Opening Night Gala

August 22nd, 20:20 | The Garden Cinema

KLSFF returns with a collection of top shelf shorts curated exclusively by award-winning filmmakers. Join us as we kick off this year’s festival by screening some of the most stand out Official Selections of 2025.

Creative Solutions (a micro-budget showcase)

August 23rd, 14:40 | The Garden Cinema

A selection of shorts from talented emerging filmmakers who wouldn’t let the lack of a budget get in their way from making their mini-masterpieces. All works have had production budgets of under £2500.

Short Film Curators Roundtable (industry session)

August 23rd, 15:00 | Screen 4

What are festival programmers looking for? What makes your short film stand out in a saturated market?

Festival strategist Katie Bignell (Festival Formula) moderates an open conversation with festival directors, founders, programmers, and curators to get insight into their varying processes.

Lovers + The Ones That Got Away

August 23rd, 16:35 | The Garden Cinema

A selection of short films produced by Kino Short Film (either financed in whole or part via our £5000 film fund or through private equity), and films shortlisted for funding whom we wished we could’ve supported… but kudos to these filmmakers who still managed to get their films made without our help anyway.

Intimate Complexity

August 23rd, 20:50 | The Garden Cinema

A selection of shorts exploring themes of sex and intimacy, including a wide range of perspectives - from straight to queer, from young to old, from sex workers to those exploring themselves. This selection of shorts explores the complexities that having or not having sex has on human relationships. For mature audiences only.

Indie Feature Film ‘Kill Your Lover’ – A Back to Front autopsy (industry session)

August 24th, 13:00 | Screen 4

Director/producer Alix Austin takes you through the entire process of making her debut feature film “Kill Your Lover”.

This session is essential for short filmmakers considering making the leap to features.

Alix demystifies the process and provides valuable insights into aspects unique to the feature filmmaking process that short filmmakers often don’t know about in advance.

class reunion: New Works Made by KLSFF Alumni

August 24th, 14:30 | The Garden Cinema

A selection of new works from festival alumni. They’ve qualified for the Best British Short Film BIFA in the past… why not give it to one of them this time?

Short Film Funding (industry session)

August 24th, 15:30 | Screen 4

So you want money to make to your short film?

In this KLSFF Industry Session, Kino CEO Dustin Curtis Murphy speaks about the Kino Short Film Fund and to other short film financiers about their varying processes and how your funding application can stand out from the rest.

Open Minded (a selection of shorts about mental health)

August 24th, 17:00 | The Garden Cinema

Exploring themes of toxic masculinity, tremendous physical feats to help transcend the mind, loss, grief, perception… this selection of shorts explores themes of mental health curated by Mark van Heusden.

SHORT FILM OPEN MIC (two)

August 24th, 19:15 | The Garden Cinema

Our open mic is refreshingly non-competitive. Both industry professionals and first-timers bring their shorts to this first-come/first-screened selection of shorts.

kino short film awards

August 25th, 15:00 | The Garden Cinema

Join us as we announce the winners in the following categories:

• Best No Budget Short

• Micro Budget Short

• Best Low Budget Short

• Best Funded Short

• Best Director

• Best Performance in a Drama

• Best Performance in a Comedy

• Best Cinematography

• Best Screenplay

• Best Editing

• Best Original Score

• Best Production Design

• Best First Time Filmmaker

• Audience Award

• A Film in Another Language César Velasco (get ticket)

• A Man and His Machine Tegan Howard (get ticket)

• A Wonderful Neighbour Alun Rhys Morgan (get ticket)

• Achievement Owain Hopkins (get ticket)

• After the Fact Josh Silverlock (get ticket)

• Afterplay Iris Breward (get ticket)

• Alone Across Gola Jude Kriwald (get ticket)

• Amigo James Newman, Harrison Newman (get ticket)

• Art Ben Kernow (get ticket)

• Baby Tooth Olivia Accardo (get ticket)

• Bi-Nocular Panic Anouk Witkowska Hiffler (get ticket)

• Blue Violet Josie Charles (get ticket)

• Bluff Naomi Wright (get ticket)

• Boys Like You Paul Holbrook (get ticket)

• Busy Jane Moriarty (get ticket)

• Coming Out Jevan Chowdhury (get ticket)

• Contact Hours Harry Richards (get ticket)

• Coupon Taylor Caddick (get ticket)

• Cry Like a Guy Anthony Rubinstein (get ticket)

• DAVID (Solace, Chapter 1) Pilar Malo (get ticket)

• Decksdark Kane Wilson (get ticket)

• Decoy Sarah Nocquet (get ticket)

• Do You Want To Andy Berriman (get ticket)

• Dressed to the Nines Madeleine Shenai, Ivana Mazza-Coates (get ticket)

• Exchange Rate Emma Stansfield (get ticket)

• Experience Ben Lankester (get ticket)

• Extraction Lola Shaw (get ticket)

• Eyes, Front. Alex Wheeler (get ticket)

• First Sight Andrew McGee (get ticket)

• Frayed Ben Silver, Nadine Iskandar (get ticket)

• Fuck-A-Fan Muriel d’Ansembourg (get ticket)

• Good Choice, Joseph James Farrell (get ticket)

• Greensleeves inc. Guy Taylor (get ticket)

• Hedged Fergus March (get ticket)

• Hermanos Rachel McDonald (get ticket)

• Hopes and Beans Klara Kaliger (get ticket)

• Hot Mess Tortor Smith (get ticket)

• House Hunters Joe Warner (get ticket)

• How to Break Up Adam Grant (get ticket)

• I Think God Lives in Eastbourne Malindi Asuncion (get ticket)

• Ingest Callum Wilkins (get ticket)

• Jack Goes to Work Aron Randhawa (get ticket)

• Jael Drives the Nail Maddie Dai (get ticket)

• Leg of a Salesman Ryan Williams (get ticket)

• Leviathan James Mansell (get ticket)

• Lifelessnessless Riley Wong (get ticket)

• Little Lamb Drew Sheridan-Wheeler (get ticket)

• Lucy & Tom Have A One-Night Stand Megan Harding (get ticket)

• MAFIA James Cleave (get ticket)

• mandem Joladé Olusanya (get ticket)

• Morning, Glory Sonny Poon Tip (get ticket)

• Mouth Guy Woods (get ticket)

• Mum's the Word Oz Arshad (get ticket)

• Nice Package Fran St Clair (get ticket)

• Nocturnal Eyes Matilda Harding-Kemp (get ticket)

• Nuisance Nott Brothers (get ticket)

• OK/NOTOK Pardeep Sahota (get ticket)

• Old School Ieuan Coombs (get ticket)

• Olive Rosie Potts (get ticket)

• Only A Call Away Maëlle Leggiadro (get ticket)

• Please Will Matthews (get ticket)

• Please Carry On Elizabeth Connick (get ticket)

• Pomegranate Livvy Seabrook-Wilkins (get ticket)

• Popes James Duffy (get ticket)

• Princeton's in the Mix Jonathan DiMaio (get ticket)

• Rodent Joe Fereday (get ticket)

• Run Like We Rhys Aaron Lewis (get ticket)

• SMOKESCREEN Nathan Hubble (get ticket)

• STAR QUEST! Domhnall Cotter (get ticket)

• Stress Head Kyle Jon Shephard (get ticket)

• Subject 73 Reiff Gaskell (get ticket)

• The Carrot Joakim Benum (get ticket)

• The Friendship of Fish Sherice Griffiths (get ticket)

• The Full Spectrum of Nag Sam Brain (get ticket)

• The Hold JD Donnelly (get ticket)

• The Last Dance Hayden Mclean (get ticket)

• The Pearl Comb Ali Cook (get ticket)

• The Quackening James Button (get ticket)

• The Stork Stephen Gallacher (get ticket)

• The Test Hsieh Meng Han (get ticket)

• The Time Machine Zak Harney (get ticket)

• The Viewing Nick Blake (get ticket)

• The Woman in the Wardrobe Ruby Phelan (get ticket)

• The Worst Hangover Jonny Ruff (get ticket)

• Tidy Away Chris Cosentino (get ticket)

• Triangle Péter Engelmann (get ticket)

• Wake Alan Mckenna (get ticket)

• What We Wished We Could Be Luke Shelley (get ticket)

• Wish You Were Here Ramzey Sabbagh, Fhuad Braimoh (get ticket)

• Wool Coat Megan Smith (get ticket)