Projects in genres: Thriller

Synopsis

In a decadent Venetian hotel, general manager Eva is drawn to the mysterious Contessa. Once a sanctuary from the outside world, the hotel has become a haunting cage, and both women long to escape. Enigmatic Eva is a manager – or rather, a universal fixer – at a hotel in Venice. For her, it’s not just a job. The decadent Venetian palazzo, with its labyrinths and strangers, has become both a refuge from her demons and a haunting cage she longs to escape. When Eva meets the mysteriously unhinged Contessa, who also seems trapped within the hotel, she’s seduced by the possibility of a radical change. Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026 - World premiere

Synopsis

1985 was a difficult year for me. My mother had died, an attempted love affair went badly wrong, I hadn't made a film for five years. I bought a video camera and went to Cuba for three weeks. Music and memory play important parts. I first heard this particular music in Louis Malle's LES AMANTS (1958) when I was a teenager.

Synopsis

Ten days before the millennium, Hope, a single mother, arrives in London with her two infants, clutching only the clothes on their backs. Escaping a haunted past, she seeks refuge in a city gripped by Y2K paranoia. A charismatic stranger offers sanctuary, but as Hope navigates an uncertain future in unfamiliar streets, she uncovers his chilling motives. The threat to her family dwarfs the feared technological collapse. In a pulse-pounding race against time, Hope must protect her children at any cost, no matter the personal sacrifice. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Short Film Competition

Synopsis

On the cusp of adolescence, Celia’s world begins to unravel after she discovers her mother’s affair. Alienated at home and struggling with a mind where reality and imagination intertwine, she retreats into long summer days with her cousins, Kerry and Hannah. Things take a dark turn when she and Kerry stumble upon a body deep in the woods. They urgently summon the adults for help, but the body inexplicably vanishes - and no one believes them. As Celia becomes consumed with uncovering the truth, her grip on reality fractures further, pulling her into a dangerous mystery where the line between witness and suspect blurs, and the greatest threat may lie within her own mind. This coming of age film explores maladaptive daydreaming, an emerging psychological phenomenon where people become trapped in elaborate inner worlds - daydreams so vivid they can feel more real than reality itself. Affecting an estimated 2-5% of people, it often begins in childhood as an escape from trauma. Ina Lüders is a German director based in London. With over 40 years of experience in the film industry, she is currently 63-years-old and this is her feature film directorial debut.

Synopsis

Lewis, a young, dishevelled, unsuspecting man finds himself in a cacophony of trouble, as a local gang leader, Frankie takes advantage of his need for connection and sets up shop in his flat. At its core, this film is a gritty, cinematic look into the manipulative world of cuckooing and what happens when you underestimate someone's abilities to make their own choices. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

A Palestinian surgeon drives home after a long night shift, but little does she know that a commute through a desolate West Bank road will change her forever. Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Winner - Short Film Competition Official Selection Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

After the death of her husband, Janet decides to distract herself by rearing a goose, which is to be the centrepiece of her Christmas dinner. However, as she grows ever more isolated from her daughter, Janet’s need to nurture the goose becomes an obsession: one which will cost her dearly. A modern-day Grimm’s fairy tale about grief, isolation… and a goose. Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2025 - Winner - Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Synopsis

A character-driven horror-thriller set at Lockbridge Academy, an isolated school on the coast, run by the powerful aristocratic Aberdeen family, who are hiding a dark secret. Eddie, a mute burdened with caring for his cruel, ailing mother, on the cusp of losing their home takes a caretaker position at the foreboding Lockbridge. There, he meets Marie, sparking and instant connection that will alter the trajectory of his life, while unraveling a sinister mystery lurking within the school that could shatter the Aberdeen family legacy forever.

Synopsis

A Drama/Thriller that follows three different characters in a post-apocalyptic world, where danger lurks in unexpected and expected places. Things aren't always how they appear to be.

Synopsis

Dexter, a scientist, pushes human knowledge and invents a time machine. The invention spirals into chaos when it unwittingly becomes a malevolent black hole, threatening the world’s very existence. She uncovers the aftermath of her creation when she discovers a cryptic watch, sent through time as proof of her invention's power. Then, face-to-face with her future self, Dexter becomes involved in a high-stakes battle against her destiny, eventually determined to prevent the very creation of the time machine. A shocking twist unfurls as a further version of Dexter emerges, a sinister doppelgänger orchestrating events from the shadows, manipulating the time machine's inception to fulfil a clandestine mission to alter her family's tragic destiny…

Synopsis

CRYBABY is a deeply personal animated short by Welsh filmmaker Eleri Edwards, created through Ffilm Cymru’s Beacons scheme and produced by Biggerhouse Film, a company dedicated to amplifying marginalised voices. Drawing on her own experiences of late-diagnosed autism, Edwards crafts an intimate portrait of self-discovery, memory, and the struggle against internalised negativity. The film follows Carys, a 24-year-old woman packing boxes as she prepares to leave her parents’ house. What begins as a simple act of moving soon dissolves into an otherworldly landscape where she is overwhelmed by endless boxes and the haunting weight of her past. Lurking in the shadows is Carys’s internal voice, brought to life as an angry, chaotic scrawl of pencil scribbles - an embodiment of self-doubt and internalised stigma. As she sorts through the fragments of her childhood, memories of early school days and teenage sleepovers resurface, revealing the pain of exclusion and misunderstanding that shaped her. The 2D animation shifts fluidly between reality and imagination, capturing the turbulence of Carys’ inner world. CRYBABY is both a personal reckoning and a universal story - an exploration of autism, mental health, and the fight to silence the critic within.

Synopsis

Izzy is assigned to photograph an empty Victorian manor prior to its sale. What should be a routine assignment turns into a nightmare when the house’s dark colonial past unearths secrets from the time of the British Raj. As unsettling visions and spectral apparitions of a vengeful spirit consume her, Izzy’s long-buried connection to her Pakistani heritage resurfaces with terrifying force. Trapped within the manor’s decaying walls, she must unravel its sinister secrets and confront the haunting manifestation of her own ancestral past - before it consumes her completely. Official Selection Tasveer Film Festival 2025