Festivals and Events

Interview with Yann Berlier & Lola Cambourieu about their short film Automne Malade selected as part of the 2019 National Competition (F5 programme) at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. A video directed by the students of the ARFIS École in collaboration with the Brasserie du Court and Mydylarama. Troubled by her mother’s sickness, Milène leaves Paris to prepare her exams. Seeking calm on a farm in the Auvergne, she struggles to concentrate. The surrounding countryside and her (…)

Revenir by David Fedele and Kumut Imesh Revenir is an immensely valuable film. Now living in France, Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast, teams up with filmmaker David Fedele to retrace his journey through African and into Europe. With his current residency status still dangerously precarious, Kumut heads back to Africa alone, camera in hand. And thus starts a truly brave, audacious and very risky endeavour that gives the viewing public in Europe the chance to see what that (…)

The Postman by Vahid Keshavarz Vahid Keshavarz’s documentary short The Postman profiles Hadi, an Iranian poet living in London and working as a postman. There is a quiet dignity to Hadi as he goes about his round, scribbling his verses as they come to him on Royal Mail delivery cards, fearful of forgetting them later on. Hadi doesn’t talk of fleeing Iran, but rather of coming to London to follow his wife as she undertook a post-graduate course in 2004. We see him contemplatively take a (…)

Young and Alive is not quite an apt translation of the original title of this film, L’Epoque, which in its subtitles has been translated as the more accurate "our times". Director Matthieu Bareyre was keen to stress this during the Q&A session that followed the screening at the London Film Festival. The documentary had made its debut in Locarno and this was only its second screening. The first sequence is a series of still shots of French emblems and assorted images of political (…)

Making the most of the seasonal break in the conflict in Sudan, when the heavy rains and mud make it impossible to fight, filmmaker Hajooj Kuka enrolled the dwellers of a village in the Nuba Mountains to make this offbeat comedy that celebrates the resilience and spirit of those village communities. Following an argument with his exasperated girlfriend Lina, Adnan legs it out of the bedroom leaving behind Nancy, his beloved AK-47. He ends up running into Adsi, who’s dodging the Kasha, the (…)

Présenté en Sélection "Regards d’Afrique" au Festival International du Court métrage de Clermont-Ferrand, "Black Mamba" est un film tunisien qui traite de l’émancipation féminine et a reçu le Prix du Public au Festival Films Femmes Méditerrannée.

"Open your eyes", directed by Ilay Mevorach, was presented in International Competition at 2018 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. The film is also produced by Kobi Mizrahi, Berlinale Talent.

Isn’t brevity great? And managing to avoid scraping a bit of your septal cartilage off with the edge of your fingernail when you’re picking your nose? Two things I really appreciate. Being gross, quickly. As a filmmaker, film journalist and former film student, I’ve always preferred punchy shorts to epic features. I also like short distances, making Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival my favourite event of the UK’s cultural calendar, being that it’s held just 1.41km from my house. (…)

Part of LSFF’s ’Girlhood’ series, which had a screening on Sunday 8th January at the Hackney Picturehouse, Butterfly follows a young swimmer’s struggle with epilepsy, her entourage, and her passion. I had the chance to chat online with actress Louise Salter (who plays Jane) before the screening, so here’s our Q&A below. Tell us a little bit about Jane. What was it about her that you connected most? Jane is an introverted yet ambitious 16-year-old who decides to not let epilepsy (…)

Commissioned by 1418NOW as a five-year programme connecting people with the First World War through the arts, Known Unto God is a mud and pigment animation interpreting Bill Manhire’s poem about the deaths of young people during the war. It is made up of 14 short epitaphs for unknown NZ soldiers killed at the Somme, and unnamed refugees drowning as they flee from wars now, 100 years later. Below are a few questions with Suzie Hanna the film’s animator and director, to find out more about (…)