The 63rd BFI London Film Festival runs from the 2-13 October 2019, with a loads of short films to see from around the world, we’ve picked a selection of 25 short films to choose from. You can also see our selection of 42 feature films and 4 events to see. Check the available films on the BFI London Film Festival 2019 website.

SHORT FILMS

Create

The Culture
Friday 11 October 2019 | 20:45 | ODEON Tottenham Court Road, Screen 3
Sunday 13 October 2019 | 18:10 | BFI Southbank, NFT2

Online culture is now all-consuming, and constantly changing through fast-moving technology, both welcome yet terrifying in terms of what comes next. The films here illustrate those cultures brilliantly, whether on a personal level of daily life or the bigger political picture. Total running time 100 min

Film 2: Algo-Rhythm
A hip hop musical, shot in Dakar, using Senegalese musicians and artists, which deconstructs comprehensive threats to human rights posed by the rise of the algorithmic management of daily life via social media and online platforms.
Dir Manu Luksch. Austria-UK-Senegal 2019. 14min

Film 5: Pompeii
Tam gets on the first tube home, plugs himself into his phone and begins reliving his night out via social media stories.
Dir Harry Lighton, Marco Alessi, Matthew Jacobs Morgan. UK 2019. 9min

Film 8: Zombies
Tribal motifs and digital culture collide exploring the stupefying effects of mobile technology.
Dir Baloji. Belgium-Democratic Republic of the Congo 2019. 15min

 

Experimenta

What Remains
Sunday 06 October 2019 | 15:20 | BFI Southbank, NFT3

A series of artists’ short films that explore the effects of human and capitalist destruction of the natural world. Total running time 92 min

Film 2: That Which is to Come is Just a Promise
A single long shot explores the possibility of Tuvalu’s submergence under water, a transformation that scientists have predicted will happen in the next 30 years.
Dir Flatform. Italy-Netherlands-New Zealand 2019. 22min

Debate

Close and Far
Friday 04 October 2019 | 18:15 | Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
Saturday 05 October 2019 | 12:40 | Vue West End, Screen 6

The parent-child relationship is one of the most complex, evoking a whole spectrum of emotions. This collection of shorts explores life situations that can shape these relationships permanently, difficult choices that parents can be sometimes faced with and journeys in the search for connection and understanding. Total running time 108 min.

Film 2: Blackwood
A look at the challenges of living in a small Australian town, portrayed through the lens of a novelist and her teenage son.
Dir Kalu Oji. Australia 2018. 12min

Film 7: Dawn in the Dark
When a young girl’s father is taken to hospital, a familial bond between her and her uncle is tested.
Dir Runyararo Mapfumo. UK 2019. 16min

Film 9: Mahalia Melts in the Rain
In preparation for a ballet photoshoot, Mahalia and her mother visit a hairdresser.
Dir Emilie Mannering, Carmine Pierre-Dufour. Canada 2018. 11min

Journey

My Life, Whose Rules?
Sunday 06 October 2019 | 15:15 | ODEON Tottenham Court Road, Screen 3
Monday 07 October 2019 | 12:50 | Vue West End, Screen 4

Whether it’s about remaining steadfast and true or redefining oneself in a shifting world, these short films tell of personal journeys of survival, identity and agency. Total running time 111 min

Film 1: Appreciation
After a personal tragedy, a Pentecostal preacher is lifted by her congregation in this vivid treat for the eyes and ears.
Dir Tomisin Adepeju. UK 2019. 15min

Cult

When You Think You Know How It Ends
Sunday 06 October 2019 | 17:50 | Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
Tuesday 08 October 2019 | 15:15 | Vue West End, Screen 4

Meet the doppelgängers, the outcasts and the weirdos. From encounters in the unlikeliest of places in the city you sleep in, to the brightest of days in places you’ll never visit in a supernatural world. Total running time 106 min

Film 5: White Girl
Beth is seemingly lost. As she wanders around seeking help from strangers, things take a darker turn.
Dir Nadia Latif. UK 2019. 13min

Film 6: Suicide By Sunlight
Valentina, a day-walking black vampire protected from the sun by her melanin, is forced to restrain her bloodlust to regain custody of her estranged daughters.
Dir Nikyatu. USA 2018. 17min

Laugh

Joy to the World…
Wednesday 02 October 2019 | 20:40 | Vue West End, Screen 7
Friday 04 October 2019 | 15:30 | Vue West End, Screen 5

Joyful films! Triumphant films! Funny films!
Total running time 96min

Film 3: Love the Sinner
11-year-old Joanna tries to understand grief through her mother’s reaction to Princess Diana’s death.
Dir Jennifer Sheridan. UK 2018. 10min

Film 10: Serious Tingz
The face of masculinity as portrayed by young men who grow up in the inner city, where the iconic ‘screwface’ is more than just an expression, it’s a matter of life and death.
Dir Abdou Cissé. UK 2018. 3min

 

Family

Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
Saturday 05 October 2019 | 12:00 | BFI Southbank, NFT1

This eclectic, exciting and colourful selection of animated short films include themes of friendship and home. This year, alongside films from the UK we present new work from Disney, Dreamworks and Studio Ponoc. Total running time 61 min

Film 2: Exchange Student
A girl from Earth attends alien school. This is “Exchange Student” by Natalie Nourigat – a tale about an Earthling girl who feels like an outsider at a school for aliens. More Short Circuit shorts are coming exclusively to #DisneyPlus in Spring 2020.
Dir Natalie Nourigat. USA 2019. 2min

Experimenta

Strategies of Refusal
Saturday 05 October 2019 | 12:30 | BFI Southbank, NFT3

This programme brings together works that represent the breadth and complexity of resistance across the African Diaspora, considering spirituality, music and arts alongside protest as key interventions for freedom. Total running time 94 min.

Film 1: Sojourner
Honouring the Black feminist activists of the past and present, Cauleen Smith re-imagines Noah Purifoy’s Desert Museum in California as a utopian community.
Dir Cauleen Smith. USA 2018. 23min

Film 2: Fi Dem II
An investigation of Blackness, labour, diaspora and family heritage through archive, glitch, strobe and sound. A commitment to the Windrush generation.
Dir Zinzi Minott. UK 2019. 9min

Film 3: Primeiro Ato
Theatre students André and Gabriel drum up support for resistance against the dismantling of culture policies in Brazil.
Dir Matheus Parizi. Brazil 2019. 19min

Film 4: Pattaki
Under the light of the moon, a community affected by water scarcity marvel at the power of the Orichȧ water deity Yemayȧ.
Dir Everlane Moraes. Cuba 2018. 21min

Film 5: Oh My Homeland
Great soprano Leontyne Price attempts to maintain her composure on stage as she receives adoration from her audience at her 1985 farewell opera.
Dir Stephanie Barber. USA 2019. 4min

Film 6: Pelourinho, They Don’t Really Care About Us
Referencing a 1927 letter from WEB Du Bois to the Brazilian Embassy, colourful footage illustrates an exploration of anti-blackness in Brazil.
Dir Akosua Adoma Owusu. Ghana 2019. 9min

Film 7: Black Bus Stop
A performative reclamation of a site of resistance through dance for African American students.
Dir Kevin Jerome Everson, Claudrena N. Harold. USA 2019. 9min

Experimenta

New World Order
Saturday 05 October 2019 | 14:45 | BFI Southbank, NFT3

This programme is an international cinematic adventure roving across the boundaries that define present-day society, including geopolitics, technology, neo-colonialism and how the human future is only conceivable in relation to the past. Total running time 89 min

Film 5: Hand in Hand (Sunu Jappo)
Exploration of the Chinese-Senegalese relationship, featuring the Museum of Black Civilisations, recently built by China and conceived as a powerful symbol of decolonialisation.
Dir Ming Wong. Senegal-China-Germany 2019. 15min

Love

…In an Age of Consent
Friday 04 October 2019 | 20:40 | ODEON Tottenham Court Road, Screen 3
Sunday 06 October 2019 | 12:20 |Cine Lumiere

The definition of consent is to give permission. Intimacy is defined by a consensual physicality evident in romantic love, sexual activity, a beautiful friendship and random intimate moments with passing strangers. That line of consent is interrogated in the films here, holding up a magnifying glass to every intimate moment from a misplaced hand to the power dynamics of a sexual situation to the re-contextualisation of a past narrative. Total running time 110min.

Film 2: Spring Fever
A refreshingly different and fun sex education class in the Netherlands. This is an anti-shame class.
Dir Anna Snowball. UK-Netherlands 2019. 9min

Experimenta

Double Vision
Sunday 06 October 2019 | 12:30 | BFI Southbank, NFT3

Films that dispel visual certainties to present new optical perceptions.Total running time 115 min

Film 12: A Love
An engagement with love and loss, presence and absence that become ritualised in need for recognition.
Dir Anne-Marie Copestake. UK 2019. 16min

Journey

London Calling
Thursday 10 October 2019 | 18:00 | BFI Southbank, NFT1
Saturday 12 October 2019 | 15:00 | ODEON Tottenham Court Road, Screen 3

A selection of new shorts from some of the capital’s most exciting upcoming filmmakers, funded by BFI NETWORK and delivered by Film London. Total running time 84 min

Film 4: Losing Pace
A young black man from a working-class background is on a trajectory towards success when an encounter with the police jeopardises everything.
Dir Naomi Soneye-Thomas. UK 2019. 8min

Film 6: Something in The Closet
A queer teenager struggles with her sexuality, as desires manifest their way from the depths of her eerie closet into reality.
Dir Nosa Eke. UK 2019. 14min

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Don’t forget to check out our selection of FEATURE FILMS.