David Farnor | On 27, Jan 2022

The BFI is bringing back its Future Film Festival for 2022 with a hybrid version that will unfold online as well as in person.

The UK’s largest festival for young, emerging filmmakers, it will run across four days in February, with events all focused on helping talented young filmmakers aged 16 to 25 to break into the film and screen industries. Alongside those will be a programme of short films. The events and screenings will take place virtually as well as at the BFI Southbank.

The short film programme will be available on BFI Player for free from Thursday 17th February until Thursday 3rd March, with the programme separated into 8 strands focused on love, family, technology, the climate and more.

The online sessions are free and largely held over Zoom, with registration via Eventbrite required to reserve a place – links are then emailed 48 hours before the session starts. They will then be uploaded to YouTube afterwards for people to be available to catch with afterwards. Throughout the festival, there will also be interviews and live news reports streaming on the @BFIFilmAcademy Instagram account.

Tickets for the festival go on sale from 4pm on Friday 28th January. Read on for the full rundown of events and films in each strand.

Films

A Family Affair

We can’t choose our family, but we can choose how they define us. This collection reveals that, for better or worse, blood is definitely thicker than water.

Bud, Dir Jack McLoughlin, United Kingdom
Fart Car, Dir Fraser Scott, United Kingdom
Hope And Her Two Daughters, Dir Tobore S Dafiaga, United Kingdom
Lone Wolves, Dir Elliot James Gaynon, United Kingdom
Mirrored Family, Dir Evan Kerbage, Germany
SANTI, Dir Harry Richards, United Kingdom
This Camera Is Broken, Dir Joshua Hext, United Kingdom

Citizens of Earth

Our relationship with planet Earth is a troubled one. These films remind us that, in this time of climate crisis, we urgently need to reconnect with our planet before it’s too late.

Astralium, Dir Lucie Andouche, France
FORESIGHT, Dir Jack S Lowe, Norway
Metamorphism, Dir Kate Saltel, United States
Pengugee, Dir Stephen Quenet, United Kingdom
Suburb, Dir Miles Jezuita, United Kingdom

In Someone Else’s Shoes

Film puts viewers in situations they’d never otherwise experience. These diverse stories remind us that appearances (and social media) can be deceiving; we can never really know what’s going on in someone else’s life.

Bratus, Dir Christian Schifano, United Kingdom
COCOABEAN, Dir Tanya Bittar Massally, United Kingdom
Exhale, Dir Adekemi Roluga, United Kingdom
Sometime, Somewhere, Dir Jaime Weston, United Kingdom
The Boy & The Balloon, Dir Lucas James, United Kingdom
The Last Page, Dir Kota Nakamura, Japan

In My Skin

Our relationships with our bodies can be fraught. These stories highlight how feeling connected to (or disconnected from) our bodies impacts how we move through the world.

Blackmael, Dir Bradley Banton, United Kingdom
Carry me in, Dir Rebecca Penner, United States
Joychild, Dir Aurora Brachman, United States
Nudity, Dir Jáchym Bouzek, United Kingdom
Silvering, Dir Eilidh Nicoll, United Kingdom
Wash Day, Dir Kourtney Jackson, Canada

The Funny Side

In a time of unprecedented challenges, sometimes all you can do is laugh. This hilarious collection will remind you that laughter really is the best medicine.

Criminal$, Dir Frank Welsh, Australia
Divination Dave, Dir Georgia Madden, United Kingdom
Perfect, Dir Daniel Epega, United States
The Gospel According to Gail, Dir Florence Winter Hill, United Kingdom
The Last Song, Dir Charlie Li, China
This is Why Girls Go to the Bathroom Together, Lydia Reid, United Kingdom
This Time With Feeling, Dir Spencer Glassman, Canada
Untitled Project, Kacper Buratyński, Poland