BFI London Film Festival Reveals 2025 Shorts Line Up

By Natalia Albin Legorreta

The 69th BFI London Film Festival, taking place between the 8th to the 19th of October 2025, has unveiled their full line up, which includes 90 short films across 12 curated programmes. The films come from over 20 countries, most prominently from the UK with 38 short films, USA with 9 and France with 7. 

Including their feature titles, LFF this year features 103 works by female and non-binary filmmakers (42% of the programme). LFF On Tour will see the festival screen selected films at 11 UK-wide partner venues, such as the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and Filmhouse in Edinburgh. 

The official competition titles are Capybaras, Coyotes, Elephant Families, happiness, Hope is Lost, Ka Ba Ddi: a breath, a move, a game, Magid / Zafar, Nostalgie, We Had Fun and Womb. These short films will be available for free across the UK on BFI Player from the 8th to the 26th of October. 

Full short film line up: 

THIS IS LONDON: SMALL STORIES, BIG CITY
A selection of shorts from some of London’s most exciting new voices, funded by BFI NETWORK and delivered by Film London. This programme is free to watch at the festival.

• YELLOW BUCKET (dir. Simon Brooke)

• CAMERAMAN (dir. Arsalan Motavali)

• BIRDHOUSE (dir. Moritz Valero)

• TUMTUM (dir. Rebecca Ozer)

• TOAD IN THE HOLE (dir. Ben Norris)

• SPRAY ME (dir. Chris Chuky)

ARE YOU KIDDING? (Programmed by Victoria Millington and Sky Lewis)

“Prepare to abandon your expectations, for what begins as light-hearted and mischievous descends into darker, more absurd stories to twist and turn your perceptions of reality.”

• LITTLE MONSTERS / LES PETITS MONSTRES (dir. Pablo Léridon)
  France

• CANDY BAR (dir. Nash Edgerton)
  Australia

• CRAB NO. 7 (dir. Victor Nauwynck, Shir Ariya)
  UK

• MOTHER GOOSE (dir. Joanna Vymeris)
  UK

• THE WASP OR THE SHEER BEAUTY OF ACCEPTING YOURSELF (dir. Cass Virdee)
  UK

• PARTY ANIMAL (dir. Ali Gill)
  UK

• END OF PLAY (dir. Edem Wornoo)
  UK

• WHITCH (dir. Hoku Uchiyama)
  USA

DISCOVERING HOME (Programmed by Victoria Millington and Sky Lewis)

“Whether trying to settle into a new country, seek familiarity while abroad or find escape from their houses, these shorts examine how our sense of home shapes our identities.”

• ELEPHANT FAMILIES (dir. Elena Escalante)
  UK-Spain

• ACKEE AND SALTFISH (dir. Jasmin Nunes)
  UK

• SEVENTEEN (dir. Ajuan Isaac-George)
  UK

• SO HERE WE ARE (dir. Warren Mendy, Mahaila Palmer)
  UK

• I SAW THE FACE OF GOD IN THE JET WASH (dir. Mark Jenkin)
  UK

• UNDER THE WAVE OFF LITTLE DRAGON (dir. Luo Jian)
  UK

• HOPE IS LOST (dir. Eno Enefiok)
  UK-Macedonia

MAPPED OUT FUTURES (Programmed by Victoria Millington and Sky Lewis)

“From war-torn homelands and displaced identities to livelihoods society has forced on them, these shorts examine how people push beyond the futures that the world has already mapped out.”

• COYOTES (dir. Said Zagha)
  Palestine-UK-France-Jordan

• FORGOTTEN ROUTES (dir. Varta Arutinian)
  UK

• MY BLOOD IS PALESTINIAN / ANA DAMMI FALASTINI (dir. Jay Scanlan-Oumow, Omar Ismail)
  UK

• BABY (dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande)
  UK

• ORIGINAL SIN (dir. Amrou Al-Kadhi)
  UK

• HIGHWAY TO THE MOON (dir. Letitia Wright)
  UK

PULLING THE RUG OUT (Programmed by Victoria Millington and Sky Lewis)

“From heart-racing horror that will make you wince, to eerie stories that get under your skin, these short films are sure to leave you unsettled.”

• CHIMERA (dir. Eamonn Hearns)
  UK

• FLOCK (dir. Mac Nixon)
  UK

• SPEAK WITH THE DEAD (dir. Stephanie Paris)
  USA

• NOSTALGIE (dir. Kathryn Ferguson)
  UK

• SHINY PRECIOUS THINGS (dir. Villő Krisztics)
  UK

• GOD IS SHY (dir. Jocelyn Charles)
  France

• GRANDMA IS THIRSTY (dir. Kris Carr)
  UK
  
  

ROOTS AND BRANCHES (Programmed by Victoria Millington and Sky Lewis)

“The many facets of family and community come together in these shorts, examining the people we turn to when the traditional family isn’t there, and the power community can bring.”

• YOU CAN CALL ME LOU (dir. Georgia Zeta Gkoka)
  UK

• MAGID / ZAFAR (dir. Luís Hindman)
  UK

• WE HAD FUN (dir.Linda Lô)
  France

• BEYOND THE RUSH (dir. NIYADRE)
  UK

• CHIKHA (dirs. Zahoua Raji, Ayoub Layoussifi)
  France/Morocco

• DUST TO DREAMS (dir. Idris Elba)
  Canada
  
  

SHOW ME WHO I AM (Programmed by Victoria Millington and Sky Lewis)

“Stories from girlhood to womanhood that battle the world’s expectations and preconceptions. These shorts explore tales of self-discovery, humour, heartache and pain, encapsulating femininity in all its forms.” 

• THE DEVIL AND THE BICYCLE (dir. Sharon Hakim)
  France

• 22+1 (dir. Pippa Bennett-Warner)
  UK

• RED EGG & GINGER (dir. Olivia Owyeung)
  UK

• WOMB (dir. Ira Hetaraka)
  New Zealand

• SWEET TALKIN’ GUY (dirs. Dylan Wardwell, Spencer Wardwell)
  USA

• CRUSTS (dir. India Sleem)
  UK

• DARK SKIN BRUISES DIFFERENTLY (dir. Susan Wokoma)
  UK

ANATOMY OF PLACE, SITES OF BECOMING (Programmed by Hyun Jin Cho, Qila Gill, Erik Martinson)
“Films in this programme consider how spaces hold the weight of what came before and the traces of what may emerge, moving through landscapes where memory, body and terrain shifts and transforms against time.”

• THE HOUSE WAS THERE BEFORE ME (dir. Elian Mikkola)
  Canada

• FUGUE NOTES (dir. Selina Ershadi)
  New Zealand

• RADIUS CATASTROPHE (dir. Jad Youssef)
  Lebanon

BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE LINE (Programmed by Hyun Jin Cho, Qila Gill, Erik Martinson)
“This programme of films interrogates a myriad of borders. Some are physical, geo-politically determined, others are socially inscribed. Many more are difficult to define. All are porous, even when it seems they’re not.”

• BORDER AS INTERFACE (dir. Petra Szemán)
  UK-Japan

• NSALA (dir. Mickael-sltan Mbanza)
  Congo

• THE CONJURED ONES / LOS CONJURADOS (dir. Humberto González Bustillo)
  Venezuela-Argentina

• TERROR ELEMENT (dirs. Anna Engelhardt, Mark Cinkevich)
  UK-Netherlands

• HAPPINESS (dir. Firat Yücel)
  Netherlands-Turkey

CADENCES OF REFUSAL (Programmed by Hyun Jin Cho, Qila Gill, Erik Martinson)
“Activated by political urgency and defiance, these five works envision a collective reimagining and remaking of the world. Each crafts a counter-grammar to traditional non-fiction cinema – grounded in poetry, fragmentation, inquiry and the voice.”

• DARIA’S NIGHT FLOWERS (dir. Maryam Tafakory)
  Iran-UK-France

• NEW TERRITORIES (SPECTACLE IS KING) (dir. Rhea Storr)
  UK

• TUKTUIT: CARIBOU (dir. Lindsay McIntyre)
  Canada

• ANOTHER OTHER (dir. Bex Oluwatoyin Thompson)
  USA

• MORNING CIRCLE (dir. Basma al-Sharif)
  Germany-Canada-UAE

IN THE CLOUDS FLECKS OF MEMORIES PASS BY (Programmed by Hyun Jin Cho, Qila Gill, Erik Martinson)
“These films embody memories: some personal, others inherited or found. At times they’re mesmerising, yet fissures can appear in the depicted recollections. Subjectivity comes into focus. Established narratives are destabilised.”

• THE EARLY SUN, RED AS A HUNTER’S MOON (dir. Adam Piron)
  USA

• SHE’S WAITING FOR THE SUNSET (dir. Martyna Ratnik)
  Lithuania

• KA BA DDI: A BREATH, A MOVE, A GAME (dir. Alia Syed)
  UK

• NOTHING OUT OF THE ISLAND: BRIDGES / NADA FUERA DE LA ISLA: PUENTES (dir. Dalissa Montes de Oca Mosquea)
  Dominican Republic-USA

• HALF MEMORY (dir. Ufuoma Essi)
  UK-USA-France

SHADOWS OF THE LIVING (Programmed by Hyun Jin Cho, Qila Gill, Erik Martinson)
“Here, human and more-than-human lives intermingle in peculiar ways. Each film uncovers untamed stories where power, survival and transformation twist into unanticipated forms.”

• PRIMATE VISIONS; MACAQUE MACABRE (dir. Natasha Tontey)
  Indonesia-Switzerland

• HEDGEHOG CAKES: SWEET WEAPON OF TERROR (dir. Zhenia Stepanenko)
  Ukraine

• FRAGMENTS FOR VENUS (dir. Alice Diop)
  Italy-France

• RESURRECT ME AS A PARASITE (dirs. Gabi Dao, Lou Lou Sainsbury)
  UK-Netherlands-Canada

ANIMATED SHORTS FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES (Programmed by Justin Johnson)
“The stars of this shorts selection include mushrooms, pigs and capybaras, and feature a feast of different animation styles to captivate all ages.”

• MUSHROOM’S LIFE / SĒNES DZĪVE
  Latvia

• CARDBOARD
  UK

• SNOW BEAR
  USA

• THE NAUGHTY SEAT
  UK

• HOUSE TRAP
  Netherlands

• THE BIG BAD WOLF
  UK

• CAPYBARAS / LOS CARPINCHOS
  France-Uruguay-Chile

• FOREVERGREEN
  USA

Features and series are screening to UK audiences for the first time, with the festival hosting 27 World Premieres (including six features and a new series), alongside 11 International and 20 European Premieres across features, shorts, mid-lengths and immersive works.