We’re delighted to present the short films in this edition of our Introducing… slot, a space for discovery and collaboration at Screening Days, selected by our programming team: I’m Charlie Johnson, directed by Esther Springett; Video Letters, directed by Amanda Ramasawmy; Ultra Violet Neon Planet, directed by Jashan Walton; Cameraman, directed by Arsalan Motavali; Hormonal, directed by Maz Murray; and Wedding Reminiscence directed by Barney Gibbons.
Ideas of belonging, identity and fragments of memory traverse through each of these short films. These filmmakers capture life in motion as they navigate the complex relations of autonomy and conformity within modern existence. Together, these shorts ask who gets to belong – and what barriers present themselves to those seeking to?
Within each short, we hope to pique the interest of a wide range of audiences, weaving together narratives from some of the full-length features also programmed in this year’s Screening Days. From tenderly told coming-of-old-age tales to stories of the hurdles young people face in working-class Britain today, these films reflect the human capacity for joy within sites of resistance.
With thanks to the filmmakers
The films
I’m Charlie Johnson
Dir: Esther Springett | UK | 2025 | 20 mins
The coming of age story of an 18-year old skater as he navigates neurodivergence, familial mental health challenges and dreams of escaping his ‘small town life’, set against a backdrop of roller discos in the seaside town of St Leonards-on-Sea.
Booking enquiries to Esther Springett
Video Letters
Dir: Amanda Ramasawmy | UK | 2025 | 9 mins
A moving image work drawn from early 1990s VHS tapes in the filmmaker’s family archive, Video Letters examines how migrant families sustain relationships across oceans through mediated forms of communication. It reflects on the role of domestic recording technologies in shaping not only what is remembered, but how memory itself is formed, altered, and preserved over time, leaving its imprint onto the memories themselves. In doing so, the work considers recorded images as both documents and active agents in the construction of personal and collective memory.
Booking enquiries to Amanda Ramasawmy
Ultra Violet Neon Planet
Dir: Jashan Walton | UK | 2025 | 19 mins
A shared voice with no words. Ultra Violet Neon Planet documents the cultural origins of bleep, a sub-genre of house and techno developed in Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford in the late 1980s. Mixing interviews and archival film, the documentary explores the transatlantic connection between Yorkshire and the mid-western cities of Chicago and Detroit, unravelling the subconscious influences that shaped the sounds of bleep.
Booking enquiries to Jashan Walton
Cameraman
Dir: Arsalan Motavali | UK | 2025 | 15 mins
In the late ’90s, a newly immigrated cameraman desperate to restart his career must decide whether to risk his family’s savings on a stranger’s offer.
Booking enquiries to Arsalan Motavali
Hormonal
Dir: Maz Murray | UK | 2023 | 12 mins
When three trans people in a small town in Essex get ripped off by their DIY testosterone supplier, they must come together to undertake a daring hormone heist in this working-class, neo-noir flight of fancy.
Booking enquiries to Maz Murray
Wedding Reminiscence
Dir: Barney Gibbons | UK | 2024 | 11 mins
A group of facilitators, apprentices, volunteers, people living with dementia, and their supporters gather in a community hall. Together, they re-enact a wedding, an experience in which the past is revisited and new memories are created.
Booking enquiries to Barney Gibbons
