The Human Component European Premiere
Directed by Daisy Squiers, Megan May Wilson
“The Human Component” takes us to Mogotio, a township in Kenya, where 11-year-old Leddy is captivated by space exploration. Leddy hopes to one day travel beyond our sky, and her ambition grows when Logitech and her teacher, Nelly Cheboi, arrange a classroom visit from Aisha Bowe, a former NASA Aerospace Engineer and future Blue Origin Astronaut, who is expanding the frontier of possibility for all women. For Leddy and her classmates, the experience is eye-opening – because if you can see it, you can be it.
Switzerland 6m

Old School
Directed by Ieuan Coombs
A former world champion bodybuilder reflects on his past and looks toward the future.
UK 8m

No One is an Island London Premiere
Directed by David Bunting
Through an animated conversation, scientists explore if everyone can live well without harming the environment and reveal how hope and creativity can inspire change.
UK 10m

The Hold London Premiere
Directed by JD Donnelly
A real-time journey through the past and present of champion free-diver Alice Hickson as she fights the need for oxygen during her record 7min30 breath hold.
UK 10m

The Moment of Truth
Directed by David Baksh
The race to safeguard our collective visual history against generative AI, will be won or lost in the next few months. “If we cannot trust what we’re seeing, then we can’t trust anything – and our sense of what is possible, unravels.” Flora Smith. The Topfoto Archive.
UK 13m

Breaks
Directed by Christina Yianni
A deeply personal documentary that follows Team England parasurfer and Paralympian, Hannah Dines, who lives with cerebral palsy and PSC, from the shores of Wales to California to compete in the World Championships.
UK 10m

Turn Up The Bass
Directed by Ted Evans
‘Turn Up The Bass’ tells the remarkable and little-known story of Troi Lee, aka DJ Chinaman, the unstoppable force behind the UK’s deaf music and rave scene. Produced by a mix of deaf and hearing creatives. Through heavy bass and deep vibrations, he connects audiences through the universal language of music.
UK 12m

Cry Like a Guy
Directed by Anthony Rubinstein
A feast for the feels. Over the course of 4 and a half hectic minutes – we take a look at tears from 3 different angles; biologically, sociologically and historically. We discuss how crying has swung in and out of fashion and what has informed our current consensus on this intriguing bodily function.
UK 4m

Twinkleberry
Directed by Daisy Ifama
The story of my super gay school year that had 30+ queer students in one year group. In the late 00’s and early 2010’s the UK was not woke, it was asleep and Twinkleberry was hardly progressive. So it was pretty surprising that my year group alone had so many openly queer students, fairly content living fluid teenage years when most people had to hide their sexuality.
UK 12m

Millwall Jew
Directed by Joe Bor
A short documentary about the veteran comedian and Millwall fan Ivor Dembina. Ivor discusses religion, comedy, football and how those worlds collide.
UK 11m

Breathing Space
Directed by Jane Thorburn, Jo Lewis
Breathing Space is a 17 minute film that brings together the life long experience of breathing with Art, Science and the rhythms of the world. How breathing is experienced and used by an American Neurobiologist, a Japanese Free Diver, an English Singing coach and an Artist born in Nigeria.
The film visually makes connections between the neurones in the brain that motivate the rhythms of breathing, the motion of insects, wind, trees, tides, transport and the effects of pollution.
UK 17m

AQUÍ Y ALLÁ
Directed by Isabella Breton
Through a conversation with photographer Winston Vargas, we explore the evolution of the Dominican community that migrated from one island to another. We witness through his gaze the peculiar experience of the diaspora in Washington Heights, but most importantly the effect of the community on its new environment.
USA 10m

Bloom in the Mirror World Premiere
Directed by Eri Sawatari
Kiko Mizuhara is a multi-talented actress, model, and designer working primarily in Japan. Here, Mizuhara expresses the joy of accepting and expressing the various “selves” contained within the self through fashion.
Japan 6m