Sharp Shorts Year 2
Year: 2023
Synopsis: In a near-future Scotland, the air is so polluted you have to pay to breathe. Disillusioned activist Eliza prepares for a final act of protest against the oxygen company who destroyed her life.
FILM CREW:
Director: Lucas Chih Peng Kao 高智鵬
Producer: Mark Lacey, Lindsay McGee
Screenwriter: Zoe Bullock
DOP: Kirstin McMahon
Editor: Cailtin Delves
Sound Design: Heather Andrews
Composer: Kim Moore/ Susan Bear
Production Design: Aaron Close
Costume Design: Mona Kastell
Hair & Makeup: Sammy Jack
Casting: Anna Dawson
Cast: Natali McClery, Hannah Donaldson, Brian Ferguson, Ryaan Ali
Photo credit: Robin Mair
Lucas Chih-Peng Kao is a film director and multidisciplinary artist working across installations, performance, early photography process and video. He was born in Taiwan then settled in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a director and filmmaker, he had made poetry films, dance films, physical theatre films, documentaries, music videos, hybrid streaming theatre and 360 videos, finding common grounds and exploring borders between different disciplines.His short films have won awards and screened in local and international festivals, V Day had competed in Glasgow Short Film Festival, Movement in Progress won 2nd prize in 2016 Macroview TV Contest and competed in 2017 Perth Screendance Festival. He is currently finishing his first short fiction film commission by Short Circuit, The Air We Breathe, as director.
Zoe is a writer from Sheffield based in Glasgow. Her credits for theatre include The Listening Tree (Edinburgh International Children’s Festival/Eco Drama), Puss in Boots: A Solar Punk Pantomime (Hopscotch Theatre), and Chamber 404 (Vroom Theatre). She has also collaborated on two series of micro stop-motion animation films with designer Christine Urquhart: Granny Fenella for Imaginate, and Little Spoon’s Big Adventures for Visible Fictions. She is a recipient of the New Playwright’s Award from Playwright’s Studio Scotland, and she is currently studying for an MA in TV Writing at Glasgow Caledonian University. Zoe’s play Sho & the Demons of the Deep (Independent Arts Projects) is currently supported through the National Theatre of Scotland Develop Fund, and will tour Scotland in 2024.
Lindsay is a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award winning drama producer based in Edinburgh. She has previously produced BFI Network short Slingshot (2018), and multi award-winning short Hula (2016) whichwon the Scottish Audience Award at Glasgow Short Film Festival, had a sell-out run across the Highlands in the Screen Machine and screened on BBC iPlayer.
She recently joined forces with Glasgow-based producer Alysia Maciejowska and set up production company GirlBitesDog to develop projects with a focus on female and diverse Scottish talent. Together they were selected for several competitive film markets, including Rotterdam’s Cinemart; London’s Production Finance Market, where they were named ‘Ones to Watch’; JETS coproduction forum where they were UK prize winners and the Independent Filmmaker Project in New York. Lindsay has an MA Screenwriting and in between producing, freelances in the art department on feature films, commercials and TV. Film credits include The Outrun, Batgirl, The Princess Switch and Outlaw King.
Mark has a wealth of experience in multiple production roles specialising in animation and documentary as well as drama. He has worked on numerous award-winning commercials, independent features and large-scale productions. These include Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. His first drama feature as a producer, Silent Night, was released in 2020, and is available in North America on Hulu and in the UK on Sky on Demand. He has also produced award winning shorts Burn on Arrival and Screen Scotland supported The Air We Breathe. Documentary credits include producer on Still The Enemy Within and Hong Kong: City on Fire, line producer One Man On His Shoes (selected for SXSW, brought by BBC Three/ Vice) and studio producer on hit BBC Scotland show A View From The Terrace. He is an Edinburgh Talent Lab and BIFA Springboard alumni.
Sharp Shorts Year 2
Year: 2023
Synopsis: A recently widowed father can’t stop his baby from crying so he can pray. What is his relationship with his faith now that the person he converted for is gone, and can he raise his daughter alone?
FILM CREW:
Writer / Director: Miranda Stern
Producer: Marii Stoltsen
Production Manager: Sam BarberExecutive Producers: Sarah Drummond, Paul SngDOP: Andrew O’ConnorEditor: Manuela LupiniSound Design: William AikmanComposer: Umberto Gaudino
1st AD: Rory Power-Gibb
Script Supervisor: Diana Aden
Location Manager: Billie Owens
Gaffer: Stewart Torley
Production Design: Gail Bowman
Costume Design: Denise Coombes
Hair & Makeup: Fiona Park
Casting Director: Anna Dawson
Cast: Ryan Hunter, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Ellie Haddington, Gail Watson, Brae Opoku-Agyema, Reign Okungbowa, Nieve Torrance
Photo credit: Chris McCluskie
Miranda was one of Scottish Documentary Institute’s New Voices of 2020. Her first zero budget short drama Everybody’s Business (writer / director) came second place at the 16 DAYS 16 FILMS festival and was screened at the Channel 4 cinema, receiving a bursary and a special mention from distributors Modern Films (Wildfire, Manifesto, I Am Cliché, UTØYA, Skate Kitchen etc.). Her short documentary Clean – a personal documentary about recovery from a heroin addiction – was selected by Screen Scotland and Scottish Documentary Institute for the Bridging the Gap short film fund and recently premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Marii is a multi-disciplinary producer with over 10 years of experience across advertising, music video, corporate, broadcast and short form narrative production. She worked as an AP for CBeebies’ series Down on the Farm before settling as a producer with LS Productions. For the past five years she has worked with some of the biggest brands, directors and talent from the UK and abroad.
Marii has also directed multiple zero-budget short films, one of which was selected for the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2020. Originally from Estonia, Marii lived in Southeast Asia and North America, before settling in Scotland. A keen observer of the world and people, she is drawn to stories that give an insight into cultures, traditions and beliefs different from what she was raised with.
Sharp Shorts Year 2
Year: 2023
Synopsis: An Edinburgh sex worker becomes fascinated with an Oedipal creature entrancing the men in her life.
FILM CREW:
Writer / Director:Marcelle Nuke
Producer: Ciarán Charles and Dermot O Dempsey
Assistant Producer: Liam Fitzpatrick
Screenwriter: Marcelle Nuke
DOP: Josepeh Ingersoll
Editor: Karel Dolak
Sound Design: William Aikman
Composer: Hani Hooper
Production Design: Anthony Neale
Costume Design: Katie Simpson
Hair & Makeup: Catherine Ellen Flynn
Casting: Jo Harris & Stephanie Okoye
Cast: Chloe-Ann Tylor, Mark Barrett, Paul Chalmers, Robert McCafferty, Sean Buchanan
Photo credit: Dermot O’Dempsey
Marcelle Nuke is an Edinburgh-based writer and director. Having previously worked assisting with shooting and editing online political content, she was approached by director Netti Hurley to adapt a short film script, Kneaded, from a poem – I love – which she had published in Hustling Verse, an anthology of sex worker’s poetry. Milkgum, a surreal short drama about a sex working mother and an Oedipal creature, funded by Short Circuit, Screen Scotland and BFI Network, will be her directorial debut. Ruth Paxton is her mentor.
Ciarán Charles established Rockall Films in early 2019 with the ambition to become an incubator of diverse talent, producing progressive work with cultural relevance that reaches international audiences. Working with some of Scotland and Ireland’s most exciting and inspiring talent, he his developing his debut TV series with BBC NI and TG4. He is a graduate of EAVE Producers programme (2020) LIM – Less is More (2020) and An RTS award winning filmmaker. He has been mentored by David Puttnam.
Sharp Shorts Year 2
Year: 2023
Synopsis: Perfectionist Lee must adapt to the imperfect reality of living with an illness – brought to life as a chaotic supernatural flatmate.
FILM CREW:
Director, Writer, Editor & Animator: Holly Summerson
Producer: Reece Cargan
Screenwriter: Niki Rooney
Script Editor: Nancy Napper Canter
Animators: Maria Wrang Rasmussen & Lily Ash SakulaSound: Sean McGeeComposer: Ross McNae
Cast: Annabelle Davis, Lawrence Chaney, Rachel Jackson
Specialising in hand drawn and mixed media styles, Holly is an animator, director and writer based in Edinburgh. Her experience includes short films, music videos; projections; interactive designs and community art projects. She is particularly interested in themes of identity, transformation and under-represented perspectives.
Reece is an RTS award winning producer, Screen International Rising Star Scotland, BFI Insight producer 2023 and founder of Bombito productions. He has produced numerous award winning shorts and has multiple fiction features, documentaries and TV series in development.
Reece represented Scotland at IFFR Producer’s Lab and was the only UK producer selected for EAVE Producers Workshop – with feature project A Good Spell. Reece solidified his skills as a producer with regular production work across shorts, features, TV and commercials. Reece – as his slate attests, is passionate about working with and turning up the volume of the next generation of queer UK talent, with a focus on intersectional LGBTQIA+ stories & voices.
Niki is a Screenwriter from Glasgow whose credits include Ride for Nickelodeon, Hollyoaks for Channel Four, Desi Rascals for Sky One and numerous commissions for CBBC and CBeebies. She has several projects in development , including Spoonies, a comedy drama with Kudos North. Niki often explores stories about people you don’t see on TV, which is informed by her own experience of living with an invisible disability
Sharp Shorts Year 2
Running Time: 13mins
Year: 2022
Synopsis: Plus size burlesque enthusiast Mandy, is practising for her first public performance. But only when her best friend needs her help does she find the confidence to perform in her full power.
FULL CREW:
Director: Sarah Grant
Producer: Misha McCullagh
Executive Producer: Lauren Lamarr, Gabriel Robertson and Blazing Griffin
Screenwriter: Sarah Grant
DOP: Owen Laird
1st AD: Charlotte Daniel
Editor: Elizabeth ClutterbuckSound Designer and Composer: David DevereuxProduction Design: Iveta Smidt Costume Design: Nicola EllisHair & Makeup: Samantha JackPost Production Supervisor: Dionisis SarakinisPrincipal Cast: Sarah Grant, Katrina Allen, Cameron Fulton, Derek Jeck, Ian Laing, Cindy Awor, Miss Bella Houston and Phoneutria Fera
Photo credit: Kevin J. Thomson
Sarah is a writer, director, performer and poet based in Glasgow. Her first short film, The Cyclist (2014), was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award and her most recent short Scare (2019) gained BAFTA Qualifying status and was awarded feature film development funding. Sarah has created a number of short form work for BBC The Social and BBC Short Stuff, featuring body and sex positive female fronted comedy, gaining tens of millions of views across digital and social platforms as well as a Royal Television Society Scotland award.
Sarah is currently taking steps towards writing long form for film and TV. She developed her first feature script with Short Circuit and Screen Scotland, was part of programmes such as the EIFF Talent Lab and UKTV Comedy 5050 pilot initiative, and has work currently in development with BBC Scotland. Sarah is committed to body positive, sex positive and inclusive female led stories that are honest, feminist and fearless.
Misha is a producer, with interdisciplinary experience in the creative industries. She is a BAFTA Prince William Bursary recipient and a GFF New Talent Mentee. She was selected for Short Circuit’s Producer Accelerator in 2021.
Misha works in association with Blazing Griffin who are executive producers of Misha’s 2022/23 slate. She is currently developing a feature film We Are Not Animals, about Scottish prison reform in the 1980s, directed by Khaled Spiewak, written by RTS winning Stef Smith and with BAFTA winning DOP Alan McLaughlin. She also produced BFI Network short Candy with Sarah Grant which is currently tearing up the festival circuit, with three BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festivals already under its belt and a top prize win at 16 Days 16 Films.
Misha also works as a production coordinator, recently on CBBC’s The Dumping Ground, The Hogmanay Show 2022 and Molly and Mack series 3 & 4. Misha is driven to create work that is bold and vivid, amplifying underrepresented voices whilst diversifying and promoting the wealth of Scottish based talent on and off screen.
Sharp Shorts Year 2
Synopsis: On her first day at a high school in rural Scotland, a London teenager is targeted for her afro hair by cocksure class bully and must harness her inner power.
FILM CREW:
Director & Writer: Eubha Akilade
Producer(s): Jack Gemmell and Sophie Chater
Director of Photography: Andrew O’Connor
Casting Director: Anna Dawson
Editor: Mark Fraser
Composer: Taneka Miles
Production Designer: Iveta Smidt
Standby Art Director: Larisa Gormal
Costume Designer: Honor Anderson
1st Assistant Director: Lee Preston
Gaffer: Stewart Torley
Sound Recordist: David McKeitch
Sound Recordist (Dailies): Aidan Lochrin
Focus Puller: Sil Derkx
2nd Assistant Camera: Ross Elliott
2nd Assistant Camera (Dailies): Spike Wright
Spark: Mondo Love
Digital Imaging Technician: Joel Rock
Script Supervisor: Erin McCardie
Production Coordinator: Anna Whealing and Alexandra Silverton
3rd Assistant Director: Andrew Malone
Costume Assistant: Heida Senkute
Specialised Hair Stylist : Helen McEwan
Make-up designer: Rhona Stewart
Intimacy Coordinator: Georgia Alexandria Johnson
Stills Photographer: Shonagh Kelly
Runner: Amanda Ajomale
Runner: Kiet Pham
Medic: Amanda Digby
Colourist: Katie Dymmock
Colour Producer: Pete Burch
Online Editor: Jack Lang
Audio Post Production: Savalas
Illustrator: Jacqueline Briggs
Designer: Graham Anderson
CAST:
Naomi: Miriam Nyarko
Jonny: William Alexander
Miss Wilson: Lucianne McEvoy
Cara: Mollie Milne
Sophie: Rebecca Curbelo Valdivia
Tahira: Shirin Singh
Robert: Cormac MacLachlan
Simon: Piers Stewart
Gina: Brenda Vengsa
Photo credit: Shonagh Kelly
Eubha Akilade is an actor/writer/director from Glasgow. Working as an actor and being on sets from a young age, Eubha quickly developed a keen interest in behind-the-scenes.
After completing a 6-month screenwriting programme through the National Film and Television School in 2021, she received her first short film commission, through Short Circuit. The short BLACKWOOL, written and directed by Eubha, was funded by Screen Scotland and BFI and is due for festival release in 2023. Eubha also co-wrote and directed on the BBC monologue series The Wedding.
Jack Gemmell is a Glaswegian filmmaker and writer for stage and screen. He was selected as one of BBC Writersroom’s Scottish Voices 2022, whilst producing BFI/Screen Scotland commissioned short, BLACKWOOL, directed by Eubha Akilade.
With a diverse background in production across shorts, commercials, music videos, and features, Jack wrote and produced 12th Man (GSFF, Portico Media) and acted as an associate producer on the Glasgow-based short film, Unders, due to release in 2023. For the stage, he was selected for Traverse Young Writers and has been in artistic development with Traverse Theatre with his full-length play Tobojo (Boris Johnson is Toast)’. This was performed as part of First Stages Festival.
Sophie Chater is a Scotland-based commercial, short film, and documentary producer.
While working at STV, she began her involvement in the independent film scene, producing her first short, Eyes Down, a trans-focused drama that was shown at a wide selection of festivals globally, and in particular, received acclaim and awards from 16days16films.
After leaving STV, Sophie focused on further independent works, such as the documentary, One Last Spin, which as well as playing at a host of festivals, was officially requested for use in training staff at Citizens Advice in Scotland due to its accuracy in the depiction of addiction.
Sophie is now a freelance member of production teams and has this year worked with Glasgow-based Cut Media to assist on a range of commercials, and with Storyboard Studios where she coordinated the simultaneous filming of two BBC documentaries for their first-time director’s fund.
Sharp Shorts Year 1
Running Time: 17mins
Year: 2023
Synopsis: A road trip pushes a dysfunctional family to the brink after their journey descends into a claustrophobic hallucinatory nightmare.
FILM CREW:
Writer/Director: Simone Smith
Producers: David Neilson and Lewis Wardrop
Executive Producers: Marielle Membreno, Tom Kimberley, Eoin O’ Faolain, Ian Sharp, Des Hamilton and Simone Smith
DOP: Nick Cooke
Editor: Simone SmithSound Design: David Meikle and Simone SmithComposer: David Meikle
Sound Mixer: Patrick Collins
Art Director: Nicola Stead
Production Design: Ursula ClearyCostume Design: Monika LorberHair & Makeup: Laura McGowan and Alba SofiaCasting: Georgia Topley and Des Hamilton
Cast: Fiona O’ Shaughnessy, Andrew Flanagan, Mirren Mack and Stephen McMillan
Photo credit: Mark Shields and Martin Shields
NOTABLE AWARDS/NOMINATIONS
British Independent Film Awards – BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM LonglistChicago Underground Film Festival – WINNER – Grand Jury AwardArt Film Spirit Awards – WINNER – Best DirectingTorino Underground Cinefest – WINNER – Best FilmTorino Underground Cinefest – WINNER – Best EditingArizona Underground Film Festival – WINNER – Best ExperimentalGlasgow Short Film Festival – WINNER – Jury Special MentionEncounters Film Festival – WINNER – UK Award Special MentionInterfilm Berlin – WINNER – Best Sound DesignSin City Horror Fest – WINNER – Best EditingMetropolis Film Festival – WINNER – Best SoundtrackSi-Fan Festival – WINNER – Best Scottish FilmFinal Girls Berlin – WINNER – Best Midnight Movie
REVIEWS
“Both otherworldly yet uncannily familiar to anyone who has been stuck on an endless car journey with their family to the absolute nether regions of the UK.” – Director’s Notes
“The small details might include the tape on the tape-deck and the tape within the tape-deck but the big loud details include a quantity of effing and geoffing that sits somewhere between Tarantino and Scotland.”- Eye for Film
“The gnarliest Scottish film of the year.” – The Skinny
“Arthouse horror at its best – a compelling watch.” – Bloody Flicks
Simone Smith is a self-taught BAFTA New Talent award-winning filmmaker who grew up in the east end of Glasgow, grafting in varying roles from trader at The Barras, to hotel chambermaid to casino croupier, before eventually following her curiosity for art, film and yogic philosophy.
In 2008, she established herself in Glasgow’s club scene as a VJ, projecting live visual art around Scotland’s top clubs and music festivals, including The Arches, T-in-the-Park and Wickerman, vj’ing alongside legendary DJs such as Andrew Weatherall and Radioactive Man. She simultaneously worked up the ladder from Runner to self-shooting Director at BBC Scotland, where she refined her craft in production. Her love for working with actors led her to study physical theatre practice and travel to New York to work with experimental theatre collective The Wooster Group, founded by Elizabeth LeCompte and Willem Dafoe.
Since then, she has become a devoted mum to her 4 year old son Max, and has written and directed short films which fuse pure cinema with authentic experience—translating her experience of living in the world into form. Independently made on zero to low budgets, her films have been described as “surreal poetry”, and “raw and unconventional”, and screened at multiple Oscar, Bafta and Bifa qualifying festivals, including Edinburgh International Film Festival, Hollyshorts, BFI London, Beyond Fest, Aesthetica, and Encounters.
Her short film SLAP was BAFTA-nominated and won Jury Special Mention at Glasgow Short Film Festival where “the Jury was struck by the work of this director who is pursuing her own sensory style in design and narration.” SLAP was also hailed by BFI’s Sight and Sound Magazine as an “impressionistic knockout”, and voted top-pick by Eden Court at Inverness Film Festival “It settles deep under the skin. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” Her short RED won a BAFTA New Talent Award and was praised as “Very original” by Stanley Kubrick’s producer, Jan Harlen, and “a true work of art” by Ain’t It Cool News. THE RINSING was broadcast on Channel 4’s Random Acts, and won the Best Film award at London’s Shorts On Tap.
Simone’s latest short film THE MöBIUS TRIP was supported by Short Circuit/BFI-Network, and is now in the festival circuit, premiering at the Glasgow Short Film Festival and winning another Jury Special Mention Award praised for its “radicalism” and “strong and adventurous cinematic vision.” Since then, it has gone onto screen at 40+ festivals worldwide and won multiple awards, including the UK Special Mention at Encounters, Best Film at Torino Underground, Best Midnight Movie at Final Girls Berlin, the Grand Jury Award at Chicago Underground Film Festival, and made the prestigious BIFA-longlist for Best British Short Film.
Simone is an EIFF Talent Lab participant of 2019, a BFI Network@LFF participant for 2023, and is the Shadow Director on Bafta-winner John Maclean’s second feature film, TORNADO,with cinematography by Oscar-nominated Robbie Ryan. She has two feature films in development with BFI Network and Screen Scotland: IT’S TOO LATE YOU CAN’T SAVE ME and UNTIL SHE BLEEDS.
“My work is a constant work-in-progress where I aspire to explore freely through instinct, and without any kind of pre-conception the construction of the still and moving image. I follow my instincts and emotions, expressing what I can’t not express. It is animal, intimate, instinctive, a place to be both violent and tender, a diary of visual exercises with multiple interpretations, a spiritual place.”
Simone is represented by Rowena Wallace at PEACH HOUSE.
White Stag Films is spearheaded by Dave Neilson and Lewis Wardrop. Between them they have a rich variety of industry experience across development, production and financing. Based in Edinburgh our vision is to bring all of our industry, business and creative experience together to make White Stag Films a leading company in the production of unique, memorable and original film and television content.Dave Neilson is a producer with over 20 years’ experience who set up Filming Scotland one of Scotland’s most successful commercial production companies that has produced award winning international commercials and content for global brands working with A-list talent from all over the world.Lewis Wardrop has been working in the industry for over 10 years, during which time he has worked across the locations and production departments on some of the biggest films and high-end TV projects to shoot in Scotland. He is now developing feature projects with funders including Screen Scotland and Film4.White Stag Films was founded in 2019 and since then the company has produced a number of award-winning short films which have played and won awards at key international film festivals. They have a diverse slate of feature and TV projects, working with some of the best writers and directors across a number of genres.
Sharp Shorts Year 1
Running Time: 12mins
Year: 2023
Synopsis: Film fanatic sisters, Abby and Vivien King, create a pop-up Adult Video store to sell their deceased father’s vintage porn collection.
FILM CREW:
Director: Morayo Akandé
Producer: Moyo Akandé and Helen Gladders
Executive Producer: Gillian Berrie, Tiernan Kelly, Alice Whittemore, Mar Vila Barcelo
Screenwriter: Morayo Akandé
DOP: Motomu Ishigaki
Editor: Aya WatanabeSound Design: Takeshi Ogawa
Music: Phelonius PunkProduction Design: Jonna LaitinenCostume Design: Ali MitchellHair and Wig Design: Anita Anderson
Make Up Design: Jane Mac
Cast: Moyo Akandé, Morayo Akandé, David Elliot
Photo credit: Jamie Simpson
Morayo Akandé is a BIFA and BAFTA-nominated writer, director, and actor. The Scottish Film Talent Network and BFI NETWORK funded her debut short film, tense period drama 1745 – in which she also starred.
1745 was nominated for Best Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards 2017 and the BAFTA Scotland Awards 2017. Morayo won the Best Screenplay Award at the Underwire Film Festival 2017. With her film production company Lucid Dreamers, Morayo has written and directed short films Rock Paper Scissors (2019), and Instant Friends (2023), working with an international cast and crew in Tokyo, Japan.
Morayo is currently gearing up to make her directorial debut feature film Konbini Zombies, a horror comedy.
Scottish-Nigerian Moyo Akandé is a producer and actor. Her passion for film and diverse storytelling led her to co-found an independent production company, Lucid Dreamers Productions, with her sister Morayo Akandé. Moyo produced her first short film Rock Paper Scissors (2019) in Tokyo, Japan which screened at the BAFTA Qualifying Underwire Film Festival, UK.
Moyo script developed and starred in the BAFTA and BIFA nominated tense period drama 1745 – a Scottish Film Talent Network and BFI NETWORK funded short film, which is currently being developed into a feature film. She is currently in pre-production with her first feature film, Konbini Zombies a comedy horror.
Moyo has an extensive list of television credits in particular for the BBC. She will soon be appearing in the BAFTA winning television series Inside No.9 (2023) and feature film Tetris (2023) for Apple TV+. Moyo was the official In-House interviewer at The Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022 and was a member of the official Film Jury at The Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019.
Helen is an NFTS MA Producing for Film & TV graduate, she has produced 14 short films to date which have screened at a wide variety of film festivals in the UK and internationally. She was a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2022.
Her most recent short RUN was funded by BFI and Film4, was screened at Encounters short film festival and Aesthetica and was longlisted for a BIFA in 2021. Her Creative England iShorts+ funny girls short Rhonna & Donna was screened at Telluride amongst an array of other festivals, and won the inaugural screenwriting prize at Aesthetica film festival.
She is currently in post production on her first feature film Tuesday which was funded by BBC, BFI and A24 and is due to be released in 2023.
Sharp Shorts Year 1
Running Time: 16mins
Year: 2021
Synopsis: After a night of intoxication, a hungover and hysterical Nick wakes up next to his boyfriend Charlie and must conceal him from his own homophobic and dysfunctional family.
FILM CREW:
Director: Sean Lìonadh
Writer: Sean Lìonadh
Producers: Alfredo Covelli, Ross McKenzie
Executive Producers: Gillian Berrie, Tiernan Kelly, Rebecca Thompson, Mar Vila Barcelo, Alice Whittemore
Cinematographer: Andrew O’ Connor
Editor: Sean Lìonadh
Production Designer: Tomas Palmer
Sound Designer: Zander Mavor
Music: Eloise Kretschmer
Principal Cast:Ruaridh Mollica, Joshua Griffin, Neshla Caplan, Kevin O’ Loughlin, Oliver Wright, Jane McCarry
FESTIVALS:
Interfilm International Short Film Festival November 2022
This Is England November 2022
Norwich Film Festival November 2022
Uppsala International Short Film Festival October 2022
Bolton International Film Festival October 2022
International Young Audience Film Festival Ale Kino! October 2022
Out On Film: Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival September 2022
Sidewalk Film Festival August 2022
Edinburgh International Film Festival August 2022
HollyShorts Film Festival August 2022
Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival August 2022
Durban International Film Festival July 2022
Galway Film Fleadh July 2022
Scottish Mental Health Art Festival May 2022
SXSW March 2022
Glasgow Short Film Festival March 2022
BFI Flare February 2022
NOTABLE AWARD WINS:
BAFTA Scotland 2022 – Best Short Film
BIFA 2022 – Best British Short Film
REVIEWS
“One of the Most Intriguing – If Not the Most Intriguing – in Recent Memory” The Word
“I find myself moved to tears… In ratio and balance it is a thing perfect.” Eye For Film
Sean Lìonadh is a poet, writer, filmmaker and musician from Glasgow, known for his visual poem Time for Love which reached millions of people online, won a 2019 Royal Television Society talk award and was translated into five languages. It also inspired a Ted and led to the publication of his first poetry collection, Not Normal Anymore. His short film Too Rough premiered at SXSW 2022, since entering over 60 festivals and winning 28 awards, including a BAFTA Scotland and British Independent Film Award. Sean worked with the Royal Opera House as the librettist on modern opera Honest Skin, live next season. His band, LÌONADH, released their debut EP, I Cannot Go On Reaching, EP in October 2022.
With producers Alfredo Covelli and Ross McKenzie, Sean is developing his first feature film, Nostophobia, a psychological horror about a gay relationship. Sean took part in Berlinale Talents 2020, and BBC Writer’s Room Scottish Voices 2020. His poems are studied as part of the English curriculum in international schools. Aside from making, Sean runs poetry workshops with young people, and is keen to work closely with the LGBTQ+ community within schools, community groups and institutions.
Born in Rome in 1979, Alfredo is an Italian film producer, director, screenwriter, teacher and novelist. After college he started working as an assistant director in Italian feature films and TV series. In 2005 he won the main Italian screenwriting contest (Premio Solinas) and started writing feature films and TV series. In 2012 he created his production company, Meproducodasolo, and started producing short and feature films directed by first- or second-time directors, selected by main international film festivals such Venice, Cannes, Rome and BFI London, distributed in theatres and broadcasted on TV. He works as script consultant in India and Scotland. He’s teacher of screenwriting at the Italian National Film Institute (CSC, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia).
Ross McKenzie is a BAFTA and BIFA nominated producer. He established Devil May Care Entertainment in 2019 to produce films and television drama series for the international market. He recently produced the short film Too Rough by Sean Lionadh, which premiered at Flickerfest in Australia and SxSW. To date the film has been selected for 58 film festivals and won 19 awards, becoming Academy Award qualifying after winning Best Queer Short at the Provincetown Film Festival. His most recent production is the animation Burry Man, which premiered at EIFF and was nominated for the McLaren Award for Best British Animation in Summer 2022. Devil May Care has a number of feature film and TV projects in development with support from Screen Scotland and BFI Network.
For Screen Scotland, Ross worked across a range of feature films, feature documentaries and television series as Executive Producer including Dorte Bengtson’s animated feature film Vitello in a co-production with Zentropa; Annabel Jankel’s Tell It To The Bees, Neasa Hardiman’s Sea Fever, Scott Graham’s Run; and Ben Sharrock’s BAFTA and BIFA nominated refugee drama Limbo. He also oversaw strategic support for Scotland’s animation sector and two of Scotland’s leading talent development initiatives: the Scottish Film Talent Network (SFTN) and the Bellrock Screenwriting Workshops.
In 2011 Ross produced Michael Pearce’s BAFTA and BIFA nominated short film Rite. He has worked for companies including BFI, Paramount and Film London. He teaches at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) and is a Major Project Tutor on Edinburgh Napier University’s MA Screenwriting programme. He is a graduate of Spain’s Media Business School.
Sharp Shorts Year 1
Running Time: 17mins
Year: 2021
Synopsis: Hannah is a withdrawn, awkward teenager who has been asked to leave school for not participating. Her mother has set her up with a trial shift at a beauty salon and pleads with her to do her best and Hannah, knowing this is her only option to turn her life around, reluctantly agrees.
FILM CREW:
Director: Leyla Coll-O’Reilly
Producer: Laura McBride
Exec Producer: Gillian Berry, Tiernan Kelly, Rebecca Thompson, Mar Vila Barcelo, Alice Whittmore
Writer: Leyla Coll-O’Reilly
DOP: Lorena Pages
Editor: Jack Goessens
Sound Design: Richy Carey
Composer: Richy Carey
Production Design: Iveta Smidte
Costume Design: Elle Wilson
Hair & Makeup: Kat Morgan
Cast: Mollie Milne, Michelle Donnelly, Sharon Young
Photo credit: Tiu Makkonen
FESTIVALS:
Interfilm International Short Film Festival November 2022
BFI London Film Festival October 2022
Bolton International Film Festival October 2022
Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival August 2022
Leyla Josephine is an artist originally from Glasgow, now residing in Prestwick. She is a performance poet, theatre maker, screenwriter, facilitator and project leader.
Her solo shows Hopeless and Daddy Drag have taken the UK by storm with sold out shows across the country. Hopeless was runner up for Saboteur’s Best Spoken Word Show 2018. Daddy Drag won the Autopsy Award 2019 which celebrates artists making ground-breaking work in Scotland. It was also shortlisted for Filipa Braganca Award 2019, which honours solo female artists creating important work at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Leyla’s short film Groom was funded by Short Circuit and BFI Network and produced by Lothian Films. She was mentored by Lynne Ramsay and Jennifer Reeder through the process. Groom has played at BIFA, BAFTA and Academy qualifying festivals including Edinburgh International Film Festival, Bolton Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and Glasgow Short Film Festival where it won Attic Pitch Award. Leyla won First Prize for Direction at Academy qualifying Rhode Island Flickers Fest. Groom was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA 2022.
Leyla has been named one of Screen International’s Rising Star Scotland 2022. She recently took part in Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab and is part of the BAFTA Connect.
Lothian Films is an Edinburgh based independent Film and TV production company founded by Laura McBride, which has a focus on championing diverse voices and women writers and directors from both Scotland and further afield.
Laura has produced award winning short films, including recently completed Scuzz, written and directed by Alia Ghafar which was commissioned by BFI Network. Laura and Alia are currently developing Yellow Moon – Alia’s first feature which is an adaptation of the play by acclaimed Scottish playwright, David Greig.
Laura has over 7 years’ experience working within the Scottish Film and HETV industry across development, production, exhibition and education. She is currently P/T Head of Development at Compact Pictures working with John McKay, has worked in-house at Synchronicity Films as assistant to Claire Mundell, has managed events at Edinburgh International Film Festival and has production department credits on The Cry (BBC One), Only You’ (The Bureau), Get Duked! (Sigma) and Vigil (World Productions).
