The UK Film Festival (UKFF) was set up in 2011 by a group of film-makers, including writer-producer Murray Woodfield. Its programme has always reflected domestic and international cultural diversity. The Festival presents numerous awards, including Best Short, Best British Short, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Animation Film, Best Music Video, Best Student Film and new this year: Best Lockdown Short. 

The UKFF script competitions are an important part of the Festival. Two of the winning scripts, which resulted in the short films MIKE and A CONFESSION respectively, picked up the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The films were directed by the award-winning film-maker Petros Silvestros, and produced by Matt Nelson and Murray Woodfield for UKFFilms. Seeing an award-winning team scoop the prize two years in a row was an unprecedented outcome for both the Berlinale, as well as the British film industry in general.  

Another recent success is last year’s short script competition winner, LIKE I SAID which was produced this month by 10 Days Productions. Other UKFF award-winning scripts which have done well are WHAT HAPPENED TO EVIE and THE GAME, which have also been produced and gone on to win awards at several international film festivals. In addition, since the introduction of the Feature Script Competition, three of the winning scripts have been optioned and one, THE CANADIAN, is now in production with Egoli Tossell, the makers of RUSH and BLACK BOOK.

This year’s UK Film Festival London (UKFF) will take place online from 22– 29 November, and will offer UK and worldwide audiences a unique chance to catch the latest award-winning short films in the comfort of their own homes. The programme also includes an innovative selection of features by established and up and coming directors, as well as cutting edge documentaries and animation films. The 2020 edition has once again been curated by twice Berlinale winning director Petros Silvestros.

The feature film highlight of the 2020 edition stars Vinnie Jones, Malcolm McDowell and Ron Perlman in the exciting, character-driven thriller THE BIG UGLY by Scott Wiper, in which London mob bosses invest in a West Virginia oil deal in the hope of laundering dirty money, causing mayhem to Anglo-American relations. The shorts line-up includes THE PRESENT directed by Farah Nabulsi, an entry from Palestine which won an award at the 2020 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. Others not to be missed include the hilarious ON THE BOAT by Baizak Mamataliev and Irene Maroy’s sensitive and haunting WATERMELON JUICE, from Kyrgyzstan and Spain respectively.

Another feature film highlight is the UK premiere of YONLU by Hique Montanari from Brazil, which won the Critics Award at this year’s São Paulo International Film Festival. Two moving documentary features not to be missed reflect on ethnic cleansing and forced migration in the 1940s: ZELIHA’S HOUSE by Gabriela Gyr, about the return of a woman to an area of Turkey where her grandparents’ generation had suffered slaughter and deportation, and THE CANNIBALS – VOICES FROM 1944, a Danish entry by Chechen film-maker Zulay Magazieva, which weaves the fate of her own family into the story of Stalin’s deportation of the Chechens to Central Asia.

FOR THE FULL PROGRAMME, PLEASE GO TO: https://www.ukfilmfestival.com/festival-programme-2020/

ONLINE TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets can be purchased via Festhome TV at: https://tv.festhome.com/festi…/the-uk-film-festival-london

Online festival passes are £9.00 and short film screening blocks and feature film tickets are priced between £3.00 and £4.50

Press release provided by The UKFF.

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