Hard Shoulder

Director: Nicholas David Lean

Year: 2012

Carl Foster, a work obsessed man, reluctantly agrees to a weekend away with his disgruntled wife and disruptive children - it’s as much as he can do to muster any kind of enthusiasm for the few days he must endure in their company. Their constant bickering finally takes its toll on Carl when they are passed, on a deserted country road, by a convoy of ‘carnival types’, who, by mischief or accident, cause Carl to swerve off the road. With rage descending Carl gets into heated exchange with the travellers. Taking an enforced stop hours later, in a small layby, the family are again affronted as their stationary vehicle is rammed by an unseen assailant in a large truck. Dazed by the impact they wake, bound and gagged, within the dreary confines of an abandoned roadside diner, with, seemingly, the same carnival types now their abductors and antagonists. As the gang demeans, insults, and tortures each of their captives in turn, it falls to Carl to free his family from their predicament. But not everything is as it seems, their environment not as tortuous as they imagined, and Carl not all that he would have us believe.

Director: Ben O'Connor

Year: 2026

Robbie exists on the margins of society. He lives alone on a narrow boat in rural England with little means. He has found solace in isolation and a humble life. Unexpectedly he is contacted with the unwanted news of his estranged father’s death. This drags up emotions from the past that quickly become too much to bear… And so, the story begins… A journey back into his past. A journey on a motorcycle to find his mother. He drives, alone, through desolate landscapes, barren and mountainous, into the depths of his mind. A dream world where Robbie is forced to confront his past. Two stories emerge; memories from his childhood recurrently appear, fracturing the present where ex-lovers who have shaped his life confront him in surreal encounters. With time the two stories collide, past and present become one. The road leads in one direction, back to his childhood home and ultimately, his first and now final love; his mother. For where he began, he will now end and know himself for the first time.

Director: Simon Brooke

Year: 2025

Boyfriends Connor, Silas, and Connor’s dad Rob arrive home. Connor and Silas show affection. Rob drops his yellow work bucket in the kitchen. Little brother Max sits up for dinner while mum, Jan, plans for his sixth birthday. They watch the evening news announcing a scientific discovery; if a boy sees yellow while hearing a woman sing on his sixth birthday, he will grow up gay. The notion of this quotidian trigger creates a tense silence. Connor, anxious, realises his parents can choose whether Max grows up gay. The next day, Max chooses colours for his party, ignoring yellow. Connor sees the yellow bucket in the kitchen has been replaced with a blue one. That night, Connor wakes Max to ask if anyone told him what colours to pick. Max insists he chose his favourites. Before the party, Jan fears she is losing her voice. Rob takes Connor to the pub and reassures him the yellow bucket broke, and that he and Jan are proud Connor is gay. At the party, Connor withdraws to his room. Jan follows and finds he has hidden every yellow object in the house. Upset, they gently return to the celebration leaving the objects.