The Pit and the Pendulum: A Study in Torture

Director: Fiona Bavinton

Year: 2020

Made entirely in Unreal, during lockdown in the UK, in a week in which VE day celebrations collided with Black Lives Matter protests, this film questions the persistence of nostalgia as a form of social control.

Director: Robyn Egan

Year: 2026

Wren is interviewed for a job at Brixham Fish Market. Gary shows her around and tells her to come back tomorrow, for the night shift. A few hours into the shift and Wren is flagging, she enjoys a moment of calm whilst smoking outside - until she is confronted with Cali, who wants a lighter and a chat. The next few nights, sleepless days and awkward interactions blur into each other until Cali greets Wren with a coffee and cigarette for the usual 2am slump. Wren is disgusted when realising Cali has spiked her coffee with brandy. Steph shows Wren how to fillet. Cali rushes to help, standing behind Wren, he places his hands on hers.Wren shrinks down, motionless, allowing Cali to puppeteer her, forcing his groin into her from behind. Wren empties her locker, she’s not coming back. She leaves, only to find Cali waiting for her, unbuckling his belt. Wren waits until his trousers are down, walks over to him, without breaking eye contact and guts Cali like a fish. She makes use of the “Monster Industrial Chum Grinder”, to dismember Cali’s body, discarding the chum into the sea at sunrise. She gracefully enters the sea herself, cleansed.

Director: Martin Crasborn

Year: 2026

On a quiet English farm, a severe leg injury leaves Douglas’s horse, Salome, beyond treatment. His father, Graham, insists that because Salome belongs to Douglas, and Douglas is no longer a boy, the agonising decision to end her suffering must fall entirely on his son’s shoulders. Haunted by the choice, Douglas spends the next forty-eight hours going through the grim preparation. Together with his father, he digs a grave in the muddy pasture, learns to handle a rifle, and lies awake through the night. When morning breaks, Douglas leads Salome out into the field for what may be their final moment together. Standing just feet from the animal he raised, weapon in hand, Douglas discovers that knowing what must be done is nothing like finding the strength to do it. DUSK is an intimate, restrained, tender exploration of grief, fatherhood, and duty.