EUROPE
SHORTLIST

Fieldtrip
United Kingdom / Sci-Fi / 21 minutes
Director/Writer: Soren Bendt, Paul Arion
Producer: Soren Bendt, Paul Arion
Cast: Laurentiu Ciucur, Andrej Bicanski, Jakob Foged, Jamie Holmes, Fabian Nowak
FIELDTRIP is a 20 minutes science fiction short movie about a man in a robotic spacesuit, who crashes into his own minefield and has to navigate through it. A dark comedy about the ‘collaboration’ of man and machine.

BabyDolls
United Kingdom / Drama / 10 minutes
Director/Writer: Calvin Demba
Producer: Pauline Glomaud-Murmann, Alice Raymond
Cast: Frankie Wilson, Saffron Hocking, Louisa Harland
BabyDolls is a dark comedy short that looks at fragile masculinity masked within alpha male bravado, paced to an original score and told through spoken word.

Beyond the Lake
United Kingdom / Drama / 12 minutes
Director/Writer: Simon Constantine
Producer: Henriette Mercedes-Spiering, Fredrik Gustafsson
Cast: Richard Easterbrook, Layla Burns, Cleo Slyvestre
Late in his life, a grumpy old timer finds himself lost on a lake accompanied by a young girl, who questions him about a name.

Blurred Lines
United Kingdom / Drama / 12 minutes
Director/Writer: Corry Raymond
Producer: Corry Raymond
Cast: Ryan Bown, Jonathan Taylor
As musician Robin Thicke reaches fame and critical acclaim for his hit record Blurred lines, he is sued by the Marvin Gaye family estate who claim he stole the song.

Confession Day
United Kingdom / Mystery / 19 minutes
Director: Ben Hooton
Writer: Zack Zupke
Producer: Matt Ashwell
Cast: Rhodri Miles, Nathalie Codsi, Huw Huckstep
In the valley of the Black Mountains, Aled must bury his father, and help his mother find peace. An outsider in a tight mining community, Bethan reveals what really happened the night Llewelyn died. The will of a father, fractured by the courage of a son.

Harry The Hamster
United Kingdom / Animation / 7 minutes
Director/Writer: Lewis Reeves
Producer: Maeva Demurger
Cast: Karl Johnson,Teddy Walker, Joel Reeves
A young boys day out to see Grandad and Grandads beloved pet Harry the Hamster suddenly sours as a dramatic death and an unexpected revelation occurs.

Lions
United Kingdom / Drama / 25 minutes
Director/Writer: Beru Tessema
Producer: Alexandre Gavras, Ama Ampadu
Cast: Melodie Wakivuamina, Ka-neileo Cope, Kurt Egyiawan, Morgan Watkins
Rosie is a young Congolese teenager, recently arrived in London to live with her older sister and her husband to take care of their son, she discovers the harshness of London life when a misunderstanding with two window cleaners turns into a violent fight.

Musketeer
United Kingdom / Drama / 13 minutes
Director/Writer: Philip Shaw
Producer: Suzann Wade, Yu-Fai Suen, Santonio Terzio
Cast: Kevin McNally
It's 1660, weary Musketeer Porthos traveling to Paris to meet D'Artagnan with a letter vital to the destiny of France meets a young farm hand on the road. As they share supper the old man reminisces of adventurous days gone by when two bandits come upon them and trouble starts.

Old Windows
United Kingdom / Drama / 17 minutes
Director: Paul Holbrook
Writer: Paul Holbrook, Laura Bayston
Producer: Laura Bayston, Jackie Howard
Cast: Laura Bayston, Larry Lamb
A struggling cafe owner is intrigued when a mysterious, elderly stranger takes an interest in her seemingly mundane life.

Scar
United Kingdom / Drama / 16 minutes
Director: Gethin Anthony
Writer: Gethin Anthony, Nico Bourgeais
Producer: Sebastian Wegner, Nico Bourgeais
Cast: Nico Bourgeais, Daniela Norman, Josephine Samson, Dan Blacka
Based on a true story; SCAR follows NOAH, a stubborn young man, who is assaulted on his way home after a life-changing first date. The attack impacts his mental health and those closest to him. In denial of his condition but incited to seek help, he must learn to be vulnerable in order to find strength.

Signal Dark
United Kingdom / Drama / 15 minutes
Director: Alex Murray, Max Murray
Writer: Alex Murray
Producer: James Carter Johnson
Cast: Greg Miller Burns
Lucas Anderson is an insular IT technician whose life is turned upside down when he stumbles across a mysterious email and its reality bending contents.

So Far So Good
United Kingdom / Drama / 18 minutes
Director/Writer: Maria Pawlikowska
Producer: Rebecca Rainey
Cast: Boryana Manoilova, Genc Jakupi, Edward Davis
Recent immigrant Elena is hired by a small-time gangster to honeytrap a juror during a trial. When she finds herself falling for her target, she must decide whether or not to go through with the job.

The Wilds
United Kingdom / Comedy / 15 minutes
Director/Writer: Greig Johnson
Producer: Adam
Cast: Freya Parker, Nicola Bryant, Tom Bell, Vincent Franklin
Anna receives an urgent phone call from her desperate-sounding and somewhat estranged mother, Helen. Anna's troubled brother has returned to the family home; Helen needs Anna's help and it must be right now – definitely before tonight. The Wilds tells the story of the day Anna Wild finally reconnects with her family; all thanks to a lycanthropy-based emergency.

An Encounter
Ireland / Drama / 20 minutes
Director: Kelly Campbell
Writer: Mark O'Halloran
Producer: Claire Mc Cabe
Cast: Moses Murphy, Robert Carney, Gary Lydon
Freely adapted from the James Joyce short story, An Encounter, follows Stephen and Jay, (13), as they take a day mitching from School. Jay is a boy Stephen considers to be beneath him. Nervous of being detected, the pair stick to the margins, along the royal canal and through the anonymous docklands until the afternoon finds them on the grassy banks of the Irishtown shore. As they lay hidden in the grass, a strange man approaches. What unfolds with this man terrifies Stephen and will never be erased from his memory.

Lady Betty
Ireland / Animation / 7 minutes
Director: Paul McGrath
Writer: Bobby Moloney
Producer: Leticia Agudo
Cast: Colm Meaney, David Pearse
In a cosy corner of a country pub, two old friends wile away the evening trading tall tales. Soon they begin telling the story of Lady Betty, the first and only female executioner in Ireland. As the men talk, we are zipped back to the late 1700s, to a lonely shack on the edge of town where Betty Sugrue – Lady Betty – and her son Padraic eke out a meagre existence. Told through Paddy and Mick’s… distinctive style of storytelling, which mostly involves constantly interrupting each other and arguing, we see and hear about the hard and twisted life of Lady Betty.

Wireless
Ireland / Comedy / 8 minutes
Director/Writer: Brian Benjamin Dwyer
Producer: Darren O'Mahony, Sinead O'Riordan, Brian Benjamin Dwyer
Cast: Pat Nolan, Rose Henderson, Shane Casey
A short film about married couple Ziggy and Teddy, a fun-loving middle-aged couple, who lose the run of themselves on a secluded Cork island after they believe they are the only ones there.