No Fairies Ever Took My Teeth

Director: Maz Murray

Year: 2024

Following the audition, rehearsal, and performance of the central character in British pantomime, known as the ‘principal boy’. Traditionally a young male protagonist, the character is conventionally played by a woman in drag. Using and subverting traditional British pantomime conventions, PRINCIPAL BOY explores the presence and absence of trans and gender-nonconforming people in mainstream culture, including film and stage productions.⁠ ⁠ Official Selection Aesthetica Film Festival 2024

Director: Ben Barton

Year: 2026

Where did the first-ever TV broadcast take place? Beginning with a forgotten plaque in Folkestone, filmmaker Ben Barton follows a trail left by television pioneer John Logie Baird – and re-examines where television first sparked to life.

Director: Karimah Ashadu

Year: 2025

With no single protagonist or linear narrative, the film immerses the viewer in a spectacle of strength through an intimate portrait of bodybuilders in the slums of Lagos. Inflated muscles, bulging veins and luminous skin glistening with sweat fill the screen. Shot almost entirely in close-ups, the camera hovers so near its subjects, moving softly like breath on skin, that at times figures become blurred, abstracted forms. Karimah Ashadu’s slow, measured pans across backs, chests and arms meditate on visibility, drawing attention to the embodiment and representation of the Black male body without rendering it singular or fixed. The metallic clang of barbells is punctuated with guttural sounds of exertion set against the ambience of the streets. Breath and muscle move in syncopated sonic choreography, and the men’s commitment to the ritual of maintaining the body is evident. Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2026 - Forum Expanded - International Premiere