Short Film Festival 2025

Liverpool John Moores University is proud to be hosting the fifth annual edition of the LJMU MA Short Film Festival this spring. The festival will launch online from March 28, with in person events running from the March 31 until the April 4.

Since it began in 2021, the festival has been able to build and improve every year, transforming into a multiplatform event with an international reach. This year we've received an astounding 2,691 film submissions from 112 countries, ranging from Ecuador to Taiwan, India to Bulgaria, Kazakhstan to the UK.

The LJMU MA Short Film Festival is distinctly programmed by students for students, helping to highlight the talent, creativity, and remarkable storytelling ability of young and upcoming filmmakers across the globe. Submission to the festival is free for student filmmakers as is audience access for both the online and in person events.

This year’s selected programme features 37 films from light-hearted comedies, inspirational tales of adversity and challenging explorations of sexual violence and grief. The films are programmed into four strands: Fiction, Documentary, Experimental and Animation.

One film from each strand will be chosen by a jury, made up of industry professionals, academics, previous winners and LJMU BA Film students, to win a coveted Paper Bird Award. Visitors to the festival website will also be able to vote for their favourite film to receive the special Audience Award.

Dr Lydia Papadimitriou says: ‘I am so proud to see this unique festival, curated and run by a new group of MA Film students every year, successfully reach its 5th year and grow from strength to strength in terms of film submissions, audiences and the quality of the work behind the scenes.’

Martin Jones says: "Reaching our fifth edition is an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and to celebrate the incredible talent, hard work, and dedication of our current and former MA students, as well as the student filmmakers whose work we’ve had the privilege of showcasing.’

Festival-goers can watch the films on the festival website from March 28, or at live screening events starting on the evening of Monday the March 31, with a different strand screening each night until April 3. The live events will take place in LJMU’s own Redmond’s Building, followed by Q&As with some of the featured filmmakers.

The festival closes on April 4 with a live awards ceremony, bringing filmmakers and audiences together to celebrate the films and the success of the festival.

IMAGE: The MA Short Film Festival team, 2025.

Notes to Editor

• For immediate release
• For further information, get in touch with Josh/ Max at J.K.Darlington@2021.ljmu.ac.uk or m.a.kenney@2024.ljmu.ac.uk
• Links to LJMU MA Short Film Festival social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky
• Link to LJMU MA Short Film Festival’s website: https://ljmumashortfilmfestival.org/
• Link to LJMU MA Short Film Festival on Spotify

About Liverpool Screen School

Based at Liverpool John Moores University’s Mount Pleasant Campus, Liverpool Screen School is a renowned centre for research in Journalism, Media and Communication. Built upon a plethora of courses; both undergraduate and postgraduate, the school takes a combined approach to teaching; focused around research-based and industry-led learning.

About LJMU MA Short Film Festival

Established in 2021, the festival is committed to showcasing the work of emerging talent from across the globe. The event is organised and run by LJMU Film (MA) students as part of the Exploring Film Festivals, Distribution and Exhibition module, under the guidance of Dr Lydia Papadimitriou, taking an industry-based approach to teaching.

Please find below some of the inspirational, challenging, and entertaining films from this year’s festival.

Animation:

Daisy (Spain)
A ballerina in a music box discovers she can create music through movement and dance, but something stirring in the dark makes her wonder who she is really performing for…

Don’t Give Them Room to Grow (France)

Welcome to a town just like any other. Here, there are apartment blocks and houses with gardens. Here, leaves coat the Autumn ground. Here, weeds grow impulsively through the available cracks. A little too much for some residents…

Garlic Soup (Bulgaria)

A vampire, thirsty for blood, stalks a small village in search of his next victim. After a case of mistaken identity, he fears he may have finally met his match.

Fiction:

Cherry on Top (Germany)

The desire for revenge can take over your life, but is getting it the answer to moving on?

Count My Lov3 (Poland)

Love is a complex equation, but when logic and emotion compete, sometimes we don’t get the answer we want.

Salaad Paapad Pickle Sweet (India)

A waiter struggles to balance his job and his personal life during a dinner rush at work.

Documentary:

Colourful White (China)

A beautifully animated documentary about the life experiences of people with vitiligo, a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin.

It’s Like Summer, But In Fact It’s Random (Estonia)

Follow blind poet Paiv as he traverses a sighted world, finding solace through his art. A film about loneliness, disability and the transformative power of creativity.

Swim Higher (Italy)

A former Olympic synchronised swimmer shares her complicated relationship with the precision and elegance of artistic swimming and the unspoken impact of sacrificing oneself for the love of the sport.

Experimental:

Oudenk (Let’s Eat) (USA)

A culinary love letter to family and culture, in a distinctive animation style that will leave you feeling a deep sense of warmth and home.

Paper Elephant (Ecuador)

Three separate stories about overcoming physical and mental struggles and finding inner happiness, mixing animation with traditional documentary techniques.

She’s Asking for It (UK)

An intimate and harrowing portrait of a young woman’s experience of sexual violence, abuse and objectification.