Selections
2020/2021
Judged by; Stoff Rands, Glyn Evans
CATEGORY: LOCAL
Films with connections to Newbury, and surrounding areas
Viskar I Vinden
A feisty forensic investigator is gathering evidence at the murder scene. Until the corpse posthumously communicates with the investigators through its decaying farts. They must conduct a most unusual interview to catch the killer.
Directed by: James Newman
Writen by: James Newman
A Beautiful Lie
An anniversary brunch. Fine wine and finer conversation. But when an alarm sounds, reality comes crashing down.
Directed by: Andrew Mckenzie
Writen by: Andrew Mckenzie
Squall
Ben and Margaret, two strangers at rock bottom in their lives for very different reasons, meet in a hotel bar before going on to spend a night putting their respective broken worlds to rights.
Directed by: Mark Brennan
Writen by: Mark Brennan
Send in the Clowns
A clown struggling to make ends meet is faced with an opportunity he can't afford to miss.
Directed by: Ben Ashton
Writen by: Ben Ashton
Don't Walk
Walkers Jon and Val have always played it safe in life, but a life threatening illness makes them throw caution to the wind - with devastating results.
Directed by: Hannah George
Writen by: Hannah George
CATEGORY: NATIONAL
Films across the UK
Selling Out
Selling Out is a short comedy about an actress' realisation that perhaps her life isn't going to turn out the way she'd imagined.
Directed by: George Hackforth-Jones
Writen by: Lucy Scott-Smith
The Plunge
After a night of passion Emily tells Jay that she'd like to use a strap-on. Scared of losing a girl he has a connection with, Jay reluctantly agrees.
Directed by: Simon Ryninks
Writen by: Omar Khan
Scrable
The tale of Salif, a middle aged launderette owner and his fear that any day now, his sole employee, 77 year old Mary, might just stop showing up.
Directed by: Anthony Hett
Writen by: Anthony Hett
Jackpot
When a young boy finds a large sum of money hidden in a discarded mattress, good fortune turns to anxiety as his windfall transforms him into a reclusive and paranoid creature who will do anything to protect his jackpot.
Directed by: Alexander Brown
Writen by: Alexander Brown
Choker
As a girl drops from the sky onto a crowded beach, a mysterious man drives at breakneck speed towards her.
Directed by: Orson Cornick
Writen by: Orson Cornick
Off Fleek
Teenager Emma suffers horrendous cyber bullying and her worse fears come true as the body shaming abuse she receives online begins to transform her appearance. She decides to take drastic action, which has disastrous consequences for herself and her family.
Directed by: Steven Dorrington
Writen by: Steven Dorrington
2019
Judged by; Judith Bunting, Glyn Evans
CATEGORY: LOCAL
Films with connections to Newbury, and surrounding areas
Dead Air
Dead Air tells the story of Monster Kitten, an all female punk rock band who end up on a flight with some nasty little creatures with all hell breaking loose at 30,000 feet.
Directed by: Geoff Harmer
Writen by: Peter Hearn
Ballerino
Set in a Northern town in a topsy-turvy world where football is only for girls and ballet is the manliest pursuit there is, one working class boy defies society and his father's wishes in favour of his repressed fascination with his sisters sport; football.
Directed by: Alex Forbes
Writen by: Alex Forbes
Entrance No Exit
An OCD tennis player on a long haul flight to Australia. Mid flight she needs the loo. Simple. Right ? Wrong ! Can Helen overcome her demons and escape the toilet before the plane lands ?.
Directed by: Jo Southwell
Writen by: Sophie Dix
Home to the Hangers
A traumatised soldier runs away from the trenches and finds healing in his old familiar haunts.
Directed by: A. D. Cooper
Writen by: A. D. Cooper
CATEGORY: NATIONAL
Films across the UK
Dinner With Mum
Ruby has been invited to dinner by her mum, but things quickly go down hill.
Directed by: Daniel Harding
Writen by: Daniel Harding
Lowen
Lowen is a 3D animated student film. The story follows Lowen and Locryn as they explore an ancient temple, in hopes of obtaining a priceless gem.
Directed by: Kialle Wills and Lizzie Seagrave
Writen by: Kialle Wills
Safe Space
Sarah is a key worker in a woman's refuge. Amne is her new client. For Amne the journey from victim to survivor is painful and traumatic. For Sarah the emotional burden placed on her shoulders is overwhelming. Safe Space chronicles the relationship between the two women from the day Amne arrives until the day she must leave.
Directed by: Ben S. Hyland
Writen by: Ben S. Hyland
Revenant Relocation Officers
For a week in 2018 a crew of young filmmakers followed one of the most unappreciated groups of council workers: Revenant Relocation Officers.
Directed by: Robert Duncan
Writen by: Robert Duncan
Seeing Sounds
Richard is a mute armed with a dictaphone, hundreds of audio books and an eagerness to edit together two-way conversations he'd love to have with the woman he quietly pines for.
Directed by: Asatuurs Keim
Writen by: Asatuurs Keim and Simon Shaw
Beautified
Three enslaved girls are immersed in beautiful surroundings, hidden beneath this beauty lies a dystopian society pushing the girls to perfection.
Directed by: Emily Haigh
Writen by: Emily Haigh
CATEGORY: INTERNATIONAL SHORTS
Short films from across the world
Paris you got me
The street artist George lures Ksenia into his magic world of art illusions.
Directed by: Julie Boehm
Writen by: Julie Boehm
CATEGORY: UK SCRIPTS
Scripts across the UK
Friends
In an idyllic remote countryside in mountainous Kurdistan, 12-year-old Alan and his two friends roam the landscape fishing and skipping stones in a lake, until one day their peaceful routine is threatened by the arrival of a stranger on the verge of committing suicide, can a new friendship.
Writen by: Mazin M Sherabayani
Samantha
A teenage girl struggles to readapt to home and school life after surviving a highly publicised crime.
Writen by: Kieran Freemantle
Skint
Skint.
Writen by: Helen Tunnicliff
James Harvey; A History
Set in the 1950s, Nicky enjoys the carefree party lifestyle and dreams of writing the next Great American Novel. His best friend Charlie, however, suspects something deeper is going on.
Writen by: Georgia May
Guerisseur-Heros
During World War 2 after an horrific battle in France, a British Medic - who has taken up refuge with his remaining comrades in a solitary church - makes the tough decision to head out alone behind enemy lines to try and find supplies in an effort to save his friends. But after a hard decision he heads back to the safety of the church to see that all is not as it was.
Writen by: Danny Cotton
CATEGORY: INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTS
Scripts across the world
Adam and the Aliens
Adam and the Aliens.
Writen by: Nathaniel Baker
Nella Citino
Jet, an obstetrician who is accused of murder, struggles to save her best friend Candi from suicide while trapped within the confines of an interrogation room. She needs to save her pregnant friend while psyching out her formidable investigative opponent.
Writen by: Nella Citino
2018
Judged by; Stoff Rands, Glyn Evans
CATEGORY: LOCAL
Films with connections to Newbury, and surrounding areas
Boxes
Three teenage women attempt to pass the time chatting and cloud-watching. In the course of their conversation we discover the various ways they've been judged, labelled and categorised by society, by peers, by boys.
Directed by: Eben Skilleter
Writen by: Eben Skilleter
When I go to Sleep
A short horror, by a student filmmaker.
Directed by: Anna Harvey
Writen by: Anna Harvey
Smile
Lisa suffers from day dreams, very violent day dreams.
Directed by: Geoff Harmer
Writen by: Peter Hearn
Go With Him
Jack has kept something to himself for 15 years and today he's finally telling someone. Jack has terrible timing.
Directed by: Chris Billingham
Writen by: Chris Billingham
One Volume
From the perspective of a book, One Volume follows six strangers through five emotional chapters to illustrate how we can all share experiences through stories - regardless of cultural, or biological differences.
Directed by: Lily Gwynne-Thomas
In Time
Whilst bored at work, a young woman finds herself swept up in a 1940s styled musical number when a mysterious man enters her shop.
Directed by: Barnaby Boulton
Writen by: Georgia Williams
Three Blind Mice
We are all running from death, but sooner or later death will catch up. Three short narratives explore humanity's relationship with death and the stories we tell ourselves in order to cope.
Directed by: KT Jemmett
Writen by: KT Jemmett
CATEGORY: NATIONAL
Films across the UK
Tomorrow
One moment turns a man's life upside down. With a sense of a terrible secret guilt he has just one day to accept the inevitable.
Directed by: Gabriel Bagnaschi
Writen by: Enni Red
After We Have Left Our Homes
Under a dictatorship that has banned music, a man hides a recording until he is caught and imprisoned. Whilst paying for his crimes he stumbles across a repository of confiscated items, leading to a series of events that will forever change the city.
Directed by: Marc Adamson
Writen by: Marc Adamson
The Inuring
A bullied teenage girl finally confronts her sister to drag their fractured past out into the light.
Directed by: James Hughes
Writen by: James Hughes
Run Rabbit
Two bullies are forced to face the dramatic consequences for their actions.
Directed by: Emily Haigh
Writen by: Emily Haigh
Seeing Him
In the wake of an ultimatum a middle-aged woman is forced to confront personal boundaries and a disturbing truth about her relationship with her younger lover. Seeing Him is a bittersweet observation of the passion and commitment of two people in love.
Directed by: Chris Jones
Writen by: Vanessa Bailey
Meet Cute
Polly discovers a man breaking in to her car. The police interview Polly and soon discover that the events surrounding the break in aren't so clear cut.
Directed by: Sam Blakeney-Edwards
Writen by: Ramsey Hassan
2017
Judged by; Judith Bunting, Glyn Evans
CATEGORY: LOCAL
Films with connections to Newbury, and surrounding areas
Gat man
A slightly too middle-class hoodlum tries to up his status by getting a gun.
Directed by: Christopher Rands
Writen by: Christopher Rands
I Did
The day before his wedding day, a hapless groom discovers that he did something on his stag do that is going to cause more than just havoc with the seating plan.
Directed by: James Watts
Writen by: Chris Billingham
The Farm
On an isolated farm in rural England, a man seeks the truth behind his wife's mysterious disappearance.
Directed by: Matthew Harrison
Writen by: Matthew Harrison
Fred's Shed
Inventor Fred is building a mysterious machine in his garden shed � but why won't he let his wife Edie see what he's cooking up?
Directed by: Stephen Graves
Writen by: Stephen Graves
Perched
Hamish Fint, a crotchety old man used to a life of seclusion inside his submarine balanced precariously atop a mountain, struggles to maintain equilibrium when an unwelcome visiting seagull rocks his world..
Directed by: Liam Harris
Writen by: Nathaniel Price and Eoin Doran
CATEGORY: NATIONAL
Films across the UK
The Good Samaritan
Attempting to relocate his lost phone, Alex ventures out into the night to meet The Good Samaritan who found it, but he quickly discovers that he�ll need to pay a steep price for its return.
Directed by: Chris Suffield
Writen by: Chris Suffield
Infinite
In his last months alive, a young man calls upon his four closest friends to make his existence infinite, through the assembly of five key elements from his life.
Directed by: Connor O'Hara
Writen by: Connor O'Hara
La Belle Folie
A comedy about a desperate actress who attempts to make a black-and-white french language film, in order to convince her agent that she's good enough at french to be put up for a foreign language audition. She ropes in her best friend, her dad, and her dad's friend Mr Harris. It doesn't go
Directed by: Ruth Pickett
Writen by: Ruth Pickett
Social Networking Socially - Society Through Technology
What if the internet was alive and well in the 1960s, and people wanted to know more about this new fangled thing called social networking?
Directed by: Paul Murphy
Writen by: Greg Haiste and Marie Lawrence
Final Round
A satirical take on how hard it is to get a bloody job in media
Directed by: Matt Lacey
Writen by: Adam Reeve
Hugo
An enchanting tale about a lonely young man named Hugo born with long fingers. Fearing the mockery of others and hidden from the world in a disused theatre, he practises hand shadow puppetry and hopes one day to share with others his magical tales.
Directed by: Theo Pavlou
Writen by: Theo Pavlou
