SCREENPLAY
A Question of Service
written by Hans Robert Obma
A former missionary lands an interpreting job for the agents of MI6. Whom should he trust...and should anyone trust him?
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Big Man
written by Tom Bedford
The ageing patriarch of a model village has his authority threatened when a young woman with ties to the village’s past comes to claim what’s hers.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Brothers and Men
written by Kelvin Ke
Brothers and Men is a short story about two estranged brothers who decide to take their elderly father out for a day trip on his birthday. But even after so many years, they find it hard to forget the painful memories that marked their childhood and adult lives.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Dark Writes
written by Martin Richmond
A group of writers meet at an isolated writer's retreat in Scotland. Each reads out a very scary story, loosely based on fact. But one story holds more truth than the rest and is far more terror than they can handle, when they learn that some words really can kill!
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
E.Nygma: A Batman Story
written by Rob Ayling
A psychological dive into the narcissistic mind of Edward Nygma, who is struggling to answer one of his most personal riddles.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot): BEST FAN FILM
El Vals (The Waltz)
written by Alycya Magaña
After his mother's deportation, a lonely 8 year old Mexican-American boy tries to throw his sister her long awaited Quinceañera.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Epiphany - The Road to Redemption
written by Kieran Bourne, Stephen Levy
A conflicted young man has a life altering meeting with a kind stranger but the life he’s led will endanger them both. Short Synopsis Epiphany is a faith based thriller that follows the conflicted Lenny is not looking for his sins to be forgiven but forgotten. Despite speaking to a Pastor regular, mainly in tribute to his dead mother, Lenny knows that the only place where he is truly accepted is in the streets. When fleeing after a petty robbery causes Lenny to bump into the clean cut James with a Police car on patrol, Lenny feels his street luck may be up. Instead, James offers Lenny the chance of coffee and conversation where they reveal truths and Lenny’s deep rooted faith that was instilled by his mother. Not wanting to give away much more, Lenny goes to break away but not before James takes the young man’s hand and prays. Walking the streets following this peculiar event, Lenny receives a call from his friend Tony. When the young man arrives at the meeting point, a dingy unused two-storey warehouse, Tony greets him and then introduces Lenny to their “prize.” It is James, beaten and tied to a chair. What follows is a tense, confined, thriller dealing with the nature.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
Extra Time
written by Steve Lanwarne
After years in prison, a disgraced professional footballer gets an opportunity to travel to the past and learn some important truths about his marriage and the terrible accident that devastated his family.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
Freeze
written by Jim Reeves
Ex-boxer Joe Box is in his sixties, asthmatic and twice divorced with no children from either marriage. A laconic wisecracker and womanizer, he sings and plays piano in a Birmingham night club. He lives alone but enjoys an occasional dalliance with a variety of lady friends. The story opens with the attempted mugging of Joe. It then traces the events of the previous two weeks that see him forced to make a life changing career move that leads him into the darker side of Birmingham underworld life. Most of the action takes place in Birmingham but moves to Austria for a while part-way through the story. Joe is finding it difficult to make ends meet so he looks for another job to supplement his income. He finds employment with a small detective agency run by the drop-dead gorgeous Maggie Dancer. He is given what seems like an ordinary assignment and is suddenly catapulted into a brutal world where murder, blackmail, and paedophilia are considered the norm. Joe falls foul of some very bad people and a desperate flight for survival ensues. Only his wit and survival instincts keep him alive until he finally decides to fight back. The hunted becomes the hunter. The predator becomes the prey. Five men die as Joe struggles to get his life back to normal. Joe inevitably cuts a few corners along the way and attracts the attentions of a blackmailer and the local police force in Birmingham. However, he ducks and dives his way out of trouble just like he has been doing for most of his life.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
Imperfect Strangers
written by Velton J Lishke, Michael Bray Meat, The Sinner
When five unrelated strangers in a shared house find themselves in a situation which could change their lives, they embark on a terrifying journey of deception, greed, terror and paranoia as each of them has to decide just how far they are willing to go for a chance to wipe the slate clean.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
Just 14
written by Andrew Taft, Terry Newman, Andy D Dale
Aston Villa film about a 14-year old fan. Comedy set in the early 80's. Fever Pitch meets Gregory's Girl with twist of Adrian Mole.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
LOVETT
written by Luci Olivia
''In search of profits for her pub, a penniless but resilient woman conspires with a murderous stranger to unscrupulously climb the social ladder of an unforgiving Georgian London - despite bringing out the very worst in each other.'' A retelling of the story of Mrs Lovett from the penny dreadful tale 'The String of Pearls' featuring Sweeney Todd.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Mars Flytrap
written by Kitty Harper
LGBTQ+ crime drama. A group of well trained contract killers embark upon the biggest score of their lives, only one of them has to seduce their male target to get the equipment they need to finish the job, which stirs relationship problems with his husband.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Nashaa (translated: "Intoxicate")
written by Jas Kandola
A sharp-witted Birmingham schoolboy works for a ruthless Punjabi drug cartel, to make money for his debt-ridden family.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
ROADTRIPPERS
written by Rebecca de Fargues
Things get out of control when a group of amateur taxidermists go on a roadtrip in an attempt to fulfill their friend’s dying wish to find Bigfoot.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
The Homecoming
written by Keith Martin
Upon returning to his village on a small Irish island for his estranged father's funeral, a depressed novelist discovers foul play and struggles to bring the killers to justice before they silence him forever..
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Feature)
The Night We Met
written by Richard Hoggarth, Sam Hoggarth
The Night We Met is set in the near future about a middle-aged couple called Mike and Heather. Heather is terminally ill and wants help from Mike to end her life. After much conflict and facing the death of the love of his life. Mike finds himself in an unexpected place.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
The Pickleball Killer
written by Jim Carroll
Brigg, an aging pickleball sensation, with supernatural speed, and dark mysterious origin, becomes the target of the Cartel after he inadvertently rescues a young trafficked girl from their clutches. In an attempt to give Amy a better life, he becomes her father figure and she his daughter. The two develop a touching relationship that turns dangerous when they rescue her sister and other enslaved girls. The cops are closing in, but the cartel beats them and reclaims the girls. Brigg must use his special abilities and all his resources in a suicidal mission to free the girls.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
The Time of His Life
written by Jim Reeves
The idea centres on the offbeat relationship that develops when fifty-something Norm Rodway, whose wife has recently left him, takes in Cleo Jones a teenage unmarried mother who he finds sleeping rough with her baby.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
The Top Of The Hill
written by Kieran Grant, Stephen Levy
"The Top of the Hill" addresses the unexpected and how we handle crises. I wanted to convey the situation's tension and the characters' compassion and empathy as a filmmaker.
Flashbacks reveal Eve's prior suffering, helping viewers understand her response to the incident. She freezes at the recollection before regaining her composure and acting, displaying her commitment to not repeat the past.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
WAA
written by Freya Elizabeth Richardson
Getting pulled into a tragedy, Wren's life takes a turn and new opportunities open - both personal and professional...
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Who's Joey Johnson?
written by Jilly Gardiner
Joey Johnson is desperate to be famous, but can't find his hidden talent. Until one day when his friend introduces him to hot-wiring cars, and Joey finally finds his calling. All over the papers as the elusive 'hot-wire hero', Joey isn't happy, as what is the point of being famous for what you do, when no one knows your name? Joey sets out to let the country know exactly who he is...
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)
Zakari
written by Michael Blomquist
43,000 years ago, a tribe of early humans finds its idyllic existence suddenly complicated by the discovery of sex, water travel, language and the evils of capitalism - all in the same week.
nominations: BEST SCREENPLAY (Short / TV Pilot)