 2025 Best of British Animation award.
Winner of the 2025 Encounters Children's Jury Award.
Winner of the 2025 DepicT! award.
An undocumented Filipino worker is struck by a seizure which jeopardises his status in the UK.
1987, Christmas Eve. Linda, Biram and Roger live away from their mother who stayed in Gabon.
Wind appears in a park. People fly away.
During a hunting day in rural Spain, a father struggles to accept that his son is moving abroad.
Hélène, 40 years old, comes to visit her aging mother in the french countryside.
After birthing her reproductive organs, a thirty-something woman must decide if she wants kids.
A woman finds the path to freedom through the energy of tango.
Hurikán rushes out to save his favourite beer stand from closure.
In a coma after a tequila dare, Tristan relives teen life from the other side.
Once old tricksters are gone, it's time for the new ones to be born.
Joanna, a young European traveller, roams around the Cape Verde Islands along with her sketchbook.
Two creatures meet on a tree. Their encounter goes deep down to the roots and beyond.
A cat goes on a journey toward spiritual enlightenment.
A children's game affects the routine of a girl who rushes with her dog to reach her destination.
With the sea and the urban Algarve as a background, we follow the cycle of the life of PERCEBES.
A mother knits colourful sweaters for her son each birthday. Each concealing the life he hides.
Alessandro decides to rob a bar.
A wintry poem about the Nordic nature.
The day the radiation disappears, Simon rushes to the heart of the zone.
“Love strives in starvation and dies of overfeeding” / Alfred DE MUSSET.
Emma’s one mother is too busy, the other too far: a presence she rejects, an absence she sublimates.
Propelled into her own mind, Rhi battles to save her inner child from the shadows of her own trauma.
An immersion in art through two paintings on the same subject created half a century apart.
A police patrol is drawn into a vortex of fictional worlds, triggered by the TV consumption of a boy.
A community rallies around a 14-year-old girl to help her get the abortion she needed.
Mika embarks on a bizarre journey inside her vagina after a shocking discovery.
The language in which lullabies were sung to me kills. And I am with it. The lullabies fall silent.
Olivia, returns to her hometown in Mexico in the hope of reconnecting with her past.
At apathy with his life, Ray dreams of the beauty and joy he will find in retirement.
Winter is here.
Encounters Film Festival 2025 Audience Award Winner.
Lily visits her grandma after a mastectomy, follows her shadow, and seeks to return her breast.
Mary, Billybud and Fumbleton are three miniature, human actors who perform in an eighties kids TV series called “Wander to Wonder”. After the creator of the series has died, they are left alone in the studio.
A collection of memories of a childhood in Split in the 1980s.
Winner of the 2025 Animated Encounters Grand Prix.
At fifty years old, Eli takes care of his mother.
The story of a puppet that does not become a child.
Winner of the Encounters 2025 Best of British Animation award.
Gaspard is still very much in love with Leïla. They meet in a crowded bar a month after she left him.
Having been rejected by the woman of his dreams, Midnight Student turns to a miracle doctor.
The turbulent, surrealistic journey of a young woman struggling to rebuild her self.
After a mosquito bite, a nude model is torn between standing still and the urge to scratch.
A natural history fantasy film, following the dramatic life cycle of the wild salmon in human form.
For little children the world is full of mystery.
When a lonely polar bear can't find a friend... He makes one.
Winner of the 2025 Encounters Children's Jury Award.
A sandman and a sea turtle journey to the beach where they will learn from each other and the world.
Mog the cat panics on Christmas Eve, fleeing to the roof and refusing to come down.
Fellinda Cauldron is inspired by the moon to make a magical dancing potion.
A master letter cutter is determined to pass the magic of her craft to the next generation.
In search of a bullet whose trail has been captured on surveillance camera footage.
In 1998, two schoolgirls sent a letter to Iran's first-ever women’s newspaper.
A Palestinian filmmaker reimagines a Scottish archive of Palestinian flowers.
Winner of the Encounters 2025 Documentary Grand Prix.
Three generations of women sit around a table as the granddaughter asks questions.
Having the commonest name in the English-speaking world isn’t easy if you want to feel special.
Left alone on their farm, a sibling bond is tested when an arrival ignites hidden desires.
During a theatre rehearsal, David gets a call: he must face his ex, but the meeting won’t be easy.
Jori fights for his community in his Cornish village, where the culture he cares for is threatened..
Winner of the Encounters 2025 Best of British Live Action award.
A Chinese American teenager sets out to buy the morning after pill in post-Roe America.
At 10, Tom finds a photo and memories resurface, shattering his childhood illusions.
A young girl's life turns upside down when her grandmother's behaviour sparks fears of witchcraft.
An 11-year-old boy’s attempt to save a stray dog from bullies spirals into an unexpected tragedy.
One tender night, two teenagers try to fix a broken finger.
During a break-in, a teen thief interrupts an old man’s attempt to end his own life.
Elyria lives with her family following the strict rules imposed by her father.
A musical fever dream examining the construction of desire and affect in an uncanny sitcom-setting.
A curious boy falls in love with a mouse which is his stressed out dad is hell bent on killing.
An undocumented Filipino worker is struck by a seizure which jeopardises his status in the UK.
Three Iranian refugees attempt to cross the Austrian border when things take a turn for the worse.
The filmmaker travels the world with his work musing in the liminal spaces between screenings.
A sensitive couple is asked to take part in their therapist's professional exam. Chaos unfolds.
A young dispatcher bonds with a widower, finding life’s fragile beauty amid distressing calls.
In a remote Nepali village, a stranger’s arrival stirs haunting memories of a family’s lost father.
Two young ghosts wander Athens, finding beauty in life’s complications.
A playful comedy about a shy loner who is desperate for attention from her football crazy boyfriend.
An experimental musical period drama, set in 1595, centered on the witch hunts in the Dutch South.
1987, Christmas Eve. Linda, Biram and Roger live away from their mother who stayed in Gabon.
On his last workday in a deserted village, a teacher’s students ask for something that changes all.
In the suburbs of a Chinese city, a girl is taken for a ride which will change her perspective.
Sue’s farm is about to be buried by second homes, but her daughter’s return unearths deeper truths.
Villagers gather to smash crockery as part of a traditional eve-of-wedding celebration.
A single dad journeys north to relinquish his child, confronting old traumas to redefine fatherhood.
During a summer party, Sarah´s sense of reality is turned upside down.
A basketball player is pressured to "score" by an eerie Basketball-faced figure haunting her.
A routine police check turns tense under his girlfriend’s watchful, helpless eyes.
A young schoolgirl is determined not to get caught with the extra 'homework' she's carrying in her bag.
Winner of the 2025 Brief Encounters Grand Prix.
A first date unravels into an evening of plot twists, unspoken truths, and buried identities.
In a London tower block, a man’s birthday plans are disrupted by unsettling noise from next door.
A depressed housewife seeks out a troubled young man from her past with disastrous consequences.
Little Red’s tale twisted — Hoodie’s bold, the Wolf’s tame, and Grandma’s unhinged.
Last Exit On Bethnal throws you into a mythical dyke club.
During a train ride, Ariel and Paul pass the time sketching their deepest fears.
A surreal cinema poem about a woman finding solace in her art.
A deeply religious single mother will stop at nothing until she gets her son's best friend.
Dream, murder, murder party, death.
A disturbing unravelling of a single Father struggling to cope with empty nest syndrome.
A woman goes to extremes to win her girlfriend's affection. A surreal portrait of collapse.
A man experiences an existential crisis as he unravels the identity of a mysterious waving man.
Hajnal needs to get out of here. In this surreal fantasy, she prepares to leave for England.
Two people adrift at sea are fighting a bloody battle.
After years of living alone, a woman takes in a lodger, but the change unsettles the equilibrium.
A receptionist’s peaceful day unravels into chaos with bizarre guests and absurd mishaps.
An ancient folk tradition draws a desperate man into the black market for animal body parts.
During a protest, two law enforcement teams face off on the field.
A clapper and his clapper board. A symphony of clapping.
In his booth, the projectionist doesn't know which way to turn.
Who the devil's knocking on my door?
Winner of the 2025 DepicT! award.
What happens when two emotions strike at once?
A short film about a man who loves milk and hates snow.
A strange man disturbs a small paper planet.
A tired father tries to keep up with his energetic son.
A bisexual woman struggles to accept her own identity when trying to join her local queer book club.
A mysterious man is pressing green and red buttons. What are they for?
An editor pays the price for a job well done.
Imagine the life your body will support after death.
A man went looking for the mail and couldn't find it anywhere...
Some tasks are too complicated to do alone.
A short poem about ovulation, sexy men and not yet conceived children.
What happens when you combine drag, nature and poetry?
This hand-processed film captures the image of an exorcist, as memory unravels into myth.
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.
Leo decides to solve his balding problem with a mysterious hair growth serum. The dark liquid starts causing grotesque changes to Leo’s body. Now he has to stop the metamorphosis before he loses even the last hairs on his head – and much else.
Martina is a good immigrant. At least she has always done her best to be regarded as such in Germany. But then she meets young Dunja during a short vacation at Lake Starnberg. Dunja is self-confident, non-conformist and, above all, she stands by her Yugoslavian origins - unlike Martina. Suddenly, Martina is forced to confront a part of her identity that she has repressed all her life.
Alex can’t stop thinking about Laura. She’s even dreaming about her. She’s even dreaming about throwing beans at her. So when Laura has her poetry themed birthday party, Alex decides to do just that. But when Alex gate crashes the party, armed with a multipack of tinned goods, she comes across Laura, alone. Alex decides the only way she can possibly tell Laura how she feels is through a poem - a poem about a bean grenade.
A short film featuring the voices of those affected when the M11 Link Road in East London was built, accompanied by scenes and sounds of demolition.
What can an old apple tree tell us? What mysteries are hidden in his roots, gnarled over time? Does he remember the serpent and the lost Paradise? Our body remembers more than we can expect and imagine. It remembers the sorrow and pain of our predecessors. It keeps alive the stories of our parents and grandparents as well as their ancestors. But how far back is it possible to go in your bodily memory? The stop-motion animation BODY MEMORY takes as its central concept the idea that our body remembers, not only individual experiences, but also the sorrow and pain of our predecessors. A powerful visualization of subconscious processes and the hidden horror of deportation. Inspired by historical events: the Soviet deportations from Estonia in the 1940s.
A story of the good witch Bonycrone living on an isolated island and her friend, a former sailor Captain Drum; and their adventures on the island, on the sea and in town.
Butch is a man with a secret - on the full moon, all is revealed! The first animated short by learning disabled artist Adam Cox, supported by artist Leigh Bowser and the BEYOND Artist Development Scheme run by Pyramid in Leeds.
Cameraman Kõps has a fairytale-like trip to a land of Mushrooms where he meets with a Silviculturist and he sees and hears a lot of interesting and tutorial things about the mushrooms in our forests.
Cloud Boy journeys through his insecurities and issues growing up. But as college approaches, he decides to become a more independent person. A semi-autobiography about the experiences of living with Autism.
Lola ends up sitting on a bench with local women on Midsummer Eve. At first, all women's troubles are alien to her, but as the evening progresses, she begins to question her current perspectives, and as a result of the long benching, she grows up with the country women in her own way.
A man is shackled to his apartment, and he wishes to be free. "Concrete Sky" is a contemporary fairy tale for adults and plays out like a silent film.
Mariano "Cronopio" Gedwillo transforms everyday life into performance art. Through teaching, clowning, and circus acts, he channels emotions he can’t express in words — letting Cronopio embody the full range of human feeling, from sorrow to joy.
A young woman becomes increasingly attached to the taxidermied corpse of her housemate’s cat. A dark comedy starring Will Gao (Heartstopper/Netflix), Josie Charles and featuring the voice of Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Notting Hill). The short was produced by Rasp Films who were BAFTA-nominated in 2021 for their short Lucky Break.
10 minutes in the life of several deaf-and-dumb boarding school inmates are reconstructed in real time.
George tells the story of his friend, ordinary soldier Dominic. Fate prepared a life full of unexpected adventures for him. He loses his beloved wife, sails the sea, goes through prison and escapes from the plots of his enemies. In the end, together with a beautiful sorceress, he founds a large family clan and becomes an emperor. Using the technique of oil paint animation, George takes us through his world full of color and expression. Dominik's fate is really complicated, it was not within our power to depict it all, so you can look forward to several hundred more episodes! The film is a collaboration between neurodiversity artist George Radojčič and animator Magdalena Hejzlarová.
A stigmatized character struggles with all aspects of his own frustration on his way to be transformed into a Pearl.
A sad day in Eeva’s life...
James's current practice combines the lens and natural movement to form a study of the everyday. It highlights the quotidian rituals that allow a foundation for our aspirations. These video meditations of simple human movement against static objects are rendered monochrome, with intent to return attention to the everyday that has been relegated.
A father says goodbye to his young daughter. In time the daughter grows old, but within her there is always a deep longing for her father.
Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Girl gets sick of boy. Boy gets sick of girl. Big fight. The end.
In an apartment in a city under curfew, a day expands from early Spring to late Summer. A couple’s longing to start a family is shaken by a pervasive feeling of uncertainty.
Presenting F.witch's new music video for Ice Cream on Mondays. F.witch is Flo Gordon, a classically-trained singer from Brighton. Her music is described as psychedelic indie folk, and Flo describes it as being ‘a bit like a modern day Kate Bush.’.
Incident by a bank is a detailed account of a failed bank robbery: A single take where over 90 people perform a meticulous choreography for the camera. The film recreates an actual event that took place in Stockholm in June 2006.
Jack makes a robot which can do all kinds of work. Finally Jack becomes so lazy that he sends the robot to school instead of himself. The robot gets very angry with Jack’s idleness and punishes him.
Monsieur Noir’s classroom at Jacaranda High is a far cry from his beloved homeland, with students whose accents are as Australian as they come. He longs for just one, fluent conversation in his mother tongue.
The alligator crawls ashore. The sheep is waiting for an opportunity. The kangaroo has a mission. The leopard does not. The Jump Zoo has everything they need and they don't need much anyways.
A humorous mockumentary set in 2007 Estonia for all the nostalgic viewers who were fans of reality tv at the time. The story follows an amateur reporter looking to find a cool story for his brand new TV show. His thirst for fame brings him face to face with an ancient Estonian mythological being, desperate for answers. It’s dangerous and stupid and even weird at times but you know what they say; The show must go on.
Manivald, a fox, is turning 33. Overeducated, unemployed and generally uninspired, he lives with his overbearing, retired mother. It is an easy life, but not a good one. This unhealthy co-dependence changes when the washing machine breaks down and Toomas, a sexy wolf repairman, arrives to fix it, and them.
“This song is a prayer that begs us to heed these warnings from the earth body and reflect on indigenous prophecies from different nations around the world, which speak of the time of The Great Shift. A time when we will be given two paths to walk as human beings, where we must choose whether we continue on the path of acceleration, disconnection and technology, or take the other path back into the right relationship with the earth once again.” Delving into the rich lyrical content, Siou says, “The lyrics ask if we will ever humble ourselves and learn from our mistakes as a species, whose human superiority complex is causing change and destruction to our planetary home at a pace that is beyond comprehension.” The film was directed by the visionary multi-disciplinary artist Samantha Shay and created with a talented group of collaborators and artists brought together by Samantha in Iceland. A note from the director: “Circle of Signs is a piece about the wildfires rampaging through California, but so much more. It is about climate grief, the hopeless situation capitalism and colonialism has left the planet and youth to take on, and so for this video, I decided to collaborate with a teenager on the entire creative trajectory. It was a tremendous learning experience. Seraphia Behr is 15 and stars in the film, she is a first time actor, and we created the ideas and images together. In this piece, I somehow felt how the suppression of natural burning forests equated to the suppression of the voices of the youth. Somehow, Seraphia is California embodied, struggling with and ultimately reclaiming her wildness, her beauty, her insecurities, her vision for her future, and the lineage of women she comes from. I learned a lot. It was an honor to make this piece for Mariee, and I also got to bring together many amazing female artists whose work is featured in this piece.”.
Digital pet cat Miisu gets tired of her owner and starts to revolt. Inspired by Tamagotchi, Miisufy observes the world through the eyes of digital pets.
Barbara, 30 years old single female, is the typical exemple of a modern woman, a "working girl", living in a fast lane. Barbara is completly hooked on her smartphone, but her routine is about to change when a mysterious balloon seemingly sent from the sky, floats into her life.
Mr Copycat travels to Paris to meet new people and taste delicious French food, but nobody could understand his manner of repeating words and actions. A tribute film celebrating 50 years of the Mr Men.
Unexpectedly evicted from his house, Erki faces a rather difficult task to take care of his lonely mother. He’s forced to agree to become a corpse carrier.
A nail is generally known as a hard metal object, but they are the only characters of this film, presenting an extremely expressive pantomime performance. We witness the meeting of two nails, their passionate tango and a kiss, as the result of which a small nail-baby is born. In another short episode we can see a scene in the street with a quarrelsome drunk who must be disciplined by a policeman-magnetic iron. There is a circus with a lion tamer and a lion who earns an applause devouring its master. We can see a wheedling and flattering nail trying to curry favor with a bossy hammer. But all these episodes so characteristic of human nature have been expressed only by the means of nails, by giving them life.
During an opulent and luxurious banquet, complete with hordes of servers and valets, eleven pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage.
The nuns live in the monastery in contentment and harmony, fused together.One of the nuns finds a man underground while digging potatoes. The nun begins to dream of the man, goes mad and loses a common rythm with others.
A female alien returns to earth with a charismatic scientist, however her security lies in the balance when she suspects that he is hiding something from her.
A kid makes a paper cut out of something he likes but wants to make it come alive. When he goes to sleep the drawing comes alive, and takes the boy on an adventure to find his passion. That passion is drawing! It’s a personification of him discovering his passion.
This short, animated film tells the story of Katie who found empowerment, friendship, and healing by plunging into frigid waters of the sea. As her voice relates to us the physical and mental struggles that have plagued her for decades, her animated form darts confidently through kelp forests on the ocean floor. She tells us about her strong community and the tremendous physical benefits of cold- water swimming. Through Katie’s story this beautiful film addresses themes of isolation and connection, mental health and wellbeing, and climate change and empowerment.
Remembering is a fluid affair. A daughter tries to reconcile with her mother through memories of their shared rituals, exposing the intricate aspects of their relationship. As the daughter matures, she begins to contemplate conventional notions of divinity. The blank frames of the 35mm strip regain their function as memorabilia in the process of engraving her past onto its surface.
‘A sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out through another…. Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing.’ Bede A moment for mourning, for a friend, for the earth.
I first thought of the character of Rob D. Punarinta back in July of 2016, where he served as a side character in a comic that I was writing at the time. After I stopped doing the strip, I started properly developing Rob's world, culminating in a comic strip starring Rob in 2021 and then this one-minute title sequence, of course!
Unspoken words echo in the darkness of the smoke sauna, where South Estonian men go after a hard day's work.
Oliver is a young man with autism and sensory processing anxiety. With his Mum’s birthday approaching fast, he heads to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients for a special surprise. Join Oliver as he navigates disruptive sensory stimuli and his own inner demon in his biggest challenge yet.
Marvin is stuck in a teenager’s life: working in motorway services, spending his evenings in abandoned, overgrown fields - watching the light change, apparently biding his time.
Three archetypal woodland spirits explore the conflicting human drives of creativity, possessiveness and our desire for status.
Millie and June have been friends for ever – and that’s a very long time. But do they\r\nstill like each other enough to wait for 51 minutes outside a coffee shop?
"Soap Opera" is based on a personal childhood memory involving bubble baths and pure imagination. Every frame of the film was animated with individual grains of sand, no photo manipulation or post special effects was allowed. Cameron was given a task to only allow the animation itself to direct his two composers, without giving any verbal directorial instructions typical in productions. Despite this challenge, Umberto Gaudino and Charli Mackie both understood the film's message, story, and tone, and were thus able to compose a compelling score.
Traces a pivotal 24 hours in the life of Steve, a headteacher of a last-chance reform school who struggles to keep his students in line, while also grappling with his spiraling mental health.⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Cillian Murphy is outstanding in ferocious reform school drama" - The GuardianStay for a post-screening Q&A with star Jay Lycurgo, writer Max Porter and producer Alan Moloney, hosted by Nikesh Shukla.Set in the mid-90s, STEVE is a reimagining of Max Porter's Sunday Times bestseller Shy.The film follows a pivotal day in the life of headteacher Steve (Cillian Murphy) and his students at a last-chance reform school amidst a world that has forsaken them. As Steve fights to protect the school’s integrity and impending closure, we witness him grappling with his own mental health.In parallel to Steve’s struggles, we meet Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence. STEVE was filmed locally in the South West and scored by Bristol's own Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, who will be presenting a masterclass earlier in the afternoon.Non-passholders looking to purchase individual tickets should head to Watershed's website.Letterboxd: Steve.
Gala and Viktor search for their Heaven on Earth, even during the war. That’s why they bought an abandoned house in the Carpathian Mountains and started repairing it. It’s a place of peace and calmness where they can grow their food, be silent, be defenseless, and drink coffee overlooking the mountains and a stork’s nest. But winter comes, the apple tree in the yard freezes, and the War reaches Heaven.
On Christmas Eve, two completely different neighbours ultimately want the same thing. "Sugar" plays with traditional stage/theatre conventions where the animated characters can act out with minimal cuts and camera movement.
Like every year, the swifts are returning to their homes in the "sleeping districts". This time, they don't find any humans. The space is filled with spirits.
A short film that depicts a metamorphosis from “chicken” to “elephant”: animation enables metamorphosis precisely because it realizes a transformation from image to concept. This frame-based, time-driven movement not only constructs form, but also grants images a capacity for expansion that static objects lack. Just as chickens and elephants are not only natural creatures but also carry distinct cultural meanings in human society, Taming Phenomena presents an animated dialogue from chicken to elephant, through an exploration of cinematic and animation techniques and production methods. The film employs an experimental collaborative approach to initiate a visual discussion between images, concepts, and intersubjectivity.
From a fixed point of view, we witness a tense bus ride in Brussels, when Samuel - a Congolese immigrant - gets on to voice his discontent with Europe.
A teenager with Down's syndrome helps herself, and others, to escape from accusations of witchcraft. 1724 - Dolly is locked up in a cell with her mother, sentenced to be tarred, feathered and burned. Elizabeth, though, has a plan for escape...
A spirited young woman persuades a hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a dinner dance held in her honour. Their plan requires a surprising amount of artistry and violence. Based on a story by artist Leonora Carrington, Elizabeth Hobbs celebrates her startling tale with paint and collage.
A stop motion story about friendship, based on real events.
After she can't financially afford to go on her dream holiday, a young woman named Emily decides to build a miniature model wonderland of her desired destinations. As Emily constructs her holiday in her kitchen using her model making talents, will her miniature creations fully emulate the real world locations she is unable to travel to?\nThe Holiday Maker is an amalgamation of 2D animation and miniature model sets, directed and animated by Harry G. Mead. While the film is a love letter to the art of model making, it was hugely inspired by multiple animated films, including the Wallace and Gromit shorts and Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Following the release of The Holiday Maker, Harry is currently in the process of his next animated project and has set up his new animated studio, Shed Thirty Six Productions.
Based on a short story Popi and Huhuu by Friedebert Tuglas. A dog Popi and a monkey Huhuu are waiting for their Master to come home and one day he is just not coming any more… From this particular day there starts their mutual life. Popi, being actually smarter and stronger capitulates in front of monkey’s whims symbolising with it his obedience and submissiveness. In the other hand, Huhuu symbolises licentiousness and silliness.
Claude Conseil lives with her husband in a house in the middle of the woods. She spends her time listening to birds. One day, mysterious phone calls break the calm of the forest.
Friday night frights from Cornish folk horror THE SEVERED SUN - the feature debut from writer/director and Encounters short film competition alumni Dean Puckett. Magpie lives in an isolated church community ruled over by her father, The Pastor. When a man is murdered, paranoia sets in and people start to whisper about a strange 'Beast' that lives in the forest.Letterboxd: The Severed Sun.
A father and son go to town to try to fix a broken TV set.
A delicious food of vanishing times meets two men. They understand each other even without words.
Every Tuesday, sixteen-year-old Allie stays with her dad and insists that this week will be no exception.
Three humans serve a giantess in a giant-ruled land. They try hide their true feelings about her from her. And they know that if that blue scarf around their necks would ever be removed it would mean getting closer to her - in the worst possible way.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2004.
With animation by the neurodiverse artists of The Center for Learning Unlimited's Brainstorm Productions, here comes a motion picture that is the kitten's whiskers! Willow, a highly creative cartoon black cat, lives a domesticated life indoors with her human mama. However, her wild daydreams take her on flights of fancy around the world . . . and beyond!
As the line between reality and memory blur, a mother confronts fears and uncertainty, revealing a narrative of resilience and love. A journey that leads to a profound moment when her daughter bravely discusses her illness.
A failing and desperate novelist finds his muse in a drunk, psychotic decorator who sends his life into chaos and murder - but, just possibly, genius.
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
A one-of-a-kind live event fusing music, film and dance, Last and First Men by Neon Dance comes to Bristol Beacon for its UK premiere with live score, the only chance to experience this extraordinary performance with live music in the UK. Based on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s haunting final film and completed by Yair Elazar Glotman, the work merges 16mm visuals, Tilda Swinton’s narration, and Jóhannsson’s stirring score with bold, physical choreography. Set two billion years in the future, the story imagines a final message from the last remnants of humanity, beings shaped by profound evolution, difference, and hope.This powerful, hybrid performance places world-class contemporary dance at the heart of a deeply cinematic, immersive experience.
A space princess is thrust out of her sheltered life and into a galactic quest to save her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend from the Straight White Maliens.
Thursday 25th September will see the UK premiere of Michel Gondry's acclaimed MAYA, GIVE ME A TITLE fresh from winning the Crystal Bear for best family film at this year's Berlinale. Michel Gondry will join us for a special post-screening Q&A.Maya and her dad, Michel Gondry, live in two different countries. Every evening, he asks her: “Maya, give me a title.” Her answer serves as the basis for many short stop-motion animations in which Maya is the hero. The results are sweet, poetic and wildly imaginative.Also showing on Saturday 27 September at 2pm.Letterboxd: Maya Give Me A TitleCatch Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman in conversation on Wednesday 24th September at the Bristol Beacon as we present a special screening of their iconic Oscar-winning collaboration Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
"Joyful, loving, complex" - Screen AnarchyBased on a true story, the film follows Vlad, a talented harmonica player who arrived in Bristol in the 1990s after fleeing the conflict in Yugoslavia. Now working as a counsellor in the city, Vlad has woven his roots and love for Balkan music into Bristol's cultural fabric by forming a band with his friends from work. Set against Bristol's vibrant music scene, the band strives for success, but as they do, Vlad is revisited by the traumas of his past life. His carefully rebuilt world in his adopted Bristol home starts to fracture, with the hardest hit being his only daughter Maria, the most important person in his life.We're delighted to present Thea Gajic's SURVIVING EARTH to Bristol audiences for the first time, as part of our Go West programming strand spotlighting stories from Bristol and the South West. We will be joined by Thea and producer Sophie Reynolds for a Q&A after the film.Letterboxd: Surviving Earth.
Library worker Daniel catalogues an assortment of forgotten objects left in returned books.
A film about the intimacy of a woman with Down’s Syndrome who writes with black chalk a list of daily activities to organise her life. (English/Spanish/French/Italian Subtitles available).