Glasgow Short Film Festival reveal films in 2022 competitions

Fans of films of diminutive runtimes should rejoice, because Glasgow Short Film Festival is back, in-person, from 23 to 27 March with another programme showcasing the best short films from around the world as well as the most exciting films being made on our doorstep. Today GSFF confirmed that all three of their key venues (Glasgow Film Theatre, CCA and the festival’s hub at Civic House) are back in action, as well as announcing the titles for their two annual competitions, which between them present seven world premieres and 16 UK premieres.

Scottish Short Film competition

Given 2022 has been dubbed “Scotland’s Year of Stories”, the annual Scottish short film competition has changed its name to Scotland’s Year of Stories Short Film Award. This year’s contenders include some familiar names. At least one wild vision from the prolific Bryan M Ferguson usually ends up at GSFF, and this year he’s in competition with RED ROOM. Inspired by Helen McClory’s Bitterhall, it’s concerned with a relationship between three friends, which “becomes fractured after a reality-destroying moment of possession”. Colour us intrigued.

Another GSFF favourite back in competition is the talented stop-motion animator Cat Bruce. Her new film, titled Awakening, is described as a “contemporary reworking of a traditional Scottish folktale”. Folklorist Margaret Bennett provides the narration. We’re also keen to see the new one from James Price, who’s going to have a busy March. Not only does he have a film in the BBC Four anthology series Skint!, premiering at Glasgow Film Festival on 10 March, he’s also in GSFF’s competition with another slice of Glasgow street life. Titled Infectious Nihilism and Small Metallic Pieces of Hope, it follows a youngster who gets embroiled with a gang made up of older locals.

Here's the full list of films competing for the Scotland’s Year of Stories Short Film Award:

Awakening, Cat Bruce; Bahar, Maryam Hamidi; The Bayview, Daniel Cook; The Black Watch, Cameron Cobb; Born in Damascus, Laura Wadha; The Dead are Jewels to Me, Rose Hendry, Isla Badenoch; Dive, Oscar Sansom; Field Notes on Love, Sam Firth; First Step Swim, Caitlin McMullan; The Fox, Eirini Vasiliki Kalogera, Julia Kim Johnstone; Go Home, Razan Madhoon; Groom, Leyla Coll-O'Reilly; Idrish, Adam Lewis Jacob | Scottish Premiere; If You Get the Knees Right the Rest Will Follow, Holly Mclean; Infectious Nihilism and Small Metallic Pieces of Hope, James Price; Kin, Ruby Cedar; Life of Riley, Shaun Hughes; Prosopagnosia, Steven Fraser; RED ROOM, Bryan M. Ferguson; The Stone Age, Alison Piper; Too Rough, Sean Lìonadh; The Tyranny of Petty Things, Cameron Nicoll; We Know a Better Word Than Happy, Helen McCrorie

International Short Film at GSFF

The Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film was also announced this morning, which showcases new cinema from around the world. “Against our pandemic-informed expectations, we received over 4000 submissions from across the globe for this year’s edition, which speaks positively about GSFF’s sustained international reputation,” says Sanne Jehoul, GSFF’s programme director. “It’s a line-up that directly and indirectly speaks to the times we live in and therefore it feels invaluable that we will be able to share and discuss it with audiences in person.”

Bill Morrison and Kevin Jerome Everson from the USA, Portugal's Diogo Costa Amarante, Brazil’s Leonardo Martinelli and Czechia’s Diana Cam Van Nguyen are just a few of the filmmakers to look out for in this competition of always innovative and inspiring work from around the world. The full list of Bill Douglas Award titles is below:

A Present Light, Diogo Costa Amarante (Portugal); All of Your Stars are But Dust on My Shoes, Haig Aivazian (Lebanon); Bestia, Hugo Covarrubias (Chile); Dad's Sneakers, Olha Zhurba (Ukraine); Displaced, Samir Karahoda (Kosovo); Fireflies, Leo Bittencourt (Brazil); Further and Further Away, Polen Ly (Cambodia); Handbook, Pavel Mozhar (Belarus, Germany); Her Violet Kiss, Bill Morrison (USA); I Gotta Look Good for the Apocalypse, Ayce Kartal (France); Impossible Figures and Other Stories, Marta Pajek (Poland); In My Network, Randa Maroufi (France); Love, Dad, Diana Cam Van Nguyen (Czech Republic); Mir, Gorana Jovanović (Serbia); Naughty Spot, Jean Costa (France); NAYA, Sebastian Mulder (Netherlands); Neon Phantom, Leonardo Martinelli (Brazil); Noir-Soleil, Marie Larrivé (France); One Hundered Steps, Barbara Wagner, Benjamin de Burca (Germany, France); Party Poster, Rishi Chandna (India); Podesta Island, Stephanie Roland (Fed. States of Micronesia, France); Pride, Claudrena N. Harold, Kevin Jerome Everson (USA); Sierra, Sander Joon (Estonia)

As ever, GSFF have baked accessibility into their programme. All screenings will be captioned for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences and all Scottish Competition Q&As will be BSL interpreted. This year’s edition will also continue the festival's Pay What You Can sliding scale tickets policy.

The full programme for Glasgow Short Film Festival 2022 will be announced on 23 February, when tickets will also go on sale.