British Short Film Competition 1

Jim

A man equally enamoured by the beauty of jazz and his beloved wife, Jim shares his deeply intimate thoughts with us. From New Orleans jazz to the difficulties of grieving someone before they’ve died, Jim is a poetic portrait of a mournful clarinettist. UK Premiere | Stuart Hackshaw, Alistair Little | UK | 2026 | 15 mins | English

FarEye

Escaping the chaos of home, a young Jamaican boy finds sanctuary in a community where music, spirit and faith become his guiding lights. But what he discovers there awakens something deep within him, setting his life on an entirely new path. Yorkshire Premiere | Hayden Mclean | UK | 2026 | 14 mins | English

Every Time I See A Yellow Car

Olly and Liam’s relationship, like many siblings, is complex and strained. One queer and shy, the other straight and brash, both try to find comfort and make sense of a deeply traumatic event in this reflective drama about masculinity, violence and compassion. Yorkshire Premiere | Matt Chandler | UK | 2025 | 14 mins | English

Small Hours

A gorgeous animation created by hand painting almost 5,000 frames using oil on glass. Director Oscar Wyndham Lewis wrestles with his own recovery, depicting an artist struggling with alcohol addiction and mental illness, who reaches out to an old friend. Yorkshire Premiere | Oscar Wyndham Lewis | UK | 2026 | 10 mins | English

Free Lyric

BAFTA-winning director (The Black Cop, LIFF 2021) Chez Oteka’s new documentary cleverly explores truth in storytelling, consent, coercion and online abuse, when 17-year-old rapper O.G Niki sings of her experience of sleeping with six men in the same day. Yorkshire Premiere | Cherish ‘Chez’ Oteka | UK | 2026 | 20 mins | English

Dug. Or, The Moral Of The Story Is.

Author B.S. Johnson once wrote: “The novel should […] be Funny, Brutalist, and Short”. Swap novel for film and you’ll very likely get Dug. Short, sharp and stuffed with wit and vigour, it’s a daft, amoral story of drunkenness, coincidence and cul-de-sacs. Melanie Spencer | UK | 2026 | 4 mins | English

HINDSIGHT

After getting a new car, teenager Jamal and his friends are living life in the fast lane! But when late night parties turn into working late shifts, Jamal watches his car change from a symbol of freedom into a relic of his youth, as he’s thrust into adulthood. Yorkshire Premiere | Remi R.M. Moses | UK | 2026 | 11 mins | English

A Woman of Good Abilities

When a drug addict is caught stealing, her night spirals out of control as she’s forced to confront the results of her own deceptions. A naturalistic style alongside professional and street-cast actors lends authenticity to a story of a bleak modern Britain. Mark Chapman | UK | 2026 | 15 mins | English, Panjabi, Polish

Content Guidance: Contains scenes of sexism, sexual assult, mental and emotional abuse and suicide and self-harm.