This year’s UK Film Festival will take place from 20 – 24 November, once again offering London audiences a unique chance to catch the latest award-winning short films on the big screen. Besides short films, the programme includes an innovative selection of features by established and up and coming directors, as well as cutting edge documentaries and animation films. Films are screened to the public every evening at four London venues: BFI Stephen Street, Soho Screening Rooms, Soho Hotel and Covent Garden Hotel. Many screenings will be followed by Q+A sessions, after which there will also be an opportunity for informal discussion with the film-makers. The 2018 jurors are Anna Smith, Harry Lighton and Richard Brandon.
One of the highlights in the 2018 edition is Padre, directed by Giada Colagrande and featuring the multiple Academy Award winning actor Willem Dafoe and world renowned performance artist Marina Abramović. Padre is a heartfelt tale of art, family and grief. Mourning the death of her father, the great music composer Giulio Fontano, Giulia seems to have been contacted by him through music from the other dimension. What follows is an initiation into an invisible world. Willem Dafoe won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, for his portrayal of Vincent van Gogh. This is the first time Padre is being screened at a UK film festival.
The shorts line-up includes the Palm d’Or nominees Judgement by Raymund Ribay Gutierrez and Umbra (Tariki) by Saeed Jafarian, as well as the Academy Award nominated Negative Space by Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter, and the BAFTA nominated A Drowning Man by Mahdi Fleifel. Other feature film highlights are the international premiere of The Wait by Karin Becker, and the UK premiere of the Estonian gem The Little Comrade by Moonika Siimets.
Once again, the Festival is delighted to offer candidates the Edgeware Grand Prix Award – the largest cash prize for a short film in the UK, as well as a host of other top awards and prizes. The 2018 programme is curated by the twice Berlinale winning director Petros Silvestros.
This year the UK Film Festival, in association with the Leeds International Film Festival and Film Bath Festival, is also screening the Lux Film Prize finalists and nominees in both Bath and Leeds. The Lux selection includes: Styx by Wolfgang Fischer (Germany, Austria); The Other Side of Everything by Mira Turajlić (Serbia, France, Qatar); Happy as Lazzaro by Alice Rohrwacher (Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany) and U July 22 by Erik Pope (Norway)