We are absolutely delighted to announce our NOMINATED films for 2017!
Best Nominated Short:
Black Road
Director: Tim Fywell, UK, 22 mins, #Short
Set in a seaside town in the North of England, Black Road explores the relationship between two strangers, Maggie (Michelle Collins) and Lilli, which develops out of a broken promise that Maggie made to herself in order to help and protect Lilli.
Edith
Director: Christian Cooke, UK, 15 mins, #Short
Edith explores how we move on from bereavements. How we make peace with our past and find something worth living for. This film features stand out performances from Peter Mullen (War Horse, Tyrannosaur), Michelle Fairley (Games of Thrones, Harry Potter, Suits) and supporting roles from Elliot Tittensor (Shameless) and Sia Bennett (Mr Selfridge).
HashtagWill
Director: Per Sundstrom, Sweden, 22 mins, #Short
A teenage Video blogger with suspected self-harm behaviour uses the school auditorium alone to record a video but after strange events and threats he has to gain control of both his mind and own destiny.
Howls
Director: Catriona MacInnes, UK, 16 mins, #Short
A young mum runs away with her fragile son to a woodland hut community in Scotland and door steps a random boy she has recently met. When hope of acceptance in his community quickly fades, she loses control, whilst her son finds solace in a mysterious wolf.
The Dog and The Elephant
Director: Michael Sharpe, UK, 25 mins, #Short
Set in the violent world of Victorian boxing and the honour code of the Romany Gipsies, 'The Dog & The Elephant' is the compelling story of the unlikely kinship between young boxer Bendigo Barlow and 'Ina', an elephant from a travelling menagerie. Bendigo's struggle to live with Tourette’s syndrome is made all the more difficult by fear and ignorance as he is violently shunned by those who simply don’t understand. Bendigo's fractured life leads him on a brutal journey of destruction, retribution and ultimately revenge.
TriGGA
Director: Meloni Poole, UK, 16 mins, #Short
She’d rather not speak and prefers life as a horse, but the girls at school just won’t leave her alone.
Best Nominated Animation Short:
Catherine
Director: Brit Raes, Spain, 12 mins, #Animation
Catherine loves pets! But most of all, she lovers her cat. As she grows up, she can not connect with people. Her cat is her life, but will this crazy cat lady ever find friendship or love?
The Full Story
Director: Daisy Jacobs, UK, 8 mins, #Animation #Short
When the dad next-door walks out, five-year-old Toby discovers that parents leave. As the shock hits, the entire room catapults skywards, morphs in mid-air and lands as a different space. The rooms keep pace with Toby's volatile emotions as home life spirals out of control in the divorce boom of the 1970s and 80s. Forty years on, kaleidoscopic scraps of memory still cling to the walls; and Toby clings to these fragments, trying to piece together the full story.
To Build A Fire
Director: Fx Goby, France, 13 mins, #Animation
To Build a Fire is an animated short film in 4K Cinemascope that tells the tragic tale of a man and his dog trying to survive in the overwhelmingly freezing and hostile nature of the Yukon Territory.
I am Dyslexic
Director: Mads Johan Øgaard, Norway, 6 mins, #Student #Animation
The animated short film I AM DYSLEXIC expresses what it feels like to have a learning difference in our current school system. The film uses strong metaphors to portray these emotions, as we follow a little boy in his journey to climb a mountain in a world made of books.
Best Nominated Student Short:
Hunger Keeps Walking
Director: Giulia Canella, Italy, 17 mins, #Student
Charles is a complicated guy. He feels so lonely that every night he calls an erotic hotline, asking only for one person: Bijou. The call-girl makes Charles forget his solitude for a while, but one night he wants more and asks Bijou to go out for a date. The woman doesn’t say yes or no, but Charles starts preparing for this unusual meeting. At the end, Charles’ self doubts will point out his difficult relationship with his body and food.
Perched
Director: Liam Harris, UK, 10 mins, #Student #Animation
Hamish Fint, a crotchety old man used to a life of seclusion inside his submarine balanced precariously atop a mountain, struggles to maintain equilibrium when an unwelcome visiting seagull rocks his world.
Spilt Milk
Director: James Dunstan, UK, 23 mins, #Short
An unrequited love story between two teens leading up to the night of their prom as they begin to understand the differences and similarities of love, sex and gender.
Sweet Maddie Stone
Director: Brady Hood, UK, 24 mins, #Student #Short
15-year-old Maddie Stone rules her school yard under the protection of her family name. But after discovering her notorious father has been arrested, she has to make his bail money or lose the yard. The more Maddie fights, the more her world spirals out of control--and the closer she gets to becoming the man she's trying to save.
Award Sponsored by Arnolds Keys 
Best Nominated Documentary Short:
A Million Waves
Director: Daniel Ali & Louis Leeson, UK, 8 mins, #Documentary
'A Million Waves' is about Kadiatu Kamara, or KK, the only female surfer in Sierra Leone at just 19-years-old. When her father died 2 years ago she was left to face the Ebola epidemic alone, but she found her escape and hope in the surfing community of Bureh Beach.
Flight
Director: Laura Wadha, UK, 11 mins, #Documentary #Student
Two young sisters are forced to grow up quickly when their family flee the war in Syria and make the dangerous journey to Sweden. As they begin to settle they are faced with new difficulties – they are becoming teenagers in a new world and long for the Syria that once was. They try to hold on to memories of their once beautiful home while struggling to deal with the repercussions of growing up surrounded by conflict.
Handmade Films
Director: Christina Lenna, Canada, 5 mins, #Documentary
Handmade film is a rarely practiced craft in today's film industry. Lindsay McIntyre spends three days making the film emulsion she shoots on than develops herself.
Sin Bin of The City
Director: James Armstrong, UK, 17 mins, #Documentary
Sin Bin of the City uses a rich tapestry of archive and testimony to delve into the political and social upheaval of Liverpool’s black community in the summer of 1981. Unravelling the events and cutting through the noise to the voices at the centre of the conflict, Sin Bin of the City asks what, if anything, has changed in the community today.
Award Sponsored by Wex Photo Video
Best Nominated East Anglian Short:
Blood and Stones
Director: Joshua Carver, UK, 15 mins, #EastAnglia
Ruby is collecting pebbles, but Robby doesn't feel very well. A day out at the beach leads to some tension for the young couple, but perhaps not how they expected. A gentle little film from the Norfolk Coast that nevertheless deals with some adult themes - with just a hint of blood. And lots of stones.
Edmund The Magnificent
Director: Ben Ockrent, UK, 13 mins, #EastAnglia #Short
When news breaks that the county pig fete's being revived, the once-legendary Farmer (David Bradley, Harry Potter, Games of Thrones) decides to make one final roll of the dice - and invest his life savings in a thoroughbred piglet with which to breed new life back into his now dilapidated farm. But when he puts young Edmund out to breed and the lad abstains, the Farmer's forced on a journey that will challenge everything he thought he knew about pigs, love and the true value of life... This short is narrated by Sir Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, X-Men).
The Birch
Director: Ben Franklin & Anthony Melton, UK, 5 mins, #EastAnglia
A bullied teenager, fearing for his life, turns to an ancient creature of the forest for protection... and revenge.
The Knackerman
Director: Tom Shrapnel, UK, 18mins, #EastAnglia
A contemporary Western set in the heart of rural East Anglia, The Knackerman tells the story of Ron - an aging Knacker who is responsible the disposal of ill horses. When his own horse falls ill, Ron must decide it's fate and in doing so, face his own mortality. Starring Donald Sumpter (Game Of Thrones, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Adam Long (Happy Valley).