Festivals and Events

A young drama student must reconcile the potential pros and cons of a defining lead performance act. The idea of articulating issues around coercion, consent and nudity through a theatre rehearsal creates an engaging and tightly woven short, which ends with a satisfying and well pitched crescendo. EXPOSED won the Critics’ Choice Award at Emerging Filmmakers Night 2022. EXPOSED was also a Vimeo Staff Pick and you can watch the full film HERE! Find out more about Anna’s work (...)

A couple’s relationship is pushed to the brink as they investigate a strange noise that’s woken them in the night. Ben S. Hyland’s short is a pitch-perfect mix of horror and laughs, staring comedy duo (and real-life couple) Rebecca Shorrocks and Paul F. Taylor. Bleep won the Audience Favourite Award at the Emerging Filmmakers Night Festival 2022. We caught up with Ben to chat about his first steps into filmmaking, his comedic proclivities and his all-time classic films. You can follow Ben’s (...)

Every year, the Leeds International Film Festival offers a carefully curated, diverse and exhaustive programme of feature films, retrospectives, shorts, music videos and more. Three members of the team were there. One of us was also part of the Jury for British and Yorkshire shorts! Here are some highlights away from the main feature competition programme. Alien on Stage by Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer A very amateur dramatics group of Dorset Bus Drivers spent a year creating a serious (...)

Salt Water Town was part of the British and Yorkshire shorts selection at the Leeds International Film Festival. It stood out for its impressive cinematography, troubling plot and standout performances by Owen Teale and Tom Glynn-Carney. Liam helps run a failing caravan park in a Welsh coastal town with his father Glenn, who clings to the belief that prosperity will soon return. When an insurance inspector reveals the land they own is worthless as a result of rising sea levels, Liam must (...)

Sema Basharan’s short documentary explores the history of peace activism and grassroots resistance in Bradford and the way the city’s religious diversity inspired movements towards peacebuilding, through a creative use of experimental art and visuals, archive footage and interviews. What inspired you to make a documentary about Bradford? And why the specific focus on concepts like peace? I’d previously made a film exploring Christian attitudes to war and peace through the story of some (...)

The Vanguard Film Festival was the final of three events making up Vanguard x Vans: On The Screen in Bristol this autumn, a “celebration of street art and skateboarding history”. An advertising boon for skateboarding apparel manufacturer Vans, no doubt, the festival also served to draw attention to street art collective Vanguard’s debut exhibition at M Shed: Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement, which runs until 31st October. That the organisations chose to split their (...)

To mark our editor Judy’s return to Mydylarama after completing her epic PHD, here’s one of her older cracking reviews and an opportunity to revisit the wonderful concept behind the Remake Film Festival. As Hollywood’s fiscal calculations ensure it pumps out sequels, prequels and trilogies (etc.), the Remake film festival sets out a different relationship between box office hits and contemporary production. Filmmakers from around the world are invited to reimagine, reinterpret or remake (...)

Maythem Ridha’s short film Ali And His Miracle Sheep won Best Film in the UK Competition of the Sheffield Doc Fest. I feel it’s very important before you begin to read this review that you know who I am. I am not an academic, nor a seasoned critic, I am a pizza delivery driver from Basingstoke who wrote something on the internet and was subsequently invited to pitch some reviews for Mydylarama during the Sheffdoc festival. No I’m not entirely sure how it happened either but here we all are… (...)

Filmed over the course of 12 years, Western Arabs is a chaotic and fascinating look at the intergenerational trauma and impact of displacement. Omar’s father, Munir, was amongst the Palestinians that were forced to flee their homes after 1948. Still a young child, he fled with his family to Jordan before eventually immigrating to Denmark. It was there that he met his Danish wife, with whom he later had three sons, Omar and his two brothers, who appear to be at loggerheads most of the time. (...)

Yet again, Encounters treats us to some of the most discerning curating out there. The various programmes never disappoint, the comedy shorts are funny, the horror shorts are scary, the experimental shorts are wacky. Covid means we miss out on many things: the wonderful Watershed venue and its underrated risotto, the networking, the warm, friendly atmosphere and chit chat with the directors, the hustle and bustle and human interactions that inject the fun and dynamism in the festival (...)