A wide ranging shorts section with contributions from The Magic Lantern and The Artist and Cinema Video Programme gives cinema-goers the chance to see lots of fascinating films from up and coming directors and established stars.
Without You and Skhizein
Alma
(Country: Spain, US; Year: 2009; Director: Rodrigo Blaas; Writer: Rodrigo Blaas)
A girl is enchanted by a mysterious toyshop.
Aanaatt
(Country: UK, Japan, Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Max Hattler)
Futuristic stop-motion animation.
Arena
(Country: Portugal; Year: 2009; Director: João Salaviza)
A man under house arrest is taunted by children. Winner of the short film Palm d'Or at Cannes 2009.
As One
(Country: Japan; Year: 2009; Director: Makoto Yabuki),
Official Site
Crystalline and needle-like shapes evolve in a series of mysterious rooms.
The Bedfords
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Henry Coombes; Stars: Ewan Stewart, Katy Barker, Hugh Ross, Aladair Gray, Anne Lacey, Alastair Wilson)
A new look at the Scottish highlands as imagined by the Victorian aristocracy.
Alma and The Bedfords
Believe
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Paul Wright)
A portrait of one man's grief and desperation following the death of his wife.
La Boheme
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Werner Herzog)
Puccini reinvented, Ethiopian style.
Chantier
(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Damien Dufresne)
A man working on a building site and hoping to escape his past is confronted with an unsettling reminder.
Choreomania
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Louis Paxton)
An outbreak of hysterical dancing takes place in Glasgow.
Clamp
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Prasanna Puwanarajah)
An ordinary man decides to become a superhero and rid the world of wheel clamps.
As One and You’re The Stranger Here
The Conservatory
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Matilda Tristram)
What to do on a peaceful afternoon when you are upset but you don't know why.
Die Schneider Krankheit
(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Javier Chillon)
When a Soviet space vehicle crashes in Fifties West Germany, its chimpanzee passenger spreads a deadly plague.
Driver
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Stephen Fingleton; Writer: Stephen Fingleton; Stars: Ben Caplan, Jess Randell, Ben Willens, Jonathan Rhodes, Eva Tecedeiro),
Official Site,
Trailer
Nelson is tasked with driving his best friend's estranged wife to her new home. During the tense car journey, he finds his loyalties tested.
Dropping Furniture
(Country: Austria; Year: 2008; Director: Harald Hund, Paul Horn)
The film is, apparently, meant to symbolise the loss of existence.
I Love Luci
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Colin Kennedy)
The future of a precarious romance depends on a dog.
Kanizsa Hill
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Evelyn Lee)
After being shot, a man is forced to exist with his head and body separate.
A Letter To Uncle Boonmee
(Country: Thailand; Year: 2009; Director: Apichatpong Weerasathakul)
A return visit to the site of a political massacre.
Lift
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Nathan Rae)
A hitchhiker discovers Britain through a series of encounters with the people who give him lifts.
Little Red Hoodie
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Jørn Utkilen; Writer: Jørn Utkilen; Stars: Kazmin Borrer, Noel Boyd, Giselle Hammond, Kezia Doran, Nicola Jo Cully),
Official Site
Grim twist on Red Riding Hood.
Looploop
(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: Patrick Bergeron)
A partly animated documentary exploring the details of life during a train journey through Vietnam.
Madam Butterfly
(Country: Italy, Taiwan, France; Year: 2008; Director: Tsai Ming-Liang)
The heroine of Puccini's opera finds herself stranded in a Kuala Lumpur bus station.
Memotech
(Country: Faroe Islands; Year: 2009; Director: Marianna Mørkøre, Rannvá Káradóttir)
Experimental film set against the backdrop of the Faroes.
Miss This At Your Peril
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Brent King)
A group of people experiment with a new anti-addiction medication.
Peter In Radioland
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Johanna Wagner)
Observational documentary about the filmmaker's father and his love of analogue technology.
Please Say Something
(Country: Ireland; Year: 2008; Director: David O'Reilly)
Set in the far-off future, this is the story of the difficult relationship between a very emotional cat and her husband, a tedious mouse.
Princess Margaret Boulevard
(Country: Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Kazik Radwanski)
A middle aged woman confronts the confusion and loneliness of Alzheimer's disease.
Rumbo A Peor
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Àlex Brendemühl)
Two men in football strips meet a woman whilst walking through a remote place.
Scope
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Volker Schreiner)
An exploration of confounded communication through the distortion of sound.
Skhizein
(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Jérémy Clapin; Writer: Jérémy Clapin, Stéphane Piera; Stars: Julien Boisselier, Theo Grimmisein),
Official Site
An ordinary man tries to cope with life after an unexpected occurance leaves him 91cm to the side of himself.
When Worlds Collide
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Fred Worden)
Symbolic images become separated from the things they ordinarily represent.
Wings And Oars
(Country: Latvia; Year: 2009; Director: Vladimir Letschiov)
A former pilot reminisces about his life.
Wintering
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Iain Finlay)
A woman watches a man perform bizarre acts of destruction.
You’re The Stranger Here
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Tom Geens; Writer: Tom Geens; Stars: Kate Cook, Anthony Smee, Ella Peel),
Official Site
Margot has a crazy leg. She lives in a fascist regime where they shoot people with crazy legs.