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Hosted by Screen Alliance South West | Sponsored by ADF Kick off your Encounters festival experience the right way. Join Screen Alliance South West for a…
Personal reality is reality. What happens when our minds are allowed to take over?
Bristol VFX studio Lux Aeterna reveals what goes into making a sci-fi short in a virtual production volume, and the opportunities emerging technologies pose…
Audience favourites from across Europe compete for the ultimate prize - winning the hearts of 511 million Europeans in this year-long continental tour of…
Nothing here is quite what it appears to be. Ghosts guide the living, trains leave Russia without touching the ground, the Gorillaz wander across India, and a…
Blak Wave in Focus. The only regional recipient of the new Channel 4 Creative Equity IP Fund.
Audience favourites from across Europe compete for the ultimate prize - winning the hearts of 511 million Europeans in this year-long continental tour of the…
When their agency is threatened, these characters have to adapt or resist.
Special preview of Phuong Mai Nguyen's awards contender IN WAVES, ahead of its UK release later this year.
The unique craft of creating and structuring short film scripts is rarely taught. This session rethinks the 3-act structure to serve the mini movie.
A showcase of bold new short filmmaking from the Philippines, presented with the support of the British Council and celebrating the links between two UNESCO…
Love letters by carrier pigeon, a dying woman floating through space with a Soviet dog, a daughter dancing to keep her mother from drowning, and Don Hertzfeldt…
Head of Bristol Film School, Freya Billington chairs a panel of filmmakers and funders discussing their different approaches to working within and adapting to…
Discover how womxn are leading the charge in genre film.
Watch this trilogy about Cornish people, planet and place and hear from the filmmaking teams about their process of working in 360 for the first time.
DepicT! is our super short filmmaking competition challenging filmmakers from across the globe to create an imaginative and original short film of 90 seconds…
Join us on opening night with a short keynote from Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, on what's next for the creative industries in the region. Doors…
We will be joined by the film's stars and director Paul Wright for a Q&A after this extra special screening. Alienated Dylan (George MacKay) throws off the…
Dancers, demons, time loops and a very bad night out in Bristol. Seven new films from across the South West.
Dancers, demons, time loops and a very bad night out in Bristol. Seven new films from across the South West.
Start your festival day by joining us for breakfast - meet your fellow festival goers and enjoy coffee, tea and delicious pastries on us. All are welcome but…
A selection of dramas which celebrate having someone in your corner. I got you.
Join Climate Spring's Lucy Stone to explore how storytelling can connect big ideas about technology and climate to human experiences and illuminate solutions…
Wes Anderson's lead storyboard artist Jay Clarke explores the relationship between visual storytelling and exposition, revealing how filmmakers use both to…
Featured by The Times as the #1 thing to do in Bristol and one of the 7 best walking tours in the UK, Blackbeard2Banksy bring their story-driven guided walk to…
12 writers from across the UK will present their early stage works.
Bodies that betray us, connections that barely hold, and a shrimp in love with a blind fish. This programme swings from allegories about blind faith to joyful…
Grab a hot drink, pick up a pencil and join Josh Flynn for this drink and draw. Josh is the sculptor behind characters in Isle of Dogs, Robin Robin, Love Death…
Love letters by carrier pigeon, a dying woman floating through space with a Soviet dog, a daughter dancing to keep her mother from drowning, and Don Hertzfeldt…
To mark the London Film School's 70th anniversary, Encounters presents a selection of outstanding short films from the archive of the UK's oldest film school.…
An hour exploring the power and the premium of the human made. The films that stay with us are the ones with a fingerprint on them. Mark Simon Hewis, Head of…
What happens when we go beyond the monitor, and the distance between us disappears?
When their agency is threatened, these characters have to adapt or resist.
Practical insights from an experienced awards campaign expert to help filmmakers position their shorts, reach influential audiences, build momentum, and…
People becoming things they didn't expect to be: a mother, a hag, a planet of someone else's nostalgia, a corpse's travel companion. Plus a good look at that…
Suzy Fagan Parr has animated on nearly every stop-motion feature Aardman has made, from Chicken Run to Wallace & Gromit. In this masterclass Suzy opens up on…
Not every film gets made through the usual channels. These filmmakers put the audience first and find ways to get it done anyway.
Nothing here is quite what it appears to be. Ghosts guide the living, trains leave Russia without touching the ground, the Gorillaz wander across India, and a…
Join the British Council, BFI NETWORK South West teams and fellow creatives, including the award winning director, writer and animator, May Kindred-Boothby,…
Exams, crushes, auditions, and the night you become someone new. Five films from the edge of adulthood.
The British Council and BFI NETWORK South West invite you to a friendly gathering with fellow filmmakers and industry delegates at Encounters.
ANiMiNSPO brings to Encounters a selection of animation directors to share and discuss current works in progress and upcoming projects.
Personal reality is reality. What happens when our minds are allowed to take over?
Kangding Ray performs a live soundsystem set built from the film's music. Director Óliver Laxe VJs unseen footage shot on set, selecting and mixing images…
The legendary Late Lounge returns, best watched after dark and probably not on a full stomach. Mothers turning into silverfish, dinner guests eating each…
Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM) hosts a celebratory meetup at The Three Tuns. Whether you're an established industry veteran, newcomer or simply an animation…
Celebrate 25 years of Adult Swim with a throwback showcase packed full of fan favourites, animated delights, best digested with a brand-new special crossover…
Start your festival day by joining us for breakfast - meet your fellow festival goers and enjoy coffee, tea and delicious pastries on us. All are welcome but…
Longing for a closeness that keeps slipping out of reach.
Join us to explore the power and popularity of vertical drama! As we get to grips with their storytelling grammar, and what the format’s success tells us about…
Exams, crushes, auditions, and the night you become someone new. Five films from the edge of adulthood.
BAFTA-winning Casting Director Isabella Odoffin opens up about her craft, from the creative processes behind her work to the collaborative relationships that…
Miracle bread that turns people into loaves, a painter who vanished, animals in revolt, a writer choosing between silence and action, and a pint in the pub…
Join Mandy Chang, CEO of the Documentary Film Council, for this session on building a more sustainable and ambitious documentary industry in the UK.
People becoming things they didn't expect to be: a mother, a hag, a planet of someone else's nostalgia, a corpse's travel companion. Plus a good look at that…
What stays and what gets taken. Three films about mortality, migration and the living world, from Joshua Oppenheimer's thousand-strong revolt against death to…
With BAFTA-winning producer Scott O'Donnell (Somesuch), Roomies creators Cyrus Ferguson and Brooke Brazer, and Dan Higginson, Founder and Creative Director at…
These characters let it all out and show their strength
What happens when we go beyond the monitor, and the distance between us disappears?
Wesley Wang, Dave Levy and HaZ on what happens when creators who built audiences online make films - and who's building the infrastructure to let them.
Academy Award-winning director Aneil Karia sits down with BAFTA-winning writer-director Nida Manzoor for a masterclass tracing his journey from acclaimed short…
A damaged spaceship, a Romanian hillside, a surrealist garden, a hospital corridor, a carrot heist, a man called Vova who can only say one thing, and a dark…
Bodies that betray us, connections that barely hold, and a shrimp in love with a blind fish. This programme swings from allegories about blind faith to joyful…
The traditional distribution playbook isn't delivering for most indie filmmakers. Chaired by Eventive CEO and Co-founder Iddo Patt, this panel pairs…
History arrives uninvited - through the door of a family gathering, onto a quiet Chicago street, into the pages of a love story. From Bristol to the orbit of…
Decisions have consequences, but not for the makers.
To celebrate the WePresent commissioned short films Vote Gavin Lyle and Original Sin playing at this year's Encounters Film Festival please join us for a…
A selection of dramas which celebrate having someone in your corner. I got you.
Join us for a special screening of Sirāt followed by a conversation between director Óliver Laxe and filmmaker Ben Rivers.
Shot on a shoestring with a lovingly handcrafted look that recalls Guy Maddin by way of Roger Corman, the film channels vintage British oddity and lo-fi genre…
The legendary Late Lounge returns, best watched after dark and probably not on a full stomach. Mothers turning into silverfish, dinner guests eating each…
Eight animated shorts for ages 5 and up. A capybara and his best friend Mister Tangerine, a fearless four-year-old on the steepest hill in town, a birthday…
The Family Gaming Room, hosted by Andy Robertson and the Family Gaming Database, is where the playing happens. Free, drop in, all ages welcome. Unlike other…
Decisions have consequences, but not for the makers.
In this hands-on workshop, we will use colour, pens, scratching and other techniques to transform found footage and disused Super 8 film into something new. We…
Join professional animator Maraike Kraemer for a playful, hands-on introduction to the magic of stop motion. Families will sculpt their own clay characters,…
Seven shorts for ages 10 and up. Nosferatu becomes a foster carer, Death's new apprentice turns out to be better at the job than he is, a grumpy raccoon breaks…
A damaged spaceship, a Romanian hillside, a surrealist garden, a hospital corridor, a carrot heist, a man called Vova who can only say one thing, and a dark…
Film composer, producer and Invada Records label boss Geoff Barrow sits down with French-born, Berlin-based electronic artist Kangding Ray (David Letellier) to…
On Halloween Eve at Mossy Bottom Farm, excitement turns to dismay when the clumsy Farmer ruins the pumpkin patch. Shaun tries fixing it with science…
Join professional animator Maraike Kraemer for a fun, hands-on introduction to the basics of stop motion animation. Designed for ages 13–17, this workshop…
These characters let it all out and show their strength.
Partly based on Don DeLillo's one-act play The Word for Snow and shot on luminous 16mm, Mare's Nest combines elements of fiction, documentary, poetic essay and…
A struggling primary school teacher begins to make some questionable decisions after one of her students is injured.
Deeper Into Movies presents Warp Vision: a feature-length trip through the music video archives of Warp Records, the label that redefined electronic music and…
Miracle bread that turns people into loaves, a painter who vanished, animals in revolt, a writer choosing between silence and action, and a pint in the pub…
Dancers, demons, time loops and a very bad night out in Bristol. Seven new films from across the South West.
After this year's packed BFI IMAX premiere in May, straight 8 brings their best films of 2026 to Encounters. Each straight 8 film is made on a single roll of…
Longing for a closeness that keeps slipping out of reach.
Five days of films, talks and late nights deserve a proper send-off, so for our closing party we're taking over Wake The Tiger, the Amazement Park built by the…
Missed the films that took home this year's awards? Here's your chance. This special screening brings together a selection of the award-winning films from…
Missed the films that took home this year's awards? Here's your chance. This special screening brings together a selection of the award-winning films from…
Missed the films that took home this year's awards? Here's your chance. Missed the films that took home this year's awards? Here's your chance. This special…
