Holiday of Hope

Director: Jez Lewis

Year: 2010

The small UK town of Hebden Bridge, where film-maker Jez Lewis grew up, is a beautiful and quirky rural idyll. But while it is paradise to many, it is purgatory to others. In the twenty years since he left, dozens of Jez's old friends have died young, many of them through suicide and drug overdoses. Beginning with a personal quest for understanding, the film moves into a year-long drama of human tragedy and redemption as Jez re-bonds with his oldest friend Cass. Coming to terms with his own imminent mortality, Cass attempts to lift himself out of the cycle of self-destruction he has lived amidst for so long. Around this emerges an intimate study of a place claimed to be the funkiest town in Europe, but which harbours an undertow of lethal hedonism and disillusionment. As young people continue to die by their own hands, a maelstrom of conflicting values throws up unexpected truths about the human condition, whilst Jez finds himself drawn inexorably into the action. Filmed among friends, with absolutely unrestricted access, Shed Your Tears And Walk Away is a searingly authentic portrayal of a marginalised and overlooked people who seem to have lost their survival instinct.

Director: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak

Year: 2026

The love story of a London-based Lebanese journalist and a Syrian activist/cameraman as told through thirteen years of personal archives across revolutions, war and exile. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Director: Itab Azzam, Jack Macinnes

Year: 2026

A Syrian girl's decade-long journey to Germany and back, as she and her family face the challenges of war and life as refugees, showing both the hardships and hopes of starting anew. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2026 - World premiere