The 24th Brighton CineCity festival kicks off this week, taking you on adventures in world cinema with the best in festival previews, live cinema, and archive treasures. One of this year’s highlights looks to be a selection of locally sourced submissions to the festival, each showing a different aspect of life and celebrating our homegrown talent.
The films included in the screening will be:
DEAD TO DOOR – DIR: KATE LLOYD. 12 MINS.
Liz is working her evening shift at ‘Dead to Door’ where you can hire ghosts for the evening. But the next client is the last ghost she wants to see. It turns out bringing the dead back to life is a tricky business.
DRIVER CHANGE – DIR: JOSHUA FIRSHT. 5 MINS.
Outside the depot, two worn-out bus drivers experience what might be the worst driver change of all time.
THE EASY WAY OUT – DIR: BEN BOVINGTON-KEY. 14 MINS.
A story for those we lose and the ones left behind. Ted returns to his hometown to find his big brother Jim attempting to take his own life. Now all that is left to do is talk. But is it too late to save him?
GREEN GRASS – DIR: ARAM ATKINSON. 17 MINS.
A checked-out undergrad gets lumped with the new Deaf classmate and discovers the cost of his life’s choices in the seagrass meadows of the British coast.
LANDSCAPE WALKING – DIRS: MATT PAGE & DAVE STEPHENS. 10 MINS.
Dealing with the onset of memory loss, artist Dave Stephens embarks on a pilgrimage across the Sussex countryside to deliver a sculpture to an art gallery. As Dave traverses the landscape, he reflects on the notions of memory, creativity and what it means to remember the past.
THE LAST PANCAKE – DIR: RUBY PHELAN. 9 MINS.
A magical-realist drama about Amanda, who ventures to The Last Pancake cafe where she awakens her suppressed appetite, and a reunion with her nine-year-old self.
LOVE YOU – BYE – DIR: GEORGIA APSION. 13 MINS.
A playful film about Death that celebrates Life. Career-driven Ingrid rushes back to her childhood home to join free-spirited Shelly at the bedside of beloved older sister Ruth. They quickly come to the conclusion that as Death happens to all of us, they might as well get good at it.
MELTING SEA – DIR: IAN HELLIWELL. 6 MINS.
Heavily decayed amateur standard 8mm footage of seascapes shot in the 1970s. During the telecine process, the film failed to run correctly through the projector and a normal transfer was impossible; the problem becoming a central feature of the project.
STILT. NAIL. TYPE. – DIR: JOEL BYRON. 9 MINS.
Three artists. Three processes. Three encounters on film. An analogue triptych exploring movement, repetition, material and environment shot on black & white Kodak Tri-X. Accompanied by original electronic scores by Ian Helliwell.
WE ARE PERSONS – DIR: ANDREW KÖTTING. 6 MINS.
A collaboration between Andrew Kötting and his daughter Eden with Glenn Whiting and Isabel Skinner. The catalyst for the work was a teach-yourself-English 7inch 45rpm vinyl found over thirty years ago. Collaging images and sounds around the themes of vanity and solipsism, the film gently nudges us in the direction of self-reflection and what it means to be human during these fraught times of self-identity and self-loathing.
If you want to see a whole range of stories, approaches and an insight into our local filmmaking techniques, this evening seems to have so much to offer.
The Cinecity Festival runs from 6th – 15th November 2026 with venues across the city.
This event will take place at Fabrica, 40 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AG on Wednesday 11th November at 6.00 pm.
Please note that this evening has a 15 Certificate.
Tickets start from £5.50 and are available from the CineCity website.
Find more arts and culture reviews at Brighton and Hove News – Follow @BHCitywhatson and @bhcitynews on Instagram.
Covering everything from fringe theatre to major tours across Brighton and Hove – tag us if you’re going
