FILMS

Get your motor running and set out on the highway: The British road movie - a contradiction in terms maybe? But these shorts programmes show that UK independent film-makers can be just as inventive as our American cousins, even when we haven't quite got the wide open spaces. What we have got is our own romance of the road, which these two selections illustrate to the full - country lanes, b-roads, and seafront promenades, all feature strongly, with the vehicle itself being used for a bickering family day out, the gangland getaway that goes wrong, stolen for joyriding, or sometimes not even getting out of the driveway (we all know what the average family man does on a Sunday afternoon - clean the car, of course!). After watching this strong mix of drama, comedy, and animation, we think you'll agree that the British road movie doesn't need Dennis Hopper on a chopper or Thelma & Louise heading over a cliff, as we've enough stories of our own to tell.

1300CC Eoin Clarke, 11 min
Drawn animation - a tough Hell's Angel and a little old lady come to blows at the local post office when she's in collecting her pension. A comedy, and a lesson for our biker!

THE DROP Hardeep Singh Kohli, 7 min
A gang are out on a job - but who's going to do the actual delivery when they arrive at the rendezvous? A twist in the tale of recent British gangster films.

THE FUTURE LASTS A LONG TIME David Jackson, 14 min
Brit Oscar winner Samantha Morton stars in this 'Badlands' style road movie set in the flatlands of East Anglia. Two lovers on the run from thieving for drugs hole up at a remote hidaway, only to get caught up in something worse.

HOME ROAD MOVIES Robert Bradbrook, 12 min
Scottish actor Bill Paterson stars in this award winning mix of animation and live action. A funny and moving elegy to growing up in the 70's, and an autobiographical look at family holidays across Europe.

TOLL Matt Harlock, 15 min
Two old enemies from school meet up in an underground car park - but now one of them is a successful businessman and the other the car park attendent. Revenge is the only answer, as the attendent uses his territory to it's advantage.

GILLIGAN'S TRAVELS 1: THUMBNAIL EXPRESS Light Surgeons, 7 min
Part one of an experimental travelogue funded and produced by the onedotzero digital film festival. Visuals artistes The Light Surgeons travel across America and bring back a multi-format collage of images and voiceover that re-enforces the American Route 66 dream.

YELLOW Simon Beaufoy / Bille Eltringham, 13 min
Ray Winstone stars in this comedy drama of embarrassment and how children can manipulate. A day out with his new girlfriend and her young daughter turns into a nightmare for him, as he realises the little girl has taken a dislike to her Mum's new man. Co-directed by Simon Beaufoy, best known as the writer of 'The Full Monty'.

PANIC Omid Nooshin, 15 min
A high speed car chase occurs when a woman realises her car's been stolen while she's paying for petrol - with her son still inside!

VERONIQUE Patrik Bergh, 5 min
A bittersweet look at young love as a schoolboy forms a relationship of sorts with a girl while on the morning bus ride to school.

THE RULES OF GOLF Hugh McGory, 5 min
From Northern Ireland comes this experimental look at joyriding, as kids prefer to deal with their own issues rather than go through the local police.

SQUARE ONE Simon Ellis, 10 min
A thought-provoking horror film, as a quite ride in a country lane turns into a nightmare as the driver realises he keeps coming back to the same bit of road over and over again.

ANNA SPUD Edward Foster, 10 min
Drawn animation from the National Film & Television School. Anna is the little girl observing her family holiday, from the back seat of the car, turn into bickering and bad weather as the journey across North Wales goes on.

KING OF THE ROAD Laura Smith, 11 min
A boy clings to a man's promise that they will escape from the desolate countryside where they live, only to discover that, sometimes, the roads of adults really do lead to nowhere.

BRICK LANE Paul Makkar, 14 min
A gangster comedy set amongst East London's Bengali community - a petty thief steals a flash car, only to find out it's owned bythe local big boss. A stand off occurs, and a twist in the tale sorts it all out.

GOING DOWN Tom Shankland, 23 min
A powerful drama from the National Film & Television School, featuring a Coronation Street star and Brit supermodel turned actress
Siena Guillory. Two lovers on the run from a petty crime hang out at a caravan park, but the fun turns into a nightmare when they be-friend the park's caretaker.

GILLIGAN'S TRAVELS 2: CITY OF HOLLOW MOUNTAINS Light Surgeons, 10 min
Part two of an experimental travelogue funded and produced by the onedotzero digital film festival. Visuals artistes The Light Surgeons travel across America and end up in New York, and bring back a multi-format collage of images and voiceover that re-enforces the American Route 66 dream.

SOME PLACE SAFE Ross Clarke, 10 min
TV's Mark Strong stars in this powerful drama of a man haunted by the breakdown of his marraige. He takes his two kids on a trip to the seaside for a final goodbye before they head off to America with his ex-wife.

DO ARMED ROBBERS HAVE LOVE AFFAIRS? Brian Kirk, 5 min
A quirky short looking at how even hard men have feelings.

EXHAUST Suzi Ewing, 7 min
Martin Freeman (Tim from 'The Office') stars in this comedy about a weekend afternoon in anytown UK when the men are out cleaning their cars. The soundtrack is specially composed by Badly Drawn Boy.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD John Hardwick, 13 min
A dark and depressing film about the aftermath of an accident on a quiet empty country lane. A woman is stuck in the car with her dead partner next to her.

B ROAD MOVIE Richard Misek, 7 min
Two teenage sisters decide to run away from home in the family car.

DEAD AIR Richard Max, 8 min
A black comedy about a local early morning radio DJ who finds out his wife is having an affair. He plans to commit the perfect murder, but suprise suprise, things don't quite go as planned......

THE DAY OF THE SUBGENIUS Chris Hopewell, 7 min
I say, 'Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!' by God. 'Anything for a laugh, 'I say. I am the last remaining Homo Correctus, I am a goddamn Man of the Future!

ONE SMALL HOP Baljeet Rai, 5 min
 An animated, lo-fi sci-fi take on the Apollo Moon Landing in which a rabbit, a penguin, and a bumblebee rocket to the moon to investigate a bizarre transmission repeating the words "Get Down!". "What does it mean?"

SUNSET STRIP Kayla Parker, 3 min
A day-by-day diary of a whole year's sunsets, painted onto a continuous strip of 35mm film. The result is a dazzling expression of the visual music revealed by 365 setting suns.

HOT SPOT Mark Brierley, 5 min
This short takes a humorous look at life in nightclubs.

BASS INVADERS Simon Ellis, 5 min
An "ultra cool action wonder" wher Armageddon meets Space Invaders. Ellis' work subsitutes cinematic sophistication and naturalistic effetcs for the chunky graphics and infuriating soundtrack of its primitive arcade game ancestor.

A LOVE SUPREME Nilesh Patel, 7 min
“…Extraordinary non-dialogue short dissects the making of a humble samosa and creates a work of almost religious beauty…” UCI Filmworks Cinema, Greenwich, London. A tribute to the director’s Mother who has Rheumatoid Arthritis, this audio-visual essay on the preparation of samosas is a record of her skilled hands, in case they become affected. The film was inspired by the boxing sequences from 'Raging Bull' ©United Artists/MGM.

HOP SQUAD Layla Atkinson, 5 min
When a squad of clandestine cottontails has larceny in mind, nothing can stop them from getting the goods.