Film / News
Encounters returns for first in-person festival since 2019
Back for its 28th annual edition, the first in-person Encounters short film festival in three years takes place at the Watershed and Lost Horizon from September 27-October 2. If you can’t make it to either venue, all films in competition will also be available to view online.
More than 4,000 short films were submitted from 41 countries for this year’s festival. Of these, 90 have been selected to compete for the coveted Grand Prix titles in 17 eclectic programmes, taking in comedy, horror and outré late lounge selections.
Sky’s Moominvalley: made in Bristol by Anglo-Finnish Gutsy Animations
There are also plenty of family-friendly screenings, including the locally made Moominvalley: Moominpappa and Son and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. The winners of each competition programme will be announced at the Encounters Awards Ceremony at Lost Horizon on Friday 30 September.
Stranger Things enthusiasts should flock to festival regular DJ Yoda’s live AV set at Lost Horizon on September 28, which promises to whisk punters to the Upside Down for what’s described as “a new spin on the modern cult classic interlaced with classic samples from the 1980s in a live spectacular”.
Once again, the festival’s Shorts2Features strand gives a platform to filmmakers who are moving from shorts to feature-length films. This year’s selection includes filmmaker and musician Dan (son of Ron) Geesin’s English/Dutch feature debut Sputum, which is billed as a “dystopian eco-drama”.
Local talent is celebrated in the form of two South West Filmmaker showcases featuring 11 films. These include the excellent Yummy Mummy, a pregnancy body horror from Bristol-based Gabriela Staniszewska, winner of the 2021 IMDb Script to Screen award at the Bath Film Festival for her film Choose Your Weapon.
Encounters is also welcoming back 114 filmmakers from the 2020 and 2021 festivals. Their work will be shown as part of a special retrospective programme, offering audiences a chance to catch a selection of films from past two online festival editions in person for the first time.
This year, the festival has adopted a ‘pay what you can’ pricing structure for individual tickets to ensure that the programme is accessible to everyone. Prices for festival passes are fixed at £60/£25. The full schedule is online now at the Encounters website.
Main image: ‘Yummy Mummy’. Credit: Gabriela Staniszewska. All other images supplied by Encounters.
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