Festivals and Events

Aside from our recently reviewed Palestine 36, the BFI London Film Festival marked the festival run tailend for a number of films from the Arab world. Highlights include Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky, the result of five directors’ efforts to piece together a heartfelt tribute to the Sudanese capital told throught the lives of five of its inhabitants. What started out as a UK backed small-scale project to create 5 short poems about Khartoum was entirely upended when the directors - one Brit and (…)

The [Jerusalem Arab Film Festival->https://www.facebook.com/jaff.films has just celebrated its fifth edition. Set up in 2020, the festival is a rare chance to celebrate Arab storytelling in increasingly restricted cultural spaces under occupation and helps foster a sense of connection for Palestinians living in the city who are for the most part physically cut off from the rest of historic Palestine and the wider Arab world. The week-long JAFF presented 31 films, including fiction features, (…)

The screening programme Of The People, For the People: Militant Palestinian Cinema (1968-1982) was held as part of Doc City Festival. It was curated by filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky. Before attending Of The People, For the People, my main exposure to early Palestinian cinema was via R21 AKA Restoring Solidarity which I saw at the Institute of Contemporary Arts some months ago. This was a very different experience. After a strong opening statement by Saeed Taji Farouky, we were guided (…)

Filmmaker Plum Stupple-Harris’ short, "ManMade," is EFN Short Film Festival’s 2023 double-award winner! For the first time in EFN’s history, a film won both Critics’ Choice and Audience Favourite awards. Journalist Steve Topple speaks to Plum about his filmmaking journey. ManMade features notable actors Cavan Clerkin (Inbetweeners), Harry Gilby (The Last Kingdom), and Oli Huntingdon (Happy Valley). You can follow Plum’s work [here->https://www.plumdirector.com. Steve Topple is a (…)

An interview with Bruno Savill de Jong about his film season celebrating matte paintings.

Set in a small Ghanaian town at the edge of a large landfill site that spills into the ocean, the sons of a fisherman, Sowah and Okai, struggle to cope with loss of their eldest brother who drowned during a fishing expedition. Haunted by his demise, Okai believes their brother is still out there… Speaking at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, filmmaker Amartei Amar explained his choice to draw on the aesthetics of such movements as Afro-futurism. He does so (…)

A young drama student must reconcile the potential pros and cons of a defining lead performance act. The idea of articulating issues around coercion, consent and nudity through a theatre rehearsal creates an engaging and tightly woven short, which ends with a satisfying and well pitched crescendo. EXPOSED won the Critics’ Choice Award at Emerging Filmmakers Night 2022. EXPOSED was also a Vimeo Staff Pick and you can watch the full film HERE! Find out more about Anna’s work here.

A couple’s relationship is pushed to the brink as they investigate a strange noise that’s woken them in the night. Ben S. Hyland’s short is a pitch-perfect mix of horror and laughs, staring comedy duo (and real-life couple) Rebecca Shorrocks and Paul F. Taylor. Bleep won the Audience Favourite Award at the Emerging Filmmakers Night Festival 2022. We caught up with Ben to chat about his first steps into filmmaking, his comedic proclivities and his all-time classic films. You can follow (…)

Every year, the Leeds International Film Festival offers a carefully curated, diverse and exhaustive programme of feature films, retrospectives, shorts, music videos and more. Three members of the team were there. One of us was also part of the Jury for British and Yorkshire shorts! Here are some highlights away from the main feature competition programme. Alien on Stage by Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer A very amateur dramatics group of Dorset Bus Drivers spent a year creating a (…)

Salt Water Town was part of the British and Yorkshire shorts selection at the Leeds International Film Festival. It stood out for its impressive cinematography, troubling plot and standout performances by Owen Teale and Tom Glynn-Carney. Liam helps run a failing caravan park in a Welsh coastal town with his father Glenn, who clings to the belief that prosperity will soon return. When an insurance inspector reveals the land they own is worthless as a result of rising sea levels, Liam must (…)