Beacon

"REM" is an Afrikaans Sci-Fi Drama about a grief-stricken father, Dehan, who becomes obsessed with the memory of his late wife, Lena, through the use of a high-tech, dream-altering device, the REM. This unhealthy obsession leads to Dehan struggling to reconnect with his young son, Erich, who survived the car accident that caused Lena's death. Dehan must decide to face and to confront his grief, reconnecting with his son, or to become so immersed in his fantasy dream-world that he loses touch with reality, and Erich, altogether.

A football hooligan feels unconditional love for his club. However, being gay, he has to hide his identity in order to survive in this world that is so precious to him.

Day in, day out, Mr. Grimm is busy with his job as the Reaper, harvesting people's lives. One day, his monotonous existence is interrupted by the door bell. It's a little girl. She wants her cat back. Little does she know that she's the next life on Mr. Grimm's list.

A story of a polyamorous, non-binary relationship struggling to survive an epidemic of genetically modified killer mosquitos.

Smile follows the story of Mr O'Shea, a psychotic, short tempered Middle aged man mourning the recent loss of his family. We follow him and see how he deals with an average day of his life as he has no patience and will do regrettable things without thinking twice about the consequences.

A modern reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's classic poem "The Raven."

When an under appreciated single mother intercepts a strange transmission on her pocket radio she suspects that it may be linked to her teenage sons mysterious homemade gaming headset.

Using a mix of Hollywood aesthetics with documentary strategies, the film follows a young indigenous girl from the Xingu National Park to São Paulo, where she falls in love with a robot that also happens to be a stand-up comedian. This strange story mixes the anthropology of humor, indigenous communities, and artificial intelligence.

One summer afternoon in 1907, Abel and his wife (both mice) are picnicking, when they become separated during a violent rainstorm. After flying some distance, Abel discovers himself alone on a river island, unable to swim due to the powerful current. Abel periodically attempts to leave the island by various means: flying on a leaf, rowing a crudely fashioned boat, etc. Meanwhile, he tries to create a normal life of sorts, even learning to enjoy a new hobby: sculpture. Still, Abel's goal is to escape the island and rejoin his wife in the city.

Closet directed by Timothy Troy

The animation was produced for the Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum, thus it features scenes from the "life and nature" of Tezuka Osamu's childhood, themes that are central to the museum as a whole, through exchanges between the boy Osamu and the carabid beetle (Osamushi) who provided the origin for the artist's name.

A young boy who likes to play the flute dreams that he has lost his water buffalo.

Terrified of telling her parents that she’s pregnant as restrictions to abortion access worsen, a desperate teenager seeks the help of a reclusive neighbor who her parents warned her about.

This beautiful short, commissioned by UCLan’s Creative Innovation Zone, is an intricate hand-drawn journey through the life of a local activist, George Dewhurst. An ordinary working man from Blackburn, George was charged with High Treason, shortly after The Peterloo Massacre in August 1819, for speaking at a gathering of workers in Burnley. Narrated by one of George's descendants, 8-year-old Monty Speed, this beautiful animated montage depicts events in George's life in the year 1819, following a quest by descendants to uncover his grave and raise awareness of his story.

A man suffering from severe OCD attempts to summon dark forces to help him move on from a recent tragedy, only to quickly realize he may be in over his head

In the vestibule of a hospital room, a young boy waits to see his dying mother. The clamor and spiralling movements of bodies around him intensify, forming a grotesque circus—a cacophonous circle that pushes the child back, depriving him of one final touch of his mother's hand. Using rotoscoped drawings suggestive of charcoal sketches, as well as 3D and object animation techniques, The Circus compels viewing with its unsettling realism. Colour is employed metaphorically to subtly express the promise and the memory of maternal affection. Nicolas Brault's highly personal film, suffused with poetic modesty, casts a poignantly sincere gaze on the heartbreak of a child facing the fearful, mysterious experience of his mother's death.

After a jailbreak on an interplanetary POW transport ship, a prison guard loyal to his culture an commander is shown the true nature of his lifelong enemy. Coming face-to-face with a captain leaves him questioning everything he has been taught. Should he continue to blindly follow the rhetoric of his society or finally make his own decisions.

A tribute to Mexican animation, with the characters of The Leyends, Villainous and Frankelda. Inspired by the music of Mecano.

This anti-smoking public information film has the kind of stylistic sheen often associated with 1980s British advertising, with its sci-fi setting, filtered smoke and gloomy aesthetics clearly inspired by the works of Ridley Scott (although it’s directed by his contemporary, Barry Myers). It imagines a genetically advanced future humanoid who’s evolved to be a ‘natural born smoker’ – complete with enlarged nostrils and tapping finger - before reminding us that no such creature yet exists. While we expect smoking adverts to be disturbing, the titular character is disquieting in a refreshingly unusual sense.

The sequel to Smoker of the Future, in which he has a child who will take after his father.