Join us for Quarterbacks, a selection of shorts from talented under-25 female filmmakers.

Quarterbacks
Under 25 Award supported by BFI Future Film
(70 mins)

Swoon - Director, Sophie King

SWOON is a short coming-of-age drama directed by Sophie King. The story follows Jeremy, a 15 year-old boy whose parents are a poor substitute for the friends he doesn’t have. It’s only when mysterious beauty Elisabeth moves in next door that Jeremy feels his life might finally have a purpose.

Below - Producers, Daniella Rice & Charley Packham

BELOW the stage, George is left alone in the shadow of a performance unable to understand if what he see’s is fiction or reality.

The Bigger Picture - Director, Daisy Jacobs

You want to put her in a home; you tell her; tell her now!’ hisses one brother to the other. But Mother won’t go, and their own lives quickly unravel as she clings to life. Director Daisy Jacobs uses two-metre-high painted characters in full-size sets to tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly relative.

The Bigger Picture is quite simply the most innovative animated short you will see this year.

The King and Queen of Halloween - Co-Director, Anna Maguire

Halloween is a magical time for everyone, old and young alike. But when two teenage boys destroy a strange older man’s meticulous pumpkin display, he decides to play the long game and get his revenge, in the most seasonal way imaginable.

Happy Birthday Cindy Wei - Director, Tsveta Lozanova

‘Happy Birthday Cindy Wei’ is a humorous and unconventional coming-of-age story about the awkward 15-year-old Cindy Wei who struggles to fit into her school’s social circles, her sparse family life, her unglamorous workplace, and the clashing cultures around her.

The Last Resort - Writer, Gillian Park

Twin sisters Jo and Alex have been left to run the family hotel but they’re too busy bickering to pay attention to their sole guest, an amateur cryptozoologist named Mr. Carpenter. Meanwhile, their young sister, Princess, finds herself desperate for attention and will do whatever it takes, no matter how terrible, to get it.
What kinds of horror awaits the twins? Can they get over themselves in time to overcome it? How do you get bloodstains out of a rug? Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it by finally working together… as a last resort.

Orpheus the Penguin - Director, Jennifer Anne Haugan

A loose adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus the penguin goes on a search for his lost mate.

I May Be Some Time… - Director, Ana Stefaniak

I May Be Some Time… is a short animated film about an old, grumpy man, Lawrence, who is forced on a journey to confront his inner self. Throughout the journey he grows younger and in the end of the film he is just a child.
The film is inspired by the concept of growing up and encountering various disappointments, small and drastic ones, which create and change us.

Voodoo Moustache - Producer, Chiara Ventura

An obsessive man’s moustache envy compels him to undertake a bizarre ritual with a mysterious Voodoo priestess.