Kino Short Film presents some of the best shorts of the year for their BIFA qualifying film festival.
THE FORFEIT - A young working-class Welsh woman meets her wealthy English boyfriend’s eccentric family for the first time on Christmas Eve. She’s thrown straight into the family’s
traditional Christmas game, and struggles to keep up with its in-jokes and strange rules. But as she improves, she begins to uncover a dark secret in the family’s past.
WHEN THE CLAPPING STOPS - Matty - a young and dedicated care worker - meets his match when his agency assigns him to middle-aged firecracker and epilepsy sufferer, June. Despite struggling to access support from a sector stretched thin, Matty must also provide unpaid care for his terminally ill Grandfather. Soon, the emotional stress of balancing his personal and professional care duties begins to take its toll - abandonment and isolation causing dangerous cracks to appear.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-SIX - In this video director and choreographer Darya Gushina reasons on the topic of relationship between equals, when mental and physical violence suddenly becomes the main argument in the dialogue. Through movements and music against a harsh landscape, the author shows us how the winners, who are torn by conflicting feelings, invariably disguise their doubts and shame on their actions behind striving for humane goals and ideals.
AN ISLAND DRIFTS - Set in Singapore, a young teacher presses for the truth from a maladjusted student, the act leads to devastating results and they suffer the ignominy of losing everything that matters to them. The story holds a mirror up to society, where a mistake can derail a life in an overly pressurized world.
OLUWALE - The first documentary to explore the story of David Oluwale, a Nigerian immigrant chased or thrown into the River Aire by Leeds Police in 1969.
IT'S DOG TO MAKE A HOUSEPLANT IF YOU'RE SANDWICH- In an anonymous suburbia of the near future, middle-aged dad Graeme becomes increasingly perplexed after his neighbour's dog vanishes, his wife and child disappear and then his favourite gadget goes haywire – but surely things can’t get any worse?
FALL BETTER - Owusu is learning to walk again. He is in recovery from a debilitating illness and cannot trust his body to respond to him. But rebuilding a body isn’t just about rebuilding muscles:Owusu must learn to let himself fall, and fail, and face up to his weaknesses, in order to grow strong again.
Buy tickets to each of the four Kino London Screenings and the fourth ticket will automatically be free.