Short film screenings in an around London 📽️
From SHORTIES to CHERRYPICK, come support short films!
Welcome back Messies 🌷
We always rave about short films — why you should make them and why you should watch them. If you’re based in London, you have a fantastic variety of short film screening right at your fingertips and no, you don’t have to wait for London Short Film Festival to roll around again and no, you don’t need to spend a hundred pounds on a festival accreditation.
Films are supposed to be experienced on the big screen, so while we LOVE and support online short film platforms like Vimeo or Omeleto, the feeling of sitting in a dark room and watching a film with others is still superior.
We’ve put together a short list of screening nights, cheap, monthly film festivals, communities, distribution companies, film clubs and collectives where you can watch films for FREE or very cheap.
Take a look and let us know if we should add any:
Theatreship is a (literally) floating art centre on two cargo ships docked in Canary Wharf. They have loads of music (especially folk) events on, but every Wednesday there is a FREE MYSTERY CINEMA SCREENING. You can subscribe to their newsletter to get a hint at that week’s film, or you can just show up and be surprised!
Their next mystery screening is tonight at 7PM! Book here!
Shorties is a short film screening run by Lois Tallulah, for women and by women. We at Messy are big fans of Shorties and have gone to some many great screenings + Q&As, talks on finding funding and workshops! Their most recent screening was for International Women’s Day at Picturehouse Finsbury Park and looked incredible.
They haven’t announced their next event yet but watch this space!
The Love Tank is a non-profit organisation promoting mental health & wellbeing of under served communities. They run a FREE monthly screening called the Queer Film Club for Queer Migrants and Queer People of Colour!
Their next event is on the 9th April at 6:30PM where they will be screening Close (2022) by Lukas Dhont & Angelo Tijssens! Book here!
Shorts on Tap is a short film festival based in London, Berlin, Tokyo and Venice. They have a showcase dedicated to incredible female-driven storytelling called Women on Revolt at London’s Rich Mix: ‘An exploration of female film-making, a selection of extraordinary works depicting, describing and challenging the very essence of Womanhood.’
Their next event is on the 2nd April at 8:15PM! Book here!
Bad Gal Film Club is a women-centric film community focusing on screenings, events and essays. For the month of March they are running the Bad Gal Film Festival in Manchester, where they will be showing everything from classics to contemporary picks while raising funs for Women’s Aid!
Their next event is a screening of Witches (2024) by Elizabeth Sankey tonight at 8PM at my beloved ArtHouse Crouch End in London. Book here!
We Are Parable is a Black-focused film distribution company that frequently puts on FREE screenings of some of the most wonderful new releases. I’ve gone to packed Q&A screenings of Nickel Boys (2024), Earth Mama (2023) and American Fiction (2023) all across London.
Sign up to their newsletter to get invites for their next screenings!
Czech Centre London actively promotes Czech and Eastern European art and culture, including music, architecture, gaming, design and film. They showcase variety of Czech cinema through curated screenings of both classics with in-depth introductions or new releases with cast & crew Q&As. This is a great way to expand your film knowledge!
Their next event is a screening of Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story (2024) by Kateřina Mikulcová & Petr Smělíkis and it’s on the 25th March at 7PM!
Book here!
South London Shorts is an entirely not-for-profit, community-led endeavour dedicated to showcasing local talent and helping out where short filmmakers need it most: getting cash. The proceeds from all tickets serve as prize money for filmmakers at the end of each screening!
Their next event celebrates 10 years of South London Shorts where they will be screening local short films and is on the 1st April at 7:30PM! Book here!
Seasonal Affective Cinema is a quarterly film club which screens season-specific films. To welcome autumn, I went to their screening of Practical Magic (1998) by Alice Hoffman & Griffin Dunne. The organisers even handed out plant bulbs at the end of the screening to plant so that the flowers would bloom for spring ❤️
For their SPRING screening they are showing Bright Star (2009) by Jane Campion on the 15th April at 6:30PM! Book here!
Kino Short Film is an indie short film collective, a BIFA-qualifying film festival and a production company running their own short film fund. They run something called the Short Film Open Mic, where filmmakers submit their shorts to be screened at the event, first-come, first-screened basis.
Their next Short Film Open Mic is on the 25th March at 7PM! Book here!
CHERRYPICK just launched last week! This is an actor-focused community hosting screenings, talks, actors on acting panel discussions and Q&As.
Their first event, a screening of Diary of a Ghost, is on the 7th April at 5:30PM. Book here!
As a special bonus, we have three of our very own Messies hosting screenings of their short films soon!
First is Shakira Newton, who made her first ever short film titled In His Name, which was BFI-backed (congrats on the impossible!) and after a successful cast & crew screening is doing a public showcase to raise money for a festival run!
There are two available screenings on the 25th March, one at 6:30PM and one at 7PM, so go see a fantastic film and help Shakira get this film to fests! Book here!
The second is Cameron Richards, who, with Charlie Tidmas made a documentary titled We’ll Go Down in History. It tells the story of TRUK United, a grassroots, proudly trans football club.
The screening is preceded by a selection of queer shorts and is happening on the 31st March at 6:50PM. Book Here!
The third is Amadeus Redha who is going to be hosting the ‘Best of British’, a new film event showcasing some of the most awarded British short films of recent years, including his own film!
The screening of Olympus Lost is among 7 other amazing shorts and it’s on the 28th June at 3:30PM. Book here!
Enjoy the films and maybe see you there!
All our LOVE,
The Messy Women x