2024
Olivia Smart, 2023
Following the stories of people who take on the challenge of learning how to swim for the very first time in just eight weeks.
Logan Rea, 2024
A transgender perfrmance artist decides to interview hundreds of potential sperm donors live on stage – a quest to find the perfect connection that will enable him and his partner to start a family.
Ted Evans, 2023
Tells the remarkable story of Troi Lee, the unstoppable force behind the UK’s Deaf music and rave scene.
2023
Dasha Bough, 2023
In a Roma village in Moldova, an old woman named Daria lives in fear of the Russian-Ukrainian war at her doorstep.
2022
Lewis Khan, 2021 | Shot over three consecutive years at the prom night of a South London secondary school, Leavers is an intimate look at how multiple generations have marked their last days of school.
Todd Karehana, 2021 | Todd’s mother has an unusual ritual of returning to her old family home to care for stray cats. Worrying about the implications of her obsessive routine, her son wants to understand why.
2021
Nina Ross, Meg Barrett, 2021
Age 18 Meg started hearing a voice. She tried ignoring it, didn’t tell a soul, yet the voice grew. More abusive,
more delusional and often out of her control. Eventually, her paranoia wore her down.
2020
Jessica Barclay Lawton, 2020 | Environmentalist, non-binary skimpy bar worker, and free spirit. Meet Zef – a 21-year-old on a mission to discover the truth in and amongst the noise. A snapshot of humanity’s desire for intimacy.
Roxy Rezvany, 2020 | Queer Palestinian teenager Shukri spends his days on the internet. Immersed in a world where Western popstars preach self-love and acceptance, he escapes from his lonely life in Jerusalem.
Alice Aedy, 2020 | Four British-Somalians navigate being black, female and Muslim at one of Britain’s most traditional institutions: Cambridge University. Somalinimo explores what it means to belong.
Patrick Taylor, 2020 | Faces is a short documentary in which several young people discuss the joys and challenges of being mixed race, whilst also being set against visuals of an interracial couple.
Alfie Barker, 2020 | The current education system doesn’t work for everyone. Debris Stevenson shares her experience of being at school, where she was labelled as someone with dyslexia – as a failure.
2019
Dorothy Allen-Pickard, 2019 | A Sonic Pulse explores deaf people’s experiences of electronic music from a visceral, communal and scientific perspective. Hear the world another way through this immersive and innovative doc.
Michael Toledano, Sam Vinal, 2019 | Indigenous land is still being taken at gunpoint. Invasion is about the Unist’ot’en Camp, Gidimt’en checkpoint and the Wet’suwet’en Nation, who are standing up to the government.
Floria Sigismondi, 2019 | On LA’s iconic Sunset Boulevard, inside the glamorous rooms of Chateau Marmont, Floria Sigismondi shot Kenneth Anger for an additional special edition of the renowned System Magazine.
Stories
Chloe White, 2019 | Three women who made the decision to mother from afar tell their stories. When there’s growing acceptance for alternative family models, why does non-custodial motherhood shock and appall?
2018
Roxy Rezvany, 2018 | Joong-wha Choi, a former soldier in the DPRK, lives in a London suburb. Despite enjoying new found comforts of British life, he struggles to forget a land that betrayed him. How will he move on from this?
Simon Lane, 2018 | Mother Nature leaves a chilling message for her inhabitants in this visual poem traversing the Norwegian and Russian border towns of Kirkenes and Nikel. A study of urbanity and nature.
Jessica Bishopp, 2018 | A creative documentary that charts the attendees of Britain’s longest running Wargames group. Investigating the complexity of combat and camaraderie from a psychologist’s perspective.
Brian & Karl, Jean Paula, Florian Joahn, 2018 | Inspired by stories like #PermitPatty, a white woman who called the police on a black kid selling water, and #BarbecueBecky, a woman who reported black kids simply for cooking food.
Caleb Yule, 2018 | Capturing the journey of Team Santos, three players from Brighton Table Tennis Club, as they prepare to represent their country at the Down’s Syndrome Championships. Directed by Caleb Yule.
Dominique van Olm, 2018 | On the edge of adolescence, Dexter visits his sister for the first time. The two navigate their relationship and dynamic after having lived apart for the last few years. Will it work out for them?
Ed Perkins, 2018 | Everything changed for Cornelius Walker on 27 November 2000 when Damilola Taylor was killed in what became one of the UK’s most high-profile murder cases. Find out more in this short.
2017
Thomas Hogben, 2017 | Every crooked lateral incisor or overzealous premolar tells a story. ‘Teeth’ explores the relationship we have with these dental companions and how they impact our lives.
Laura Wadha, 2017 | Two young sisters who arrive in Sweden, having fled the war in Syria, are becoming teenagers in a new world. They try to hold onto the memories of their home and the lives they lived prior.
Sean Mullan, 2017 | Through horses, a man feels an irrepressible duty to move in harmony with his pain. A film exploring the infinite momentum of life via an energy never destroyed, only transformed.
Alice Russell, 2017 | “Sometimes there are times to bomb a bank, or kidnap an autocrat, or have a peaceful demonstration. But sometimes, you party.” Ritual and metaphor on the streets of London.
Thomas Horat & Corina Schwingruber, 2017 | Snow, sweat, testosterone and the sound of chainsaws. Every four years, wood is cut on a steep mountain high above Lake Ägeri and prepared for log rafting. Find out more in this short.
Richard Mullane, 2017 | The Horse Whisperer highlights the life of Jean François Pignon, a man from the south of France, who was at once captivated by Gazelle, a white horse. Directed by Richard Mullane.
2016
Eldon Booth, 2016 | Never in a thousand years did Larry Woods believe he’d become a shoeshine man. In the 1980s, the flamboyant businessman was “made”, a chauffeur-driven millionaire. Directed by Eldon Booth.
Sophie Hexter & Poppy Walker, 2016 | The Ghost in the Machine is a performative drawing by Jeremy Hawkes. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, Hawkes suspends his medication, allowing the tremors to suffuse his work.
Disability
Glen Milner, 2016 | After leaving India for the industrial north of England in the 1960s, Karim and Katari Chand never imagined they would end up being married longer than anyone else in the world.
Daniel Ali & Louis Leeson, 2016 | Kadiatu Kamara is the only female surfer in Sierra Leone. When her father died two years ago, KK was left to face the Ebola epidemic alone, but does she find escape and hope in times of despair?.
Courtney Dixon, 2016 | This short documentary focuses on the tape-recorded sessions of an ageing couple, explaining an odd hobby that has riveted a small, rural town for 10 years. Directed by Courtney Dixon.
Reuben Armstrong & Jamie Neale, 2016 | The Artist and The Machine follows the highs and lows of Hastings-based artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown and her creative process involved in producing knitted pieces of work.
Hayley Evans, 2016 | The Making of Latex 101 gives viewers insight into the makers of fetish clothing, based in West Lothian. Making everything from t-shirts to hoods with help from their cat Chuckie.
Ben Garfield, 2016 | When Oleg Sirota discovered his native Russia was banning Western food imports, he quit his job, sold his house, took out a $100k loan and began building a factory in the wilderness.
2015
Fabio Palmieri, 2015 | Each year 40,000 people try to enter Europe, fleeing from war and persecution. Since entrances by land have been denied, they board overloaded vessels, facing an often deadly voyage.
Ruth Grimberg, 2015 | Losing his sight to a heart-breaking, incurable disease, John considers his future and, guided by schoolboy Ben, casts his line for carp at the bottom of London’s mysterious hidden lakes.
Justin Spray, 2015 | Director Justin Spray finds beauty at the bottom of a municipal swimming pool as he follows a group of novice free-divers in their journey of experimentation and underwater discovery.
Matt Houghton, 2015 | Almost all people want to solve puzzles; it’s part of human nature. Shifting between imagination and reality, Dear Araucaria meets the man who has given his life to crosswords.
2014
Rob Curry, 2014 | A documentary directed by Rob Curry. A field-recorded encounter with some of the folk rituals of the Norfolk Broads – as witnessed through the eyes of one homegrown fabulist.
Tom German, 2014 | Somewhere Else is an observational film portrait of the life and experiences of John Eldridge. Exploring the crossover of surfing with motorbike customisation, it is a celebration of subcultures.
Technology, Vehicles
Benjamin Dowie, 2014 | Shot in France over one week, Stillness Arises provides an insight into the mind of French adventurer and filmmaker, Mathieu Le Lay, and his connection with nature and the wild.
Amanda Bluglass, 2014 | A heart-warming portrait of rebellion, spirit, power and joie- de-vivre. Britain’s oldest punk, great-grandmother Viva Hamnell reflects on her experiences in Cornwall’s first punk band.
Theis Mølstrøm Christensen, 2014 | Søren and Malene fell in love playing music together. They had a child, but then were both diagnosed with cancer. This film allows them to once again find their common tune.
Tash Horton, 2014 | A colourful exploration into the landscape of the female face, and a look into the minds of 12 young women living in a society that obsesses over physical appearance and beauty standards.
2013
Jack Bradley, 2013 | Set against the beautiful backdrop of Burma, Dr. Dhammasami reveals that to achieve Nirvana, we must be physically and mentally free.
Stephen McLean, 2013 | Weaving through Sheffield’s forgotten buildings, explorers from “urbexing” share their experiences and passion for these derelict artefacts.
Rory Alexander Stewart, 2013 | As an intimate study of The Port O’Leith, Edinburgh’s infamous pub, The Port examines its history and tradition, fuelled by many stories.
2012
Kevin Andrews, 2012 | A blind Greek busker has some inspiring views on the world and environment around him. Watch the short, Blind Encounter, to find out more.
Mike Bernard, 2012 | An artist nearly drowns and is saved by two eagles. Learn how the artist overcame and understood his near death experience and how he was saved.
Oliver Murray, 2012 | 40 years and many objects later, a man pauses to reflect on how treasure hunting moved from a hobby to an obsession that took over his life.
Thomas Gleeson, 2012 | What is it that makes a house a home?Thomas Gleeson’s moving documentary investigates domestic spaces, exploring what they mean to us.
Alex J. Wright, 2012 | Sid Burnard welcomes us into his weird and wonderful world of beachcombing. Watch this short directed by Alex J. Wright.
Shasha Nakhai / Richard Williamson, 2012 | The Sugar Bowl looks at the rise and fall of a Philippine island’s sugarcane industry. Watch this short to learn more about the sugar cane industry.
2011 – 2009
Tom Burke, 2011 | Pat climbs the hill of Bull na Mór to honour his father’s memory, he contemplates a life spent at sea. This short explores family issues.
Octavia Hartland, 2011 | Alec is 21 years old. He has built himself a micro-house out of plywood. But is it possible to live in it? Directed by Octavia Hartland.
Benoit Millot, 2011 | Linen is a link between the past and the present – from the fields to the shelves; it thrives. Learn more about the link by watching the short.
Simon Smith, 2011 | On a Friday night, the drivers of A1 Taxis get all sorts of people in the back of their cabs. This short looks at an average night for a taxi driver.
Tara Mahoney, 2009 | Canadian National Chief seeks public recognition from Pope Benedict XVI for damages. Watch the short to find out about the damages that occurred.
James Muir / Daniel Hunter, 2010 | A look into a lone farmer’s life, and the struggle he endures physically on his own but also mentally. Directed by James Muir and Daniel Hunter.