Every section of Leeds International Film Festival is a unique programme, each one almost a film festival in itself. You could just see all the screenings and events in Short Film City to experience the vast diversity of the real world of cinema – films from every continent, archive and new films, documentary, fiction, experimental, and animated, comedies, dramas and fantasies.
The 2011 International Short Film Competition in three parts features some of the most acclaimed work of the year, with discoveries from short film festivals in Krakow, Hamburg, and Oberhausen, and from selections at Cannes and Venice. The International Competition is presented over three consecutive days at the Hyde Park Picture House which is also the host venue for the annual British and Yorkshire short Film Competitions, this year showing on Saturday 12th November. The Yorkshire Short Film Competition is a particularly exciting events as a showcase for the region’s exciting new filmmaking talent. The hugely popular World Animation Competition is again hosted by Leeds Town Hall, in the magnificent setting of Victoria Hall. This competition features dozens of the best animated shorts in all their forms, and this year we have added a third programme to the line-up because of the high standard of work submitted to us this year.
In between the competitions we have our three Panorama selections – British, French, and International – where you can be experience alternative, often very funny, takes on contemporary life through the unique expression of the incredible short film form.
- This year’s British Competition programme is a microcosm of contemporary cinema. The selection includes: Fixing Luka, a beautiful stop motion animation looking at autism through the eyes of a loving sister; Long Distance Information, a black comedy that explores the strained relationship between fathers and sons starring Peter Mullan (Tyrannosaur); and the UK Premiere of [...]Click to read more about this film »
- It’s fair to say that the UK loves good drama and does good drama. From Shakespeare to Eastenders, drama is in our blood and Drama Queens is a glorious celebration of this fact. This year we’ve got for you Departure, a terrific little sci-fi short about two astronauts dreaming of the home they may not [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Honouring Louis Le Prince, the French-born inventor who shot the first ever moving images in Leeds in 1888, the International Short Film Competition celebrates the outstanding talent at work in the short film form around the world today. The film selection includes prize winners from other festivals as well as submissions to Short Film City, [...]Click to read more about this film »
- It’s been a difficult year and in this International Shorts Panorama filmmakers depict our global nervous state in unexpected ways. French film Higher is about people who substitute themselves with bolster in places they don’t want to be anymore and escape to somewhere better. In BEEP (United Arab Emirates), Mr K’s experience of life has [...]Click to read more about this film »
- France is a dedicated short filmmaking nation; the richness of their storytelling invention is vast. This year’s French Panorama selection features often very funny stories about the eccentricities of characters at work in the shadows of everyday life. In Mixed Doubles, James is a witness in a trial and protected by a bodyguard called Arthur. [...]Click to read more about this film »
- One of the annual Film Festival highlights and always a hit with audiences, the World Animation Competition presents a diverse selection of painted, drawn, modelled, stop-frame and computer-generated shorts. The first programme contains iconic British artists Gilbert and George reflecting on their idyllic day out in the English countryside, and there is exhilarating action, destruction [...]Click to read more about this film »
- This second programme of short films demonstrates the incredible talents of international animators, some of them very new to the festival scene. Like the creator of irresistible Don Justino de Neve, a charming scoundrel who leaves a trail of broken women behind him, or the sculptor who moulded figures from sand and from snow and [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Sometimes a short film is not so short, so here’s an opportunity to enjoy four slightly longer animated films without interruption and allow yourself to be swept away. To an African island far away from the rat race, and to a Canadian ranch in 1909. There’s a bewitching dream of a lost mediaeval city under [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Whilst celebrating the wonderful array of International filmmaking talent active today is undoubtedly key to the festival, it is also great to be reminded of the terrific talent working not only here in the UK but also right on our doorstep! This year’s outstanding selection includes: Tetley’s – Quality Pays, an insightful documentary about the [...]Click to read more about this film »
