We’re serving you up 10 delicious short film screenings, each curated with a central theme or narrative that weaves them together.
2023 film selection
How the screenings work
All of our films are curated into strands, so if you’re interested in one particular film it will be showing alongside some others in a strand. Below is a list of our ten screenings, organised by their strands with information about the films, the filmmakers along with when they are screening. Times will be confirmed in the coming weeks – our schedule is subject to change, but we work very hard to ensure that doesn’t happen! All our films have a Q&A session following the screening with the filmmakers in attendance, or you can listen to our podcast for interviews with the filmmakers too!
All day pass and weekend pass holders have access to attend our film screenings – to book your ticket, just click here.
The Motherload
The Motherload is a tapestry of short films that delve into the many facets of motherhood. The sacrifices we make, the challenges we face and the deep and often overwhelming love that may come with it. Along with the pain, anger and loss of identity it can also throw at us.
This screening is not captioned.
Content Guidance: nudity, coercive control, references to violence and sexual assault
Screening date: Saturday 9th September
Total Run Time: 81 minutes
Director: Amelia Sears
Writer: Hannah Morrish
Producer: Cat White
A daughter seeks refuge from her emotionally abusive partner at the home of her estranged mother. They attempt to reconnect and move forward, despite the knowledge that their time together is limited; bound in a knot of silent agreement to the changing of the seasons.
CERES
Director: Lilian Fu
Writer: Egle Vertelyte
In a capitalist city, where people have kids to be proud of, a woman - Rose unexpectedly gives birth to a cat son. The Baby doesn’t behave as an ordinary baby and Rose struggles to love him. Rose tries her best to change him, even if it means changing his true nature. However, to find a connection she will need to learn to love him for whom he is and to remember something about herself that she has forgotten a long time ago.
MY DEAR SON
Director: Hannah Renton
Writers: Hannah Renton, Emma Parkinson
Producer: Yumeng Zhang
Free spirited Myra returns home to care for her mother, Rose, after she has a fall. While Rose struggles to accept her impending dependency, Myra is haunted by the past. The physical intimacy that initially horrifies allows them to see each other anew, if only for a moment.
SALT WOUNDS
BIRDS
Director: Tyro Heath
Writer: Annie Jenkins
Producers: Federica Omodei, Stephane Georges Ugeux, Chloe King
When her 9-year-old daughter’s dreams of becoming a gymnast are on the line, a mother behind bars struggles to keep her whereabouts a secret. Inspired by the real experiences of a former prisoner.
Director: Sinéad O'Loughlin
Writer: Sinéad O'Loughlin
Producer: Lara Hickey
An ordinary day takes a sinister turn for a woman and her child when a stranger walks into their isolated rural home.
LAMB
Directors: Helen Simmons, Julia Cranney
Writers: Helen Simmons, Julia Cranney
Producers: Cat White, Savannah Power
The horror of Jen's teenage past catches up with her when she takes her autistic son to a birthday party in her hometown.
MEASURE
Searching For Connection
Screening date: Saturday 9th September
Total Run Time: 67 minutes
Celebrating both the joys of connection with others and the difficulties when those connections fade away, these films depict how often we need each other and how hard it can often feel to find that authentic attachment.
Films with captions available: maud., Not in Love
Content Guidance -references to suicide, strong language, sexual references
Directors: Cat White, Phoebe Torrance
Writer: Cat White
Producer: Cat White
When tragedy strikes, a spirited young woman turns to wild swimming in search of answers. By swimming each day at dawn and forming an unlikely friendship, she learns to accept her grief and the grief of those around her.
FIFTY-FOUR DAYS
Director: Lolly Michaels
Producer: Bola Adeoshun
Wave Women UK' is a short documentary that follows a group of young black women from inner city London as they embark on a transformative journey to learn how to surf. The film celebrates the determination of these women as they brave the often intimidating waters of the ocean to try something new and explore a world they had never known before. Through the lens of intimate interviews, stunning visuals, and gripping action sequences, 'Wave Women UK' captures the powerful journey of these amazing women as they courageously ride the wave of change.
WAVE WOMEN UK
Director: Natasha Thembiso Ruwona
Producer: Tomiwa Folorunso
maud. is a call to celebrate the life and work of the Scottish-Ghanaian artist Maud Sulter (1960 - 2008) who grew up in the Gorbals, Glasgow. Maud had an extremely diverse output of artistry; writing, image-making, curating, filmmaking, and sound. Her significance on multiple fronts - as a Black Scottish, Black British, African, Ghanaian, queer, working class and female artist has until recently largely gone uncelebrated. The film considers her memory through conversations with Black artists who are making art in Scotland today, and reflects on Maud’s important contributions to excavating history, challenging art world politics, and community-building.
MAUD.
Director: Eugénie Bouquet
Writer: Eugénie Bouquet
Two people are sitting on a bench in the Parc des Bastions in Geneva. One, Judith, is a sex worker who talks about her experience with disabled clients. The other one, me, is interviewing and recording her. An animated documentary about sex between people who are not in love.
NOT IN LOVE
Director: Jo Lane
Writer: Jo Lane
Producer: Daljinder Johal
A young girl longs for attention from her father following the death of her Nan and chooses a curious alternative to fill the void.
MUG
Pride and Pleasure
Sexual desire and body positivity fill this strand, let the confidence and empowerment consume you as we explore the challenges of perfection and freedom through these shorts.
Films with captions available: Body Rhapsody, Objects of Desire, threa(t)d
sexual content, nudity, homophobia, coercive control and references to gender-based violence
Screening date: Sunday 10th September
Total Run Time: 78 minutes
Director: Jenny Elisabeth Kleine
Writer: Jenny Elisabeth Kleine
Producers: Jenny Elisabeth Kleine, Pia Mozet, Frederike Merkel
A young woman does everything she can to appear flawless. At the same time, she feels great anger within herself, which is why her social image threatens to shatter. She must decide: does she suppress her feelings or give them free rein?
THREA(T)D
BODY RHAPSODY
Director: Yangming Liu
Writer: Yangming Liu
Producer: Shiyun Zhang
This short film will visually materialize women’s pleasant sensation and break people’s desire to be ashamed of expression. With the collection of female fantastic imaginations and sounds, to explain the beauty of the female body. So this short film wants to encourage women should be boldly recognize their bodies and actively enjoy their own.
Director: Mirelle Borra
Writer: Mirelle Borra
Producer: Mirelle Borra
The visual component of the video ‘Safe Space’ is pieced together from countless YouTube clips of ballroom events from the early nineties—at a time the AIDS epidemic was surging in New York City. Originally a community created by trans and queer people of color in response to a society that marginalizes their existence. The ballroom scene provides a safe space for performers to act out various ways of gender expressions. For decades, the ballroom community has influenced pop culture, and it’s vocabulary has seeped into common parlance.
SAFE SPACE
Director: Sarah Grant
Writer: Sarah Grant
Producer: Misha McCullagh
A body positive comedy that joyfully reclaims female sexuality and self-confidence. Mandy, a plus-size burlesque enthusiast, is practicing for her first public performance. Only when her best friend needs her does she find the confidence to perform in her full power.
CANDY
Director: Hipatia Argüero Mendoza
Writer: Hipatia Argüero Mendoza
Producer: Alfred Deragne
A woman who tries to reconcile her desires and fear of intimacy through a convoluted sexual game meets a man who is the literal embodiment of her problematic fantasy.
ROAST DINNER
Director: Dorothy McCormack
Writers: Dorothy McCormack, Ray Baker
Producers: Dorothy McCormack, Amelia Couldwell
Dreaming of an independent future, Nell starts up her own business, dealing in the perverse and bizarre desires of her anonymous clients. As mysterious orders start to come in, Nell becomes embroiled in a tantalizing game of cat-and-mouse.
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Director: Amber Clarke-McGrath
Writer: Amber Clarke-McGrath
Producer: Amber Clarke-McGrath
This is a film about female empowerment when it comes to body hair. A young woman decides whether she wants to shave her armpit hair or dye it, and she has some help from her inner feminist persona.
HAIRY
Conversation Starters
A head-scratching collection of oddities that scream, sing, and confess suppressed truths.
Films with captions available: A Television Broadcast from Outer Space, The Microcosm
Content Guidance - References to violence and death, sexual references, flashing lights
Screening date: Saturday 9th September
Total Run Time: 67 minutes
ABANTU - 同人
Director: Emily Ong
Writer: Emily Ong
Producers: Emily Ong, Pat Nkubito
Stranded in an alien environment, a community struggles and perseveres to mend itself.
Director: Anna Járai
Writer: Anna Járai
Producer: Anna Járai
Interwoven with images and soundscapes from the past and present, the film highlights the beauty of craft, whilst re-contextualising traditional folk narratives to show the strength and power of the often forgotten members of folk communities.
VIRÁGOM, VIRÁGOM
HÁLDI
Director: Ann Holmgren
Producers: Ingvild Evjemo, Mathis Ståle Mathisen
Háldi is a unique Sámi short film in created in the boundaries of film and music.
Director: Lydia Jenkins
Writer: Lydia Jenkins
Producer: Lydia Jenkins
A visceral analogy about the fear of growing-up and puberty through a female-lens, (R)age is a spectacle of blood, guts and birthday cake.
(R)AGE
Director: Izabela Barszcz
Writers: Hannah Kelso, Tess Lonergan
Producer: Ju Park
Ava is a woman who changes her face according to whatever scenario she finds herself in. When a day at work doesn’t yield the results she expects, Ava’s many faces mesh together in a psychedelic cataclysm that threatens to derail her day-to-day life.
THE MANY FACES OF AVA
Director: Joe Ingham
Writer: Maureen Duffy
Maureen Duffy published The Microcosm in 1966, turning her probing gaze to London's first and infamous lesbian hang out. In this searingly honest work, based on her own experience, Maureen examines if this gay bar, and those like it, really offers the freedom its patrons crave.
THE MICROCOSM
THE WITCHING
Director: Lucy Chappell
Writer: Lucy Chappell
Producer: Lucy Chappell
A witch haunts an ex lover on the week of Halloween.
A TELEVISION BROADCAST FROM OUTER SPACE
Director: Mo & Steph
Writers: Mo Bayliss, Steph Leigh
Producers: Mikel Iriarte, Sam Atkins
Earth receives a broadcast from an alternate earth, showcasing random fragments of day-time television that aired on the day their world ended.
THE PAINTER AND THE POET
Director: Dan Thorburn
Writers: Lucy Heath, Tyler Conti
Producer: Nina Yndis
Set in an abstract world where having one’s Art go ‘viral’ is the ultimate marker of success; the story follows struggling artist Bea, and proud tradesman brother, Fin.
Something Sinister This Way Comes
Uneasy, sinister and uncomfortable. These films may not be your usual full on horror, but they certainly will leave a chilling impression on you.
Films with subtitles available: Harm, The Möbius Trip, Yummy Mummy
Content Guidance - strong language, blood, references to sexual and emotional abuse, violence, nudity, references to revenge pornography
Screening date: Saturday 9th September
Total Run Time: 95 minutes
HARM
Director: Georgie Levers
Writer: Georgie Levers
Producer: Derry Shillitto
A serial adulterer who sees women as ‘game’ is outed when a woman he ghosted posts screenshots of their affair on social media.
‘THREE THINGS WE WON’T TALK ABOUT’
Director: Jessie Craig Roche
Writer: Jessie Craig Roche
Producers: Aletha Shepherd, Jessie Craig Roche, Rhiannon Wirth
A woman comes to realise how she has compromised her own wellbeing for her crumbling relationship, with dark consequences.
Director: Leyla Coll-O'Reilly
Writer: Leyla Coll-O'Reilly
Producer: Laura McBride
Groom is about a young, school leaver called Hannah who is on a trial shift at a beauty salon. It’s a story about coercive relationships, consent, puberty and sexual desire.
GROOM
Director: Katia Saiapina
Writer: Lisa Gaultier
Producers: Axelle Ava, Athanasia Bartzoka
Raja is a creature in human form working at The Afterlife Bureau, where souls are processed after their death. Fed up after years of processing femicide victims, Raja sneaks to Earth to save a stranger Zoey from her upcoming murder.
RAJA’S HAD ENOUGH
Director: Gabriela Staniszewska
Writer: Gabriela Staniszewska
Producer: Jadey Duffield
Ignored throughout her pregnancy, Lilith senses her identity is being smothered by her burgeoning motherhood. Her anxieties begin to have physical manifestations - then she starts to fall apart - literally.
YUMMY MUMMY
Director: Abbie Lucas
Writer: Omar Khan
Producer: Håkan Carlsson
When moving into their new home, Tara and Drew are alarmed when they overhear their neighbours arguing. As the voices get louder and more violent, they must decide if it’s their responsibility to act.
VOICES
Director: Simone Smith
Writer: Simone Smith
Producers: David Neilson, Lewis Wardrop
A road trip pushes a dysfunctional family to the brink after their journey descends into a claustrophobic hallucinatory nightmare.
THE MÖBIUS TRIP
Hell Is A Teenage Girl
It’s time to head back to school, so fill yourselves up with dread and insecurities as we showcase a selection of shorts on the enjoyable journey that is being a teenage girl.
Films with captions available: Tierra
Content Guidance - Blood, violence, cannibalism, sexual harassment and abuse, strong language, racism and microaggresions.
Screening date: Saturday 9th September
Total Run Time: 74 minutes
Director: Lottie Graham
Writer: Tania Amsel
Producer: Lottie Graham
Abisola uses her imagination to hide from her home life, until her friends find out.
LIAR
Director: Alice Johannessen
Writer: Alice Johannessen
Producer: Molly Young
After experiencing a traumatic event on her school bus, Aleena bottles up her anger until a chance connection triggers a small act of rebellion.
BARRICADE
Director: Ella Maree Carey
Writers: Ella Maree Carey, Francesca Carey
Producers: Ella Carey, Caitlin Spiller
During her first term back at high school, Eliza is on the delirious brink of her first kiss. But a brazen boy crushes her innocence.
PRAWN
Director: Jenifer de la Rosa
Writer: Jenifer de la Rosa
Producer: Amaya Izquierdo
Amaranta is a 12-year-old adopted girl who has grown up in Spain and wants to know more about her Colombian origins. On a summer day she decides to secretly investigate her past.
TIERRA
Director: Alicja Jankowska
Writer: Alicja Jankowska
Producers: Alicja Jankowska, Laura Hounsell, Calum Mowatt
Tonight's boring pub quiz takes an unexpected turn when Kiera and her friends decide to unleash revenge upon her arrogant crush.
CANBERRA, BITCH
Director: Anastasia Bruce-Jones
Writer: Anastasia Bruce-Jones
Producer: Anastasia Bruce-Jones
Four teenagers head off on a practice walk for an inter-school competition. If they break the record, all their dreams will come true. But none of them are prepared for the consequences of Heather's ruthless ambition.
ALL GIRLS
Director: Suri Grennell
Writer: Síle Maguire
Producers: Killian Casey, Philip Emo
On the day that Clodagh hopes to lose her virginity to her childhood friend Tom, she experiences an unexpected form of rejection that makes her question her race.
EGGSHELLS
Homegrown
A pick and mix pack of short films made here in The North showcasing the talents and possibilities of our local filmmakers.
Films with captions available: Drowning, Louis the Great, Love that., Spiked
Content Guidance - Blood, violence, strong language, sexual references, references to drugs and assault
Screening date: Sunday 10th September
Total Run Time: 70 minutes
EGGS
Director: Hannah Fox
Writers: Hannah Fox, Dan Wrigley
Producers: Dan Wrigley, Daniel-John Williams
Two strangers meet by chance on a footbridge and form an unlikely alliance. Revenge is a dish best served... with eggs!
PRICKS
Director: Toby Kearton
Writers: Toby Kearton, Jade Byrne
Producers: Jade Byrne, Oisín Nolan
Misunderstood since her childhood diagnosis, Jade must embark on a journey of self-discovery to confront her past and accept what it truly means to live with Type 1 Diabetes.
Director: Alex Shipman
Writers: Phoebe Lorenz, Emma Zadow
Producers: Phoebe Lorenz, Emma Zadow, Louisa Rose Mackleston
When single mum Becky suspects she's been spiked, she seeks frenemy police officer Andrea's help in getting tested. A snapshot of the morning after the night before.
SPIKED
Director: Celine Charles
Writer: Celine Charles
Louis, a wildly imaginative nine-year-old boy finds joy and freedom in exploring his identity when his mum and sister are away, but comes to realise that his family are no barrier to expressing who he is.
LOUIS THE GREAT
Director: Gemma Whitworth
A solo project and personal reflection on poverty and its affects.
DROWNING
LOVE THAT.
Director: Samantha Castro
Writer: Karolyn Hart
Made as part of Newcastle Film Club's Monologue Challenge, Love that. is the writing film debut of Karolyn Hart about two women contemplating the point of Life.
Director: Alison Peirse
This essay film examines the representation of knitters and knitting, in over sixty horror films made by women, from the 1920s - 2020s.
KNIT ONE, STAB TWO
Director: Sascha LO
Writer: Sascha LO
Producer: Natasha Ketel
An insecure life model is desperate to be someone’s muse, but when a budding artist chooses her as his creative subject, she is not pleased.
MODEL OF LIFE
WE’VE CREATED THESE INVISIBLE SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES
Director: Sophie Broadgate
We've created invisible systems and structures includes the thoughts, words and visual ideas of over 30 Autistic and neurodivergent women, non-binary and trans people. In conversation with the filmmaker Sophie Broadgate, contributors discuss the world around us, their loves, senses, big questions, research and all our theories.
A WALK HOME
Director: Kornelija Gilaityte
Writer: Kornelija Gilaityte
Producer: Tia Alder
A young woman walks home alone after finishing work, but a city at night lets her imagination run wild and plagues her with fear.
Vignettes of a Diaspora
Building a dynamic mosaic of attentive insights into culture, religion, gender and many other aspects that build and navigate our identities, this strand is a treasure trove of stories exploring why, how, and who we are.
Films with subtitles available: Amala
Content Guidance - discrimination against a minority group, war
Screening date: Sunday 10th September
Total Run Time: 56 minutes
Director: Nivetha Balasubramaniam
Writer: Michael Kunov
Producer: Penelope Bjerregaard
Amala daydreams about being part of the Danish neighboring family, while she tries to be a good Tamil girl. When her mother discovers that she has a secret Danish boyfriend, it ends in a big quarrel. Amala wishes she had a Danish family. The next morning, Amala wakes up at the neighboring family.
AMALA
Director: Kaki Wong
Writers: Parvinder Shergill, Juggy Sohal
Producers: Parvinder Shergill, Juggy Sohal
A British South Asian girl decides to embrace her identity and wear a turban for the first time, against her fathers wishes.
KAUR
Director: Tia Ali
Writer: Tia Ali
Producer: Tia Ali
This is an experimental film that explores the meaning of mother tongue and legacy of heritage, through the immigrant and diaspora experience via a relationship of a mother and daughter. A daughter feels disconnected from her native language following the death of her mother and a letter is discovered that urges her to contemplate reasons for not being culturally expressive.
DESHI GIRL
I AM THE IMPOSSIBLE.
Director: Tulsi Behl
A woman reclaims an offensive song and joyfully dances through London as she frees herself of the shackles of prejudice.
Director: Aisha Amin
Writer: Aisha Amin
Producers: Annie Ning, Meetra Javed, Cameron Morton, Underhill Films
When Rumi, a budding actress, is scouted by an agent and invited to an open casting call for models, she comes face to face with a troubling industry.
RUMI
Thicker Than Water
Through themes of family trauma, abuse, disability and mental health, the shorts question what would we do and how far we would go to protect and serve family.
This screening is not captioned.
Content Guidance - alcohol and drug use, domestic violence and abuse
Screening date: Saturday 9th September
Total Run Time: 70 minutes
Director: Carina Miller
Writer: Carina Miller
Producer: Carina Miller
An unflinching, 13-minute look at alcohol use disorder and it's impact.
The short documentary pulls from conversations between a father and daughter recorded in 2022.
DOWN TO THE BOTTOM
Director: Destinie Paige
Writer: Destinie Paige
Producer: Shannon Valentine
A mother’s decision to relocate out of London and begin a new chapter of her life brings vulnerable conversations to light, encouraging hope and change in her family dynamic.
THREE
Director: Soph Webberley
Writer: Nathan D'Arcy Roberts
Producer: Joanne Michael
In this coming-of-age parable, an overconfident father imparts his unfounded wisdom on his sulking teenage daughter as they drive around the city.
BLIND SPOT
Director: Chantelle Ampomah Aboraah
Writer: Chantelle Ampomah Aboraah
Producer: Martina Russo
Nia, a young black woman, is raised in the countryside by her white Grandmother. When she suddenly passes away, Nia struggles with her identity and where she came from. Focusing on finding her birth mother, she wonders if their relationship can be rekindled.
NIA
Director: Hannah Renton
Writer: Hannah Renton, Aleksandra Sykulak
Producer: Hannah Renton
“Love is Free” is a triptych telling the story of one woman’s relationship with love and how it has been shaped by her relationship with her eccentric father.
LOVE IS FREE
Live Laugh Love
Christopher Hitchens once claimed that women can’t be funny, well we don’t know who that guy is but we do know that this selection of humorous shorts will hit you both in the funny bone and maybe the feels too.
Films with captions available: An Ode to Procrastination
Content Guidance - References to death and suicide, sexual abuse
Screening date: Sunday 10th September
Total Run Time: 57 minutes
Director: Aleksandra Kingo
Producer: Rupert Style
In An Ode to Procrastination we follow the thought process of a young artist, Sarah. Sarah is trying to create what she thinks is the project of her lifetime, but procrastinates while struggling to start. The film explores relatable fears plenty of artists endure. Sarah copes with her’s by completely ignoring them - in her head, she finds a good, yet sometimes absurd, reason for everything she does or doesn’t do and sprinkles her struggles with motivational quotes all while slightly dying inside.
AN ODE TO PROCRASTINATION
PANDA
Director: Sasha Briggs
Writer: Sasha Briggs
Producer: Sylvie Briggs
On Chef Antonia’s birthday her estranged mother pays a surprise visit to the restaurant. Struggling with feeling abandoned by her Mum when her twin brother died ten years ago, Antonia imagines her brother urging reconciliation.
Director: Charlotte Hamblin
Writer: Toto Bruin
Producers: Izzy Meikle-Small, Will Matthews
Fresh from a night out at yesterdays wake, 'Rent-A-Mourner' Charlie rocks up to her next funeral late, tired, and hungover. Another day at the office. But when the morning/mourning takes an unexpected turn, she is thrust face to face with a deeply buried secret from the past.
NOT A MOURNING PERSON
Director: Charlotte Hamblin
Writer: Charlotte Hamblin
Producers: Leonora Darby, Charlotte Hamblin, James Harris, Mark Lane
A dark comedy about death anxiety that follows MARA as she grapples with the belief that she has killed everybody she's gotten close to.
EVERYBODY DIES…SOMETIMES
Director: Grace Alwyn Ashworth
Writer: Valerie Bundy
Producer: Luke Davies
Starring Corrie legend Julie Hesmondhalgh and a cameo from Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy Award winning actress Julie Walters, this surreal comedy follows Alison who goes to great lengths to overcome her anxiety in a make-or-break audition. Thank goodness for imaginary mentors.
WHAT WOULD JULIE DO?
Director: Siobhán Cannon-Brownlie
Writers: Phoebe Frances Brown, Siobhán Cannon-Brownlie, Gemma Caseley-Kirk, Narisha Lawson
Producer: Chloé Martin
Overlooked and under-laid ‘Witches’ Annie, Sally and Geraldine struggle to stick to their strict, self-imposed rules to shun men. When one witch admits to straying from the coven things escalate. Can the cult leader rid the group of their evil sins before it’s too late?