We take a closer look at the eclectic selection of nominated short films for the 2017 Best London Filmmaker award at WISFF. From killer sheds to love and loneliness in the city, once again the creative genius of our home city shines bright.
Seeing Him
Director CHRIS JONES, Writer VANESSA BAILEY, Producers JUDY GOLDBERG, ANGELICA POLONCZYK & VANESSA BAILEY
In the wake of an ultimatum a middle-aged woman is forced to confront personal boundaries and a disturbing truth about her relationship with her younger lover. Seeing Him is a bittersweet observation of the passion and commitment of two people in love.
Blood Shed
Director / Co-Writer JAMES MORAN, Producer / Co-Writer CAT DAVIES
Jack loves a bargain. And he loves sheds. When he buys suspiciously cheap second-hand parts to build his very own dream shed, he and long-suffering wife Helen find they’ve got more than they bargained for: a killer shed with an appetite for blood.
The Full Story
Writer / Director DAISY JACOBS, Co- Director CHRIS WILDER, Producers ELLIOT TAGG & GEOFF MORGAN
When the dad next-door walks out, five-year-old Toby discovers that parents leave. As the shock hits, the entire room catapults skywards, morphs in mid-air and lands as a different space. The rooms keep pace with Toby’s volatile emotions as home life spirals out of control in the divorce boom of the 1970s and 80s. Forty years on, kaleidoscopic scraps of memory still cling to the walls; and Toby clings to these fragments, trying to piece together the full story.
(Also nominated for Best Animated Film)
Automa
Writer / Director / Producer GIACOMO MANTOVANI
Automa is an experimental short film about an alienated factory worker that is living a poor and miserable life. Sounds, loops and repeatability are slowly turning the protagonist into a machine without human feelings.
(Also nominated for Best Student Film)
UK FESTIVAL PREMIER!
A Little Grey
Directors SIMON HEWITT & STEVE SMITH, Writer STUART ROYALL
Is there any cure for being ‘a little grey’? One man’s search takes him through bars, churches, doctor’s surgeries, tattoo parlours and beyond, but will he find what he’s looking for? A colourful story about losing your spark and finding redemption.
(Also nominated for Best Animated Film)
In A Mile
Director / Producer NICK CARTER
“It’s the place and the distance that you first find out you can run”. Three friends from different sides of London talk about how something as simple as a mile can change so much.
(Also nominated Best Documentary)
UK FESTIVAL PREMIER!
Perched
Director LIAM HARRIS, Writers NATHANIEL PRICE & EOIN DORAN, Producer ELINA LITVINOVA
Hamish Fint a crotchety old man used to a life of seclusion in his submarine balanced precariously atop a mountain, struggles to maintain equilibrium when a visiting seagull rocks his world.
(Also nominated Best Animated Film & Best Student Film)
