NEW SHORTS: My Masks
20:30 Sat 13 Jan 2018
“We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.” The masks we build ourselves prove essential in these stories of school bullying, macho posturing and online bravado, with more complex defenses coming to light in a Sixties women’s space programme (The Purple Plain) and the secret life of playwright Joe Orton. Also watch out for Jodie Whittaker (Dr. Who, Broadchurch) and Ashley Walters (Bullet Boy, Top Boy) in Untitled. 93 mins
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Access
Please find all access information here, or drop a line to Helen MacKenzie at access@shortfilms.org.uk for more information or special requests.
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FRY UP
Charlotte Regan 8 mins (UK, 2017)
Set in the urban backdrop of North London, Fry-Up is an intimate portrayal of what could be a families last day together. -
GIRL A
Jess O'Brien 7 mins (UK, 2017)
A teenage girl is reprimanded by the head teacher of her school following a violent incident with another student. As we follow a section of her life over three days, the reasons for her violent behaviour are revealed. -
ALT.LIFE
Teddy Nygh 13 mins (UK, 2017)
alt.Life is powerful short drama about the dangerous consequences of social media. Obsessed with online friends, popularity, image and likes Mikey is so caught up in creating an aspirational lifestyle that he loses sight of who he really is. Will he be able to show his true self? Or will online likes be the only ones that count. -
BECKETT
Paul Daly 7 mins (UK, 2017)
Living in isolation, Beckett struggles to find direction in his life in the wake of becoming a father. Finding no solace in his religious faith, he acts change his ways and face the family he has neglected. Shot on 16mm, Beckett is a fictional filmic portrait centred on inhibited masculine emotion and the personal and physical effects of this. -
JOHNNY THINKS
Malcolm Rumbles 4 mins (UK, 2017)
Johnny Thinks is based on a poem called What Johnny Thinks written by Sam Small. She is a woman trying to fit in a society, which rejects her. This detachment leads to further rejection, substance abuse and eventually suicide. -
NOWHERE YET
Gabriel Bagnaschi 10 mins (UK, 2017)
A teenage boy living in a tough Edinburgh neighbourhood has to figure out how far he’s willing to go to save his breakdancing crew when his best friend starts pushing for a street gang. -
UNTITLED
William Bridges 8 mins (UK, 2017)
A woman sits waiting for her train home. A stranger sits next to her and starts talking. He knows things about her that he shouldn't know, intricate details of her life and the lives around her, personal details of her past and future. He tells all this because he has a message, something she needs to hear... -
CAGE OF CURVES
Liberty Antonia Sadler 3 mins (UK, 2017)
A body positive poem, delving into the power of the soft femme figure, and rejecting dogmas of aesthetic hierarchies in the embrace of personal physicality. Featuring drawings from 'Intimate' (life drawing series), and an isolated singular voiceover, the audience is allowed into a stripped bare emotional landscape. -
THE PURPLE PLAIN
Kim Albright 13 mins (UK, 2017)
The untold story of the Mercury 13, the women who challenged the conventions of their time in their quest for space. -
YOURS FAITHFULLY EDNA WELTHROPE (MRS)
Chris Shepherd 5 mins (UK, 2017)
Multi award winning and BAFTA nominated director Chris Shepherd (Dad's Dead, The Ringer) directs a short animation in tribute to Joe Orton (Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot) to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Voiced by Alison Steadman (Gavin and Stacey, Abigail's Party) and Robin Sebastian (Hancock's Half Hour, Babs). Joe Orton would write letters of complaint using the pseudonym of Edna Welthorpe. Using this persona Orton would wind up companies, vicars and even ridicule his own plays. In this short we see what mayhem ensues when Edna writes to Smedley Jams and Littlewood home catalogue service. -
THE BIG DAY
Dawn Shadforth 15 mins (UK, 2017)
Jess is super excited to attend her step-sister’s wedding and truly become part of the family, but after only recently finding out about her existence, her stepfamily are less than delighted about her presence on the big day.