“We’re not here to entertain you, we’re here to make you feel uncomfortable” – Viv Albertine, after Luis Buñuel.
The London Short Film Festival returns to London for the 12th year to be as confrontational as ever and prove that the UK is truly a hotbed of film creativity.
This year, LSFF received an unprecedented number of submissions — 1500 in total, including international submissions for the first time.
LSFF still prides itself on being the biggest showcase of UK short film. Away from the mainstream, UK film culture is alive with incredible artistes and original voices which will be showcased at this year’s Festival. With 34 programmes of predominantly new UK work across all venues, this is a real snapshot of 21st century Britain: love stories, horror stories, comedy, documentary, music and lo-budget gems. Our themed programmes include perennial favourites such as Fcked Up Love, Lo-Budget Mayhem, Night of the Living Docs, Surreal Worlds, Teenage Girls Go Crazy! and Funny Sht, to new kids on the block such as Tales of the Unexpected, WTF: Outside the Box, Gothic! and A Musical Box. Plus a chance to see longer work in Long[er] Docs and Short Longes.
Filmmakers and actors, join Casting Networks at the London Short Film Festival for a panel event plus a Q&A with the Casting Networks team and a leading casting director, on how to find or get cast in independent film
Roger Ballen is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century, spanning over a forty year career in South Africa before his video for Die Antwoord, I Fink U Freeky, received over 55 million hits on YouTube in 2012.
We celebrate all things filmic and older formats in this programme of experimental work. Films that draw on the retro look of super-8 and 16mm screen alongside re-appropriated images
The site of blossoming romance and young lovers making eyes at each other. Luverly! This selection of short films will bring a warmth to your heart on a cold January afternoon.
Sun 11 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
Luke W Moody, Film and Distribution Manager at BRITDOC Foundation offers some introductory advice for emerging filmmakers seeking attention from funders and engaged audiences.
Mon 12 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
How do you tell your story in an engaging and interesting way? And how do you stand out of the crowd when there are so many films being made out there?
Experience a powerful programme of drama with a selection of films that zone in on the sometimes difficult roles and the fraught relationships of the women in the family.
Mon 12 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
Fill your boots with the legendary LSFF double whammy of back-to-back documentary programmes, the most satisfying way to feed that non-fiction predilection. This year, observe the humans, close up.
The father is the bedrock of the family, or that's the traditional notion. But no punches are pulled in this selection of films tackling parental love and the fraught relationships between child and father.
Tuesday 13th
Tue 13 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
Join acclaimed improvisers of stage and screen Cariad and Paul for this afternoon session exploring how improvisation can influence and inspire film directors at all stages of the filmmaking process. No experience required. Just an appetite for spontaneity and probably some coffee.
Tue 13 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
Expect a raucous show with our regular and popular showcase of low budget filmmaking; a selection of 26 out-there gems from bad taste comedy to bizarre animation.
An award-winning explicit erotic portmanteau trilogy about the carnal power of what we wear. Fun, bittersweet, surprising, and intimate, you can decide if the stories are connected.
Modern society sees a lot of lonely men out there, growing old without friends or family, whether by choice or by accident, or maybe they have personal reasons for being alone.
In this session Andrew Leen, Head of Performance Insurance, will talk you through some of the projects where the ‘What if moments’ have happened, and how insurance provided by Performance can help keep your projects on the move.
Simon's short films have received many international festival awards. His BAFTA and European Academy Award nominated short film Soft won 38 prizes including the International Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and Best Short Film at the BIFAs.
We consider the marriage of sound and music in our regular epic selection of creative music videos alongside short films with a dominant musical soundtrack
Greece has exited recession for the first time in six years but are Greeks feeling any improvement? How has the upheaval of Greek society impacted on current Greek cinema? Club des Femmes explores the female gaze and fairytales in the work of two Greek filmmakers: Athina Rachel Tsangari and Konstantina Kotzamani.
No one wants to make films they don’t really like, let alone love… but everyone needs to eat. Does working commercially automatically mean compromising on your creativity and integrity?
This event will look at some recent music videos and discuss how a broad range of female artists like Janelle Monae, FKA Twigs, Nicki Minaj and planningtorock are challenging objectifying aspects of the genre to address debates on gender, class and racial identities in contemporary feminism.
Some viewers may remember the opening credits of the weekly TV series with its silhouetted dancer that promised horrific twists and turns in stories of murder and mayhem. Tonight’s films revisit such stories.
Thu 15 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
We want to showcase some of the more out-there moments that are submitted to the Festival, and also invite the filmmakers for a Q&A following their films. Tonight’s showcase promises to be a unique session as we get to grips with knitted nudists in er... Nudinits, phantoms and parakeets and super-8 excursions.
A special focus on women in electronic media, forging a collaboration between Industrial Pop- artist Gazelle Twin [performing live] and interdisciplinary filmmaker and animator, Carla MacKinnon.
In this panel filmmakers discuss how they have brought music to life on screen. We will examine how to find the right creative partner, how ideas are generated and decided, and the creative process for both sides.
In collaboration with Short Sighted Cinema, we present the films alongside uproarious live comedy, an assemblage of stand-up, skit and sketch acts freshly plucked from London's comedy scene, to be confirmed.
A social-cinema-art-docu feature film, The Film That Buys The Cinema was born out of a very pressing concern: to secure the future of an 108 seat, completely independent Microplex Cinema in Bristol, England.
This popular selection of short films comes in two parts. Part one brings a powerful bleakness to stories of unloving faceless sex and how it can fuck with hearts and minds.
Sat 17 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
Filmmaking is a pressure cooker where the Director has to make a decision a minute. Thorough prep is the only way to give yourself a fighting chance of staying on schedule and producing results.
A session of international short films that travels the globe with a selection of young women characters, with stories of young motherhood, coming of age, and finding oneself.
For our awards night party (Saturday 17th Jan), we rekindle our summer-romance LSFF Awards Night & Party [guest DJs: Wild Beasts and Teleman]
This time, we are here to entertain you! Join us to celebrate the end of another London Short Film Festival at Oval Space Hackney.with DOMINO PUBLISHING to host a party at the brilliant OVAL SPACE, where specially invited Domino bands will perform and LSFF Award Winners will be announced.
Sat 17 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
New Queer Visions is two programmes consisting of documentary and narrative fiction queer short films that span the globe, from Belgium to Indonesia, onto Ireland, Senegal, Russia and beyond.
A collection of three short stories titled INTIMATE SEMAPHORES from New York based writer/director/editor T.J. Misny, each a surreal and darkly comic exploration of how our artistic impulses have the power to unite us or alienate us.
Sun 18 Jan 2015
Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Attic
THE SLOPE is a web series comedy that first aired on-line in 2012, and that follows the lives of a lesbian couple navigating their way through modern-day Park Slope, Brooklyn