Encounters 31 · Bristol
171 films from 44 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 12 award winners.
The thirty-first edition marked a turning point, as Encounters repositioned itself as a festival of breakthrough and discovery across features, high-end television and shorts, backed by a strengthened Board including Nida Manzoor. Running 23–27 September across Watershed, Prospect Building, We The Curious and Wake The Tiger, the programme of 171 films from 42 countries was led by the UK premiere of Paper Plane, the directorial debut of Saoirse Ronan, and the English premiere of Paul Wright's Mission, produced by Bristol's Early Day Films. Hey Duggee creator Grant Orchard designed the festival image and sat on the Animated Encounters jury. Paper Plane went on to win Best of British (Live Action), while Altay Ulan Yang's HYENA took the Brief Encounters Grand Prix, Anna Ginsburg's HAG the Animated Grand Prix, and Nazgol Kashani's Uncle Filmi the Documentary Grand Prix. Oliver Laxe discussed Sirāt with Ben Rivers and presented the UK premiere of Sirāt Live with Kangding Ray as part of Crack and MUBI's Underscore series, while Steven T. Hanley's Warp Vision brought the Warp Records music video archive to the Megascreen. Aneil Karia returned as an Academy Award winner for a filmmaker masterclass, Isabella Odoffin gave a casting masterclass, and Wes Anderson's lead storyboard artist Jay Clarke led a visual storytelling session at Animated Encounters. Strands included Philippine Shorts: In Focus, Cornwall in 360, Celebrating London Film School @ 70 and 25 Years of Adult Swim, and the new screenPLAY youth strand brought gaming and filmmaking workshops to the festival.
In an isolated castle, students prepare for a life-changing examination.
In a world where being yourself makes you monstrous, what is the cost of repressing your authentic self?
A lively family gathering for full-body hair removal is stormed by Islamic revolutionary guards.
Late 18th-century England. A nightmarish teenager and a rookie Reverend lock horns over Sunday school attendance.
When a defiant young girl stages a silent protest, her mother must decide whether to follow her or let her go.
A man lists the things he has.
Tim Key narrates a bizarre date-night poem brought to life by animator Rob Ling, with music and sound by Paul Steel.
A Cornishwoman living with a degenerative speech condition struggles to ask her family for one simple thing: to take her to the beach.
In his later years Nosferatu has become a foster carer for children. That seems like a good idea.
A perfectly normal day in the park
A blind violinists seeing eye dog witnesses a murder…and it’s up to this good boy to solve it.
In 1988, Afghanistan sent its only astronaut into space, a journey that proved home can be farther than the stars.
Overwhelmed by crippling anxiety, a young sculptor finds himself trapped in his studio.
Eva no longer trusts the tap water. She seals her windows, arms herself, does whatever it takes to keep herself and her cat Charlie safe.
A young man’s mind is taken over by the whispers in his head, while his friend tries to rescue him from a darkness only he can hear.
On a summer trip with friends, Momo becomes consumed by the belief he has witnessed something impossible.
Claudine is looking for love.
Can we see the violence of the painter’s hands in the brush strokes of his paintings?
The supermarket is nearing its closing time, and the last customers are queuing for their turn at the fish counter.
Angine, an unhappy woman, shops compulsively in a department store.
A perfectly normal day in the park
A young Chinese woman enters the U.S. under a deceased girl's assumed identity, facing immigration authorities and her own guilt.
A group of neighbours must coexist—whether they like it or not (they don’t).
Abducted into a jungle tribe’s brutal initiation, three adolescent girls enter a divine dimension.
Helpless in the face of a repressive state, a young couple leaves their home - an escape that turns into a surreal nightmare.
An 8-minute animated epic following the adventures of Gorillaz’ band members Noodle, Murdoc, 2D and Russel as they journey across India.
Life throws curveballs, how you react decides if you make it through.
Jessica and Alma, two sisters in a situation of domestic violence, will begin to treat each other with love instead of violence through one of their routine trips to the food stamp office on the night of San Juan, a spanish holiday.
A family in the 1960s captured on Super8 film, juxtaposed with stories of a violent husband recounted fifty years later.
Robert is in a relationship with a sex robot and runs a bakery with his mother. When a cake oven breaks down, his toxic father returns to fix it. His father’s presence puts Robert’s love for the robot to the test.
With the sea and urban Algarve as the backdrop, we follow a complete life cycle of a special shellfish called percebes, the goose barnacle.
Ellen lends a friend some money and when the friend then disappears, she is forced to make a heartbreaking decision.
In small-town Montana, Simon struggles working in his family’s grocery store under the management of his younger brother, Dev.
In order to “heal” Sam must embrace her inner Me and kill her I.
On a warm fall day, a construction worker takes a lunch break, a girl cares for her grandmother, and a director edits his film footage.
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In Los Angeles, AJ, a shy teenager, meets Kristen. She lives for surfing; he loves skateboarding and drawing. They fall madly in love, and a happy future seems within reach. But everything changes when Kristen faces a sudden illness. Together, they face adversity, driven by the strength of their love, their friends, and their newly shared passion for surfing and the ocean.
In a decaying cinema in the heart of Manila, Life discovers first love through films and their new friend’s father.
It’s the last day of the month. Bowlers flock to the lanes of a bowling alley that has seen better days. Mira, the bowling alley’s manager, decides to close early. She’s awaiting the arrival of a special visitor.
Sad boys Jelson and Ipe harness the power of their love in an attempt to survive a world devastated by climate change.
In the aftermath of a major earthquake, local police discover a bound, naked man stranded near a large hole in the woods of a small mountain town.
What could happen when two people in the renaissance time do sexting?
In the face of her body fading into stardust, Shari realizes what truly matters to her.
A girl tries to prevent her mother from drowning in depression, after the death of a fish.
A life, seen only through paper.
A human civilization lives within the body of a living planet and is forced to fertilize its egg cell before its resources run out.
Romania, New Year's Eve, 2009 A woman arrives at a remote cabin in the mountains, where she must confront a painful memory from her past.
Witness the transition from ancient stone to a lithium-powered sustainable future, ultimately launching Cornish heritage beyond our atmosphere and into the cosmos.
A 360 film inspired by the ideas of nearly 100 young people from across Cornwall, who were invited to explore what home means to them and how they imagine their futures during a creative work experience programme in July 2025.
An immersive 360 film poem from the heart of a Cornish temperate rainforest, this is a meditative 360 full dome experience that gives the audience a sense of being immersed in the affective essence of the ancient Atlantic temperate rainforest of Cabilla Cornwall on Bodmin Moor.
A girl attends a house party dressed as Aardman's 'Wallace', but she didn't get the memo that bald caps aren't "in"...
oough ugh outch ahh oughch my nails
A trio of wild kangaroos in the Australian bush.
Tim Key narrates a bizarre date-night poem brought to life by animator Rob Ling, with music and sound by Paul Steel.
Two movers. One grand piano. One very uncooperative staircase and a passion they never saw coming.
Close your eyes, go to sleep, the Midnight Witch is on the creep.
When a couple's relationship disintegrates, they can only muster one word.
A man's car trip is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a hedgehog.
Time stretches like soft polymer; metamorphoses creep forward frame by frame, suspiciously slow, as if the film were watching me back.
When Foil Guy comes face to face with an unstoppable, unmovable, impenetrable force ... who will prevail?
He’s full of juicy flavours. You’ll never get enough, if you let him give you.. Just. One. Puff.
An abstract 3-ink risograph animation exploring endometriosis tissue acting as a parasite taking root in the body of its host.
Mrs Thomas, a widowed lady who adores the tranquility of her garden, is disrupted by the noisy boy next door.
I went to Lofoten, Norway and captured this very large red man on 8mm.
When Dr Atkins neglects his big wedding anniversary present, the perfect gift presents itself inside a patient.Will he risk it all for love?
A Norwegian customs officer, a Finnish poacher and a mysterious Swedish woman meet at the border. A conflict on laws and language escalates.
Graham hires an escort to help him recreate an argument with his ex — so he can finally prove he was right.
Expecting their first child, a couple follows endless online advice until the noise reaches further than they ever imagined.
A blind violinists seeing eye dog witnesses a murder…and it’s up to this good boy to solve it.
Alienated Dylan (George MacKay) throws off the shackles of his solitary life in an attempt to experience the highs and lows of existence at its most extreme. Estranged from his sister Claire (Rosy McEwen), he embarks on a thrilling journey of self-discovery that proves both inspiring and terrifying.
Dr Imani Njeri builds a deep companionship with AGI assistant RENO as she guards the world’s most vital life source from future ambush.
A Cornishwoman living with a degenerative speech condition struggles to ask her family for one simple thing: to take her to the beach.
One night in Bristol. Ketamine, crystals and a cast of chaos, quickly shows a loved up couple why they were doomed from the start.
Joey makes a TikTok. It isn’t easy.
A struggling alcoholic, haunted by his past, is stalked by a dark wolf. On the brink of submission, his mother fights to save him.
Late 18th-century England. A nightmarish teenager and a rookie Reverend lock horns over Sunday school attendance.
Ash must escape a mysterious time loop. But to survive, he must confront the trauma he's spent years avoiding.
Li Yi returns home for her mother’s pyramid scheme award ceremony, where staged joy gives way to buried truths.
Between doubts and awkwardness, three roommates go through a night marked by the abortion of one of them.
During her chaotic family’s Qingming visit, dead Grandma Nai sneaks away from her peaceful afterlife
When Camille, a teenager with Down syndrome, auditions for a dance troupe, her sister Agathe discovers the quiet cruelty of prejudice.
What happens when blind faith and the comforts we never question demand more of us than we have to give?
Spoon finds a coupon
Two people tune into each other across the noise of the world. When the signal fades, what remains?
While dealing with a strange being that lives inside her, a woman seeks to reconcile with her sister.
The shrimp Fran, with deadly claws, seeks to show the blind fish Milva the ocean’s beauty and overcome their differences.
POOB is ready to LEARN and have FUN!
A dog was abandoned in its own home at the time when my grandfather began to experience his widowhood and I was returning from London.
A haunting fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds.
In the oldest fun park of Beirut, four young friends go on a Ferris Wheel. During this claustrophobic open-air journey, they touch on intimate subjects such as relationships and sex, but Suzie’s breakup advice for Joanna leads to an unexpected confession.
Stuck in a lonely and unforgiving city, a Bus Canvasser waits for an opportunity to migrate to create a better future for his family. Migrating means making sacrifices, but sometimes the reasons to stay outweigh the reasons to leave.
On the road in a world on fire, Gabrielle would rather isolate herself than have to confront the journey. A story about loneliness, denial, and the overwhelming anger of living in a dying world.
A young man who lives in south China runs an errand service: visiting and cleaning ancestors' cemeteries of his clients on their behalf on festivals and anniversaries. He received a special assignment just after he decided to wind up this business.
Natig a 16 year - old teenager can’t accept the shame of his family any longer and joins the military tryouts in an attempt to break away from his life in a small village.
A film about a girl drawn to a golf course. Rafael Manuel's sublime short won the Brief Encounters Grand Prix as well as our Best of British prize in 2020, and the short has now been made into a critically acclaimed feature film.
To cope with their gruesome job, two content moderators start having sex at work.
A dystopian future where borders between countries are indefinitely closed.
A mother. A son. A screen in between.
Impoverished residents of a tight-knit working class community are forced to meet a brutal quota to survive.
An aspiring musician gigging as a rideshare driver struggles to navigate the bizarre request of a mourning passenger.
A technophobe suspects his best mate is getting scammed by his virtual "fiancee", so he begrudgingly enters the Betaverse to spy on them.
Love, sex, desire, trauma, fantasy, spiritual ideas and peace. An end of life story, to give joy to herself and those she loves.
In search of a sunrise, nothing can stop the ascent of two brothers, not even the weight of death.
In Ultra Strong, we’re invited to reexamine our youthful ideals—from Cinderella to Iron Maiden.
A short animation exploring matrescence, the often unseen and deeply personal metamorphosis of becoming a mother.
The world is crumbling, but what’s for supper? Romance rhymes with dissonance in this peculiar animated short.
The past, present and future collide when a mysterious man confronts his younger self over a game of trading cards.
A mockumentary comedy discussing the classic British meal deal.
A girl is pulled into her phone’s whirlwind of doomscrolling, vanity, and viral chaos, struggling to escape its addictive grip.
In a world where being yourself makes you monstrous, what is the cost of repressing your authentic self?
A desperate 16-year-old dancer betrays his best friend and bandmates in a misguided attempt to secure his spot in the limelight.
At a local carnival celebration, 15-year-old Marta's pursuit of her crush takes an unexpected turn behind the masks.
When a defiant young girl stages a silent protest, her mother must decide whether to follow her or let her go.
A young girl discovers a new family after being transformed into a vampire.
In an isolated castle, students prepare for a life-changing examination.
A dinner party for the rich and elite spirals into bloody chaos when their greed can no longer be satiated.
After a visit to a man claiming to have the old Irish folklore “cure” goes wrong, a woman is haunted by a demonic form of her addiction.
Rejected by everyone, a woman follows a mysterious finger into a surreal realm.
A group of friends travels to a cabin to celebrate Citlali’s birthday, but she never arrives. Instead, someone else arrives.
A man commits a terrible crime and the consequences are not what you’d expect.
When Ana's mom starts transforming into a bug, their codependent relationship reaches its boiling point.
A praying mantis mutant seduces and preys on men out of desperation to save her child.
A one-night stand takes a terrifying turn for Tom when his date starts talking in their sleep.
Frankie believes he is about to die with no one to say goodbye to. He turns into a planet and an explosion of life occurs on his body.
The Intimate Scenes Coordinator and the Actor are experiencing a crisis in relationship during participation in the same film project.
A lonely Qian meets her online acquaintance Chen Li to end their lives together.
Haunted by the memory of a violent father, Paul drifts through the Berlin night, drawn to fleeting encounters that deepen his loneliness.
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A man is trying to find his place among friends.
A man lists the things he has.
A devoted sister races to save her brother, a bread-turned zombie. A mob of hungry living pursues, mouths agape.
A vanished prodigy painter—once destined for greatness—hides a secret behind his sudden silence.
The end is near as the animal world is in revolt.
A boy remembers a Saint Nicholas evening spent with his father.
Under a growing dictatorship, a hidden writer must choose between silence and action when his neighbor is endangered.
You are trying to enjoy a quiet pint in the pub but a patron and his son seemingly have a problem with your demeanour.
Life on the Line follows the odyssey of a sablefish from the depths of Alaskan waters to the dinner plate, told through its own perspective.
In a faded rococo resort, a thousand frightened souls rebel against aging and death.
As folklore and nationalism rise, The Land Remains explores a Britain shaped by memory, migration and the persistence of its past.
Kara, an actress, steps into the role of an enslaved housemaid at a historic site until she reaches a breaking point and goes off script.
Two seasoned volunteers at an international art festival start participating in a highly controversial art installation.
Brief encounter between a struggling poet moonlighting as a stripper + a smug property developer exposes the divides of a gentrifying Dublin
After failed creative pursuits, Zehra returns to her father's Turkish supermarket. But a customer's arrival may finally shake her free.
A feuding mother and son clash as they rail against the paths that have already been laid for them.
When a mysterious presence appears on a damaged spaceship, Amelia is torn between the past and the future.
Maya is a young woman who moves to a new city and leaves her home and childhood behind.
Shepherd boy Matei, raised by an abusive alcoholic father, starts mimicking that violence toward his sheep and must ask: who am I?
Herve Rossini is a renowned artist who expresses himself through his surrealist garden.
Insight into the filmmaker's hospital stay, where she experiences absurd moments between pain, homesickness and disgust of her own body.
When a tyrannical president monopolizes the world’s carrots, a country rabbit couple risks everything in factory heists to steal them back.
Accused by the authorities of not working hard enough, Vladimir's punishment is to live with an idiot.
PLEASE is a dark comedy about humankind’s desire to love and to be loved.
Daria has written her first manuscript about falling in love with a mysterious girl called ‘abi’ [blue].
A lively family gathering for full-body hair removal is stormed by Islamic revolutionary guards.
The story of Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che, who, in 1975, were utilized as background extras in the filming of APOCALYPSE NOW.
In 1988, Afghanistan sent its only astronaut into space, a journey that proved home can be farther than the stars.
An ICE arrest on a quiet neighborhood street turns volatile.
A portrait of a middle-England family man and aspiring right-wing parliamentary candidate.
A true story where a shortsighted neighbor, deaf cops and a mute family set off a chain ending in a man's death.
A Kafkaesque courtroom drama set in 19th-century Liverpool, recounting the trial of a corpse with neither name nor past.
A group of young incarcerated men are tested during an inmate litter pickup day.
On the last evening before her departure, Vera tells a bedtime fairy tale to her small sister to hide the real reason of her leaving.
A man and his son arrive at a rave lost in the mountains of Morocco. They are looking for Marina, their daughter and sister, who disappeared months ago at another rave. Driven by fate, they decide to follow a group of ravers in search of one last party, in hopes Marina will be there.
Jim Baitte (Jack Redmayne) is a hapless sound recordist about to lose his job working under tyrannical director P.W. Griffin (Os Leanse). His last chance to save himself: a trip to the remote island of Pincer Point, where he's been sent to record a supposedly impossible, never-before-captured sound. But the island has other plans for him, pulling him into a web of ghostly legends, baffling locals, and an ancient nautical prophecy he absolutely did not sign up for. Shot on a shoestring with a lovingly handcrafted look that recalls Guy Maddin by way of Roger Corman, the film channels vintage British oddity and lo-fi genre cinema into something joyfully its own. Part adventure, part comedy, part ghost story, and billed by its makers as "the defining (and perhaps only) crustaceous comedy of a generation." Winner of the NEON Auteur Award at SXSW 2026.
A loner capybara is questioned by passer-by animals: aren't you lonely?
The squirrel's nest is warmly padded for the cold winter but then a flood breaks out and forest animals flee to Lena's farm.
At the heart of an animation studio, three young orangutans join forces to recreate a jungle born of imagination.
A four-year-old discovers the fine line between bravery and recklessness.
When a baking disaster sends six-year-old Betti and Mam into town for a new cake, a creature turns a simple trip into a difficult adventure.
Discarded Clay takes on Smug Ceramic with shocking consequences. Can they learn to understand and accept one another?
All Eddie has ever known is Granny’s world. But when Granny joins their ancestors, Eddie has to decide if she’ll continue their tradition.
A short animated film exploring RSPB Ham Wall, a nature reserve in England.
Stuck with the task of mowing an overgrown lawn, a teenage boy has a surprising magical encounter...
In his later years Nosferatu has become a foster carer for children. That seems like a good idea.
After school on a long summer's afternoon, neighbours Becky and Jake offer each other a safe haven from life at home — and a promise.
Death brings his apprentice on a routine job to teach her the trade. Her scattered focus and soft heart turn it into a trial of patience.
When a knock on the door interrupts Flora’s decades of solitude, she must confront her grief and the darkness that poisoned her magic.
A little girl in North Yorkshire is determined to meet the man she's convinced is her father: Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier.
Sam wants to break out of prison, but his cellmate Bob isn't much help.
What’s that coming over the hill? On Halloween Eve at Mossy Bottom Farm, excitement turns to dismay when the clumsy Farmer ruins the pumpkin patch. Shaun tries fixing it with science experiments, but things go wrong when a wild beast appears in the woods.
Moon travels through a mysterious unexplained world free of adults. Moon meets a scholar turned sage and her translator in a mountain hut, where she tries to understand what is happening, based on a play by Don DeLillo. She meets many others who perform for her, show her a film, give her gifts, show her different possibilities for living. She observes and moves on into an unknown future.
A woman walks around an ancient garden and speaks to the wind. Inspired by a poem by Antonio Machado.
A struggling primary school teacher begins to make some questionable decisions after one of her students is injured.