Shorts

Sharp, bold and quickly told.

BFI London Film Festival Shorts

A selection of small but perfectly formed shorts nominated for the 2026 Short Film Award.

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Into the Forest

A stop motion monkey searches for a place to call home.
  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • Children's
  • 2026
  • 10 mins

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White Musk

Tensions arise when a young Sudanese woman becomes her mother's primary caregiver.
  • Drama
  • 2026
  • 18 mins

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Treasure Island

Summer 1993. Marthe convinces her brother to run away from home. Joined by their cousins, they debate what their future might hold.
  • Drama
  • 2026
  • 18 mins

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Mon Taxi

Meriem, who for years called her father every day, decides to call him on the day after his death.
  • Documentary
  • 2026
  • 8 mins

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Landscapes of Shame

Navigating Ireland's haunted landscapes, ecological extinction and cultural suppression emerge as intertwined forms of colonial erasure.
  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 2026
  • 30 mins

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Daughters of the Late Colonel

After the death of their ill-tempered and controlling father, two middle-aged sisters find themselves at a loss.
  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 2026
  • 9 mins

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Aman

On the eve of his gender-affirming surgery, a trans man's journey takes an unexpected turn.
  • Drama
  • 2026
  • 16 mins

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How to Hide It

After winning the lottery, a woman faces tension between dreams of a better life and her deeply held beliefs.
  • Comedy
  • 2026
  • 13 mins

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FarEye

Fleeing the chaos of home, a young Jamaican boy finds refuge within a community guided by music, spirit and faith.
  • Drama
  • 2026
  • 14 mins

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A Kind of Purity

At an art gallery, a disillusioned assistant's pretence of normality is pushed to breaking point when a sudden act takes place.
  • Comedy
  • 2026
  • 15 mins

We Crip Film Festival

A celebration of Disability Pride Month and a reclamation by the Disabled film community to champion our strength, creativity and ingenuity.

D-Punk

A raw, defiant documentary where punk and disability collide – challenging norms, reclaiming space, and rewriting who gets to be seen and heard.
  • Documentary
  • 2026
  • 31 mins

Special People

Five teenagers get their own back on a manipulative filmmaker in this subversive comedy.
  • Comedy
  • Student film
  • 2004
  • 13 mins

Pretty Sick

Disabled artist and activist Sara brings a unique brand of creative and political expression through their mobility aids.
  • Short documentary
  • 2025
  • 10 mins

Zagêro

It’s so normal to be normal, isn’t it? This radical queer performance film with an all-disabled cast and crew begs to differ.
  • Drama
  • 2025
  • 16 mins

Imagination

An art gallery provides some respite from the world outside
  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 2016
  • 4 mins

Retreat

A woman risks the safety of her secret commune by helping a stranger.
  • Drama
  • 2013
  • 22 mins

London Indian Film Festival

A selection of favourite shorts from Europe’s largest South Asian film festival.

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There Will Come Soft Rains

Haunted by rising sea levels, a daughter digs up her father’s grave in BAFTA-nominated director Elham Ehsas' climate film.
  • Drama
  • 15 mins

Before I Do

On the morning of her wedding, Mona, a British-Indian woman, questions her rushed marriage and reflects on a period of self-discovery from her past.
  • Drama
  • 2026
  • 9 mins

MidRiff

Neeraja Raj's animated musical comedy about an unexpected guest interrupting a romantic make-out session, positively encourages naval-gazing.
  • Comedy
  • Musical
  • 2024
  • 7 mins

Vest

A fostered little boy runs away from home to potentially dire consequences.
  • Drama
  • 2020
  • 12 mins

Meow or Never

In a madcap musical, a 'cat'-stronaut travels the galaxy looking for the meaning of life and encounters a space pup eager to help.
  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • Musical
  • 2020
  • 10 mins

Khaana

A young pregnant Muslim woman living in London is craving something different, in writer-director Cary Sawhney’s award-winning short. Based on a poem by Anjum Malik.
  • Drama
  • 2012
  • 8 mins

Vaidya

Kabir meets the mysterious Vaidya on the beach while on holiday in Goa, in this short film which premiered at the London Indian Film Festival 2021.
  • Drama
  • 2021
  • 23 mins

BFI NETWORK supported shorts

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The Riley Sisters

Steve is desperate for his sisters to prove his innocence as Izzy and Jess are fighting to preserve their safe space.
  • Drama
  • 2022
  • 11 mins

Egúngún [Masquerade]

The power of the past spans the divide between Nigeria and the UK in this beautiful tale of intersecting lives.
  • Drama
  • 2021
  • 14 mins

Hard, Cracked the Wind

A haunting with words is the lure between life and death for a young Cornish poet.
  • Horror
  • 2019
  • 17 mins

Shagbands

During a sizzling summer in the noughties, a gang of South London schoolgirls face strange sexual awakenings, which culminate in a visceral fate.
  • Drama
  • 2020
  • 18 mins

A Last Resort

Rose is desperate to celebrate her 60th birthday in style, but her daughter Genevieve is struggling to ignore some recent tragic news about her mum.
  • Comedy
  • 2022
  • 17 mins

The Walk

Adeel Akhtar portrays a man on a weekly trek to his nearest JobCentre, entering a state of purgatory through barriers put in place by the system.
  • Drama
  • 2023
  • 12 mins

Seagull

Seagull is a recovering drug addict who is about to have a very strange night on The English Riviera.
  • Horror
  • 2022
  • 6 mins

Octopus

Upon returning to her home town for a funeral, a young woman reconnects with the friends she left behind.
  • 2021
  • 13 mins

Essex Girls

A teenage girl navigates friendship groups, social awkwardness and boys in this sharp coming of age drama.
  • Drama
  • 2023
  • 15 mins

Black Eyes, Black Lives

A selection of exceptional shorts from filmmakers, curated by S.O.U.L Celebrate Connect founder Iyare Igiehon

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We Do What We Can

We Do What We Can is a film that looks at one of the miracles in the journey of diaspora Africans.
  • Drama
  • 2019
  • 9 mins

Beneath the Surface

A comedy-drama animation about two best friends growing up in the same world but experiencing it completely differently.
  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 2017
  • 4 mins

Secure the Bag

Best friends Emeka and Joseph find ten thousand pounds inside a bag in a local playground.
  • Drama
  • 2019
  • 17 mins

Fatherhood

Iggy London's short film designed to decode the intimacy between men of colour.
  • Drama
  • 2017
  • 5 mins

Survivors Guilt

A young recluse suffering from PTSD encounters a late-night commercial that promises him an unexpected and somewhat magical cure.
  • Comedy
  • Science Fiction
  • 2020
  • 8 mins

Father of Man

Compelling story of a complex relationship between an ​imperious​ ​father and his son.
  • Drama
  • 2017
  • 16 mins

Dear Philadelphia

Three African American fathers unravel the incomparable partnership of forgiveness and community.
  • Documentary
  • 2020
  • 28 mins

Almost An Adult

A conceptual film following musical artist Jords’ quest to serendipity. The Tree of Life’ is the cornerstone of the film as he battles to triumph through grief.
  • Music video
  • 2019
  • 8 mins

Kindred

Samona Olanipekun explores the concepts of home, identity and belonging, from the starting point of the theme of globalisation.
  • Drama
  • 2018
  • 8 mins

Film Academy Shorts

We present the very best shorts by young filmmakers, produced through the BFI Film Academy.

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Paralysis

Struggling with the pressures of homophobia when her partner is taken away by a hateful mother, a young gay woman struggles to cope with the traumas and anxieties of her life.
  • Drama
  • 2016
  • 9 mins

Shards

After her world is shattered before her eyes, sixteen year old Maeve finds herself unable to escape the violence of her life.
  • Drama
  • 2015
  • 5 mins

Cha Cha Cha

When a world-weary wife decides to disappear on a spiritual retreat in India, her whole relationship with her husband is called into question, with comic and tragic results.
  • Drama
  • Student film
  • 2013
  • 9 mins

Teach Me

A city banker turned social worker has to starkly face his own anger, frustration and feelings of violence when he’s provoked by an aggressive and manipulative teenager.
  • Drama
  • Student film
  • 2013
  • 8 mins

Afterlife

After Martin Stevens is killed in a car accident he finds himself in a waiting room, pending judgement.
  • Comedy
  • 2015
  • 10 mins

Last Birthday

A carefree retiree clashes with his authoritarian, health-and-safety obsessed carer in this charming short comedy.
  • Drama
  • 2015
  • 10 mins

Man of the House

After a traumatic burglary, a mother and grown-up daughter find reconciliation and understanding through shared memories of the now departed ‘man of the house’.
  • Drama
  • 2013
  • 8 mins

White Rose

Eddie and Johnny have to face up to their actions after an unfortunate run-in with intimidating neighbour Mr Smalls.
  • Drama
  • 2014
  • 9 mins

Collections

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Black Eyes, Black Lives

A selection of exceptional shorts from filmmakers, curated by S.O.U.L Celebrate Connect founder Iyare Igiehon.

Animation 2018

13 short films from new and emerging animators, commissioned through a prestigious initiative by the BFI, BBC Four, and BBC Arts.

Too Desi Too Queer

A selection of LGBTQIA+ shorts curated by the London Indian Film Festival.

Listen to Britain 2017

Celebrating 75 years since Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister’s original film, BBC Four and BFI NETWORK, in association with Wingspan Productions, have partnered to offer the next generation of UK filmmakers the opportunity to present their diverse and unique perspectives on modern Britain.

Peter Greenaway shorts

Explore the filmmaking journey of one of Britain’s most acclaimed directors.

Carol Morley

Dreams, memories and reveries - the collected works of one of Britain's most distinctive filmmakers.

London Indian Film Festival

A selection of audience favourites from Europe’s largest South Asian film festival.