Karachi, Pakistan. Iqbal, a migrant sex worker, cannot come to terms with his illness. He convinces his uncle to take a day trip to the beach, desperate for respite. The Arabian sea beckons. An original film about an oft-ignored demographic. Hamza handles the subject matter with sensitivity and respect, painting a complex, human portrait of a character that is too often faceless. Can you (…) Continue Reading »

In the heights of the Atlas mountains, Abdellah, a young shepherd, and his father are snowed in. As their animals start to starve, Abdellah goes in search of supplies in a village more than a day’s walk away. With his mule, he arrives in the village and discovers that it has been deserted because of a curious event that has left all the believers baffled. The product of a truly incredible (…) Continue Reading »

Thrive (Jamie Di Spirito, 2019) A sublimely intelligent and sensitive film, which sees a hook-up move into a challenging conversation. A naked man wakes up, lights up a cigarette and smokes out the window – through which the daylight outside illuminates the whole room. This is the only light source in the film, and it’s used brilliantly. Grindr buzzes. His date comes over, and they’re (…) Continue Reading »

INTERVIEW VIDEO TO COME A silly (in all the best ways) short very much made for fun that certainly made me laugh! Glad it made it into the Clermont competition. How much do you enjoy artistic experiments? Cinema audiences these days are incredibly smart and cinema literate so it’s really fun to be mischievous and play with people’s expectations. This is the beauty of short film, it (…) Continue Reading »

Forced onto the Northern Irish countryside, Hydebank Wood Facility currently houses 104 young male offenders. Four years into his sentence, Ryan is still coming to terms with the cause of his imprisonment. The unlikely catharsis to his inner (…) Continue Reading »

The film "Zombie" is a journey between hope and dystopia in a hallucinated Kinhsasa, from the culture of the hair salon to futuristic solitary clubbing, from the urban parade to the glory of a dictator in campaign (Papa Bollo) to modern western (…) Continue Reading »

Two lost souls are required to undertake community service in a small town in Normandy. As it happens, the clean and tidy beach resort doens’t actually need any of the work they’ve been assigned and they start making up a series of absurd tasks (…) Continue Reading »

A foreigner in Ghana gets an assignment from his gang to recruit kids for a risky job that will take place later that evening. He finds Prince and Matilda, two lively kids and good friends, and plans to hand them over to the gang. After spending the day with them, he starts to question his decision and how it will affect their future. Shot on a very low budget, Anthony Nti’s Da Yie (good (…) Continue Reading »

On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping? British-Palestinian Farah Nabulsi is relatively (…) Continue Reading »

A son arrives at the hospital to watch over his father’s death bed. When the son wants one last nice moment, his father would rather find out what to do with the two opened cans of mustard. Awaiting Death is a deceptively simple and sombre short. Through minor exchanges and limited dialogue, the directors manage to convey a nuanced and very human relationship with characteristic deadpan (…) Continue Reading »