SHORTS BLOCK – PASSION & FEAR

WEIGHTLESS – On a deserted East Sussex beach, a sixty-two-year-old woman struggles to face down her inner demons as she makes her way into the water.

THE THRILL – A young guitarist is about to play the biggest show of his life. Things don’t quite go as expected…

ETERNAL HOURGLASS – An elderly woman recollects and reconnects with her past as her memories fade back to her in the form of a dance; a dream, a nightmare.

Anna (80) sits in her chair day in and day out. Her previous life as an acrobat unknown to those who care for her as she lives out Nietzsche’s Eternal Return, and is constantly plunged back into her past and a terrible choice she had to make many years ago as ‘the eternal hourglass of existence is turned over again and again, and you with it speck of dust’. 60 years previously, in a far too familiar time of political uncertainty and far right ideology, Anna must choose between her lover Victor, a persecuted artist, and her acrobatic partner Peter who is a member of the party putting her lover at risk. After a fight, Victor begs Anna not to go to the theatre, stating that he doesn’t trust Peter, that they need to escape now before it’s too late. Ignoring Peter, Anna goes to work, but as she dances with Victor, putting her life in his hands to perform daring and dangerous throws and lifts, she too realises that this is not a man to be trusted. Trust in times of political distrust is explored on screen as Anna’s dance becomes surreal and confused. She finds herself on stage, her young self and her old self, dancing with both Victor and Peter as she realises the audience has filled with an ominous military presence and she is trapped. Trapped in her memories. Trapped in her mind. Trapped in her regret. Anna runs home after the performance to find that it’s too late, and the party have come for Victor. The tragedy plays out through the eyes and minds of both the young and the old Anna, time becoming blurred, memory and reality becoming one and regret and remorse reigning strong.

ZEMI – During his first international tour, Zemi, an up-and-coming Dominican rapper, faces the age-old battle between creative integrity and encompassing ambition. While external voices challenge his values, Zemi calls upon a powerful spirit to defend his truth.

VILLAIN – After a dragon destroys young Georgia’s home, she journeys to its lair to enact violent revenge but instead finds an innocent child in the cave. When the dragon then returns, Georgia must reckon with the price of vengeance.

RED FOX – In a baron wilderness, a homeless man is kept and tortured, before being let loose into the wild for his dellusional religious captors to hunt him for sport.

THE SNIP – Tony and Lindsay are looking for a permanent solution to their family’s fertility, but for Tony, the simple procedure threatens Tony’s masculinity.

HEEL DROP – Tap dancer Bobby grew up and thrived in London, his single mother respected in her job. But now they must grapple with moving after suffering the towering cost of living. He navigates his final farewells with friends and his home.

VENUS – A young female artist unravels the beautiful facade that painted over her lover’s abuse.

POP SHOT – An assassin accidentally enters a televised singing contest while pursuing her victim, her plans fall through as she falls in love with her new pop star lifestyle.