Best Short Film
How Mermaids Breed
Dir: Joan Ashworth
Seedfold Films
This film answers the questions of how mermaids breed. Although they are traditional symbols of fertility and a sexuality so powerful as to be a danger to shipping, details of their reproductive processes have been scarce. The film reveals the secret cycle of laying fertilising and hatching.
Killing Time at Home
Dir: Neil Coslett
Blackwater Productions
Isolated from the outside world, all that's left to do is kill time. For some, the only way to make friends is to grow them.
The Painter
Dir: Andy Power
4:2:2 Bristol
A long abandoned robot that lives in a dusty basement and longs to be in the outside world where he would be free. One day, in a fit of rage and frustration, he kicks what appears to be an old oilcan. A genie appears from the can and grants him three wishes. Needless to say, through the magic of the genie he ultimately finds a way of making his dreams become true.
Exposure
Dir: Peter Collis
Tram Films
A curious & remote coastal Research site becomes a vibrantly graphic testament to impermananence.
The Separation
Dir: Robert Morgan
Animus Films
The separation of conjoined twins and its extraordinary Consequences.
Moo(n)
Dir: Leigh Hodgkinson
Slinky Pictures
The film is about the friendship between a girl and a cow. Their perfect times
together are interrupted by a bee and some sneezes. An enforced sepearation
inspired by caring parents' pales into insignificance when the cow finds herself
on another planet. Her quest to get home to see her friend is ludicrously employed
and as it turns out - suicidal. We discover that friendship can be fickle, actions
have consequences and that hot milk and honey can relieve the common cold.
The Girl and the Horse
Dir: Rebecca Manley
Slinky Pictures
A Simple yet stunning tale of a small girls search for contenment. As the story unfolds she tries to fill the big hole that appears in her stomach with cokes, coins and pretty dresses. But the only thing which fills the void of the hole is the presence of her wonderful friend, the horse.
Dad's Dead
Dir: Chris Shepherd
Slinky Pictures
Through a series of ghostly reminiscences a young man tries to piece together fragmented moments from the past, memories being triggered by admiration for his best friend Johnno. As the story unfolds, hero worship turns to revulsion as the web of violence is revealed. Manipulated live action mutates and combines with digital animation.
Extn. 21
Dir: Lizzie Oxby
Fine Take
Orman is having a futile conversation on his mobile phone. He is running back to his office but getting nowhere. If he could just get through to Mr Langley 'everything' will be resolved but someone (or something) is intercepting his calls....
The Dog who was a Cat Inside
Dir: Siri Melchior
Passion Pictures
The Dog who was a Cat Inside is a special animal. The dog and cat live together in the same body, but this causes conflict. At first they struggle against each other, but eventually they realise that by working together they can save themselves.
Cream and Two Plains
Dir: Damian Gascoigne
Picasso Pictures
Combining a unique style of drawn animation together with manipulated live action footage, Damian Gascoigne has created a highly personal view of life in a large family. Told from the viewpoint of his mother, Rosa.
Out of Joint
Dir: Peter Peake
South West Screen
A man with no nose longs to overcome his nasal deficiency. Observing his plight and various nose-based flights of fancy his girlfriend attempts to remedy the situation.
Sixty Second Love Story
Dir: Brian Demoskoff
Cosgrove Hall Films
A "Retched" tale of unrequited love.
Rosebud
Dir: A J Read
Cosgrove Hall Films
A man falls in love with a monster - to prove his love for her he charms her from her tree. Flies her to a world made of theatres and makes her a star.
Colour Keys
Dir: David Daniels
Tandem Films Entertainment
A graphic interpretation for solo piano music composed by Jules Maxwell.
Little Things
Dir: Daniel Greaves
Tandem Films Entertainment
Can the repetition of mundanity endure under extreme circumstances?
How to Cope with Death
Dir: Igniacio Ferreras
Tandem Films Entertainment
A contemporary allegory offering a modern solution to the problem, which haunted humankind since time began.
Eating for Two
Dir: Steve Smith
Sherbet
A film about sex, religion and the weather... Mary is desperate for a child - Joe seems incapable of providing one. He flippantly asks for a miracle and then has to come to term with the results.
The Old Fools
Dir: Ruth Lingford
Sherbet
A clear-eyed look at the inevitability of our own decay and death. With some humour and visual seduction, the film uses images that are visceral, abrasive and sometimes quite beautiful, hinting at the consequences of our society's denial of death.
Wedding Espresso
Dir: Sandra Ensby
Sherbet
Waiting in a cafe, Sue starts imagining plans for her own wedding. It quickly becomes more complicated than she first thought and actually puts her off the whole messy business.
Taps
Dir: Matthew Gravelle
Two taps discover they can create a rhythmic sound from the water dripping from their spouts. However, a third tap constantly interrupts them.
Tulips at Dawn
Dir: Rosie Pedlow
Diagrams of chemistry apparatus and educational film footage react and combine in this quirky interpretation of a poem by Nobel Laureate Chemist Roald Hoffmann. The film is an experiment to illustrate how technology changes the way we represent the world, with results that prove ironic and inconclusive.
Jo Jo in The Stars
dir: Marc Craste
Studio AKA
In a bleak and brutal world two lovers make a desperate stand against those who would destroy them. Love, self-sacrifice, heroism and muderous jelousy are played out against a world that is both nightmarish and hauntingly beautiful.
Length
Dir: Rozi Fuller
Set in a Public Swimming Pool this Commercial animated film features a timid young womans attempts to swim just ...one...length.
Lonely Boy
Dir: B Brodskis
Doctor Puss/ Presence Films
A portrait of loneliness. The story of a man who estranged from those around him lives out his life utterly alone.
Butterfly
Dir: Glenn Marshall
Dream Ireland Ltd
A kaleidoscopic journey through life, death plus transformation.
Love is Strange
Dir: Phil Mulloy
Spectre Films
Sometimes in adversity people have to learn to help each other, and in these circumstances hate can be transformed into love.
Len's Lens
Dir: Riche Webber
Aardman Animations
Amateur astronomer Len is over the moon when he discovers a new comet. But, a disdainful colleage is not so sure this heavenly body is all it appears to be...
The Love Nest
Dir: Shelly Wain
Consortium of Gentlemen LTD
A reclusive man's possessive love for a beautiful song bird has unexpected consequences, proving that true love cannot be caged and answering the age old question, "Why does the caged bird sing?"
Animal Tragic
Dir: Tim Macmillan
Time Slice