A perennial highlight of the film festival calendar for us, Directors Notes has the pleasure once again to bring you our personal favourite selection of films screening at the mighty Bolton International Film Festival 2026. Picked from the varied offerings of the 300 shorts strong programme, we have purposely chosen films which span the festival’s various strands. Nonetheless, with a programme this rich and limiting ourselves to a strict list of only 10 films, it’s inevitable that we had to leave out some really great titles – including beloved DN alum films such as K-9INE!, MEAT, Pickled and Nostalgie.
Taking place from Wednesday 30th September to Sunday 4th October 2026 (with the online programme running from Wednesday 7th to Sunday 18th October), this year’s festival once again brings together an exciting showcase of short filmmaking as well as insightful industry talks and the return of the Slick Films Pitch, of which Directors Notes is proud to be a partner. As always, team DN will be attending in person to celebrate this gathering that continues to grow year on year, while never failing to surprise and delight.
Cegsex – Alun Rhys Morgan
What could possibly go wrong when a guy decides to explore his sexuality on his own in the comfort of his bedroom? All adult websites are banned, and the only option seems to be this mysterious thing called “Ceg Sex”… Well, in this incredible horror-comedy, we get an answer we never thought we would need: a mouth suddenly appears on our unfortunate protagonist’s forearm, and the only way to get rid of this misfortune is… You’ll have to watch the short to find out!
What definitely makes the situation even worse (funnier) is that, meanwhile, his mother has organised a prayer meeting, and the rather annoying noises coming from upstairs certainly disturb the peace and quiet expected during the spiritual retreat. Alun Rhys Morgan admitted that he was inspired by the fact that adult content has been locked behind age verification gates in the United Kingdom, and that the film is therefore a kind of social commentary on the need to allow young people to discover their sexuality, including through the Internet. Regardless of the interesting discussions the short may provoke about the rights and wrongs of the Online Safety Act, there is a lot to laugh about here. This kind of embarrassment is something we have all experienced (to a degree) when we’ve found ourselves in similar situations with our parents, and Cegsex is absolutely fantastic at portraying a surreal version of that cringe-inducing experience.
Vote Gavin Lyle – Aneil Karia
A long time favourite DN director and a project we recently dug into from the commissioning perspective, in Aneil Karia’s worryingly pertinent Vote Gavin Lyle, we’re faced with an impressive combination of political commentary and comedy. Irony and sarcasm are used brilliantly to send up the performative politics of the film’s titular middle-England family man and aspiring right-wing parliamentary candidate. Some scenes are pure poetry, such as the moment when Gavin and his daughter go to hang a Union Jack flag on a motorway bridge. The technical qualities and use of framing are delightful icing on the cake of a short film that, despite or perhaps because of its real life counterparts, is an absolute delight to watch. Also, Jack Lowden’s performance is a key factor in the perfection of Vote Gavin Lyle.
A Little Death – Leto Meade & Jonathan Rockefeller
Without a doubt, the fact that I have a soft spot for animation plays a part in this pick, but here we are in front of a short that I defy you not to love. Leto Meade and Jonathan Rockefeller’s gem sees Death’s patience tested when his sweet and gentle apprentice appears incapable of carrying out his task, forcing him to seek professional help from the most unlikely of places. What could easily have been a dark and disturbing story about death instead becomes something surprisingly tender and even cathartic. The spectacular use of colour is one of the film’s greatest strengths: the electric black-and-white imagery occasionally disrupted by touches of pink and red, creating a striking visual contrast that reflects the story’s themes.
The ingenious way the narrative draws from the graphic novel on which it is based (Nicholas Gurewitch’s book Notes on a Case of Melancholia, Or: A Little Death) also makes these twelve minutes feel incredibly rich and complete. The decision to tell what is essentially a nightmare through animation is particularly effective. The protagonists are, of course, closely connected to death, yet the small assistant is so incredibly cute and gentle that he completely transforms the way we experience the story. There is a beautiful tension between the fear and inevitability associated with death and the sense of warmth and catharsis created by these adorable characters. It is precisely this contrast that makes A Little Death such a joy to watch.
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Moderation – Benedict Cohen
This deeply sardonic and slightly disturbing short explores the importance of the images we watch every day online, and, above all, the crucial role of content moderators — the people whose job is to monitor what we are allowed, or not allowed, to see on the internet by subjecting themselves to the worst that humanity can point its collective lenses at. Benedict Cohen—whose on set motion capture artist exes comedy Rushes premiered on DN a few years back—tells the story of two content moderators who find solace in one another in order to cope with the stress that their job enforces on them. Give it a few days, and they’ll find themselves developing an addiction to trauma bonding that threatens to consume them both. Moderation combines strong technical qualities with a fascinating central idea: a reflection on the images that shape and transform us, and the impact they have on our fantasies and even on our sexual desires.
Rainy Day – Jack Hartley
Here we have another highly inventive British short film, featuring an unexpected plot twist. Jack Hartley’s brainchild Rainy Day offers a decidedly innovative take on the familiar story of elderly people being scammed by scummy individuals who manage to get into their homes under some kind of pretext. Without revealing too much and spoiling the surprise, I can simply say that the typical setting of Northern England and the cinematography—which is particularly impressive considering the production’s low budget—make this an absolutely delightful watch, further elevated by the performances of its two leads, Neil Ashton and Susan Hilton.
A Crime Across Four Landscapes – Aidan Weaver
The striking element of Aidan Weaver’s short film is its originality. The idea of creating a sort of visual test for the viewer, in which the audience is directly invited to almost physically enter the scenes themselves, is already remarkable in its own right. It almost seems to be challenging the shorter attention spans that have resulted from the constant bombardment of visual information that we are subject to on a day-to-day basis. What makes A Crime Across Four Landscapes particularly impressive, however is from an aesthetic point of view, the fresh way it captures these typically American landscapes that we’re already so accustomed to seeing in cinema, while simultaneously creating a sense of uneasiness. The fact that Weaver manages to achieve all of this in just over six minutes makes it truly worthy of being considered one of the most original entries selected for the festival this year.
Dance of the Spirits – Andreea-Lorena Florea
This extraordinary animated short immediately captivates the viewer through the beauty of its imagery, its colours, and the way the visuals continuously transform throughout. Matei, a young shepherd boy living on the outskirts of Romania, finds more comfort among his sheep than with his abusive, alcoholic father. However, as Matei begins to mimic his father’s violence, he is confronted with a fundamental question: “Who am I?”
Despite the powerful and often difficult nature of the story, which may primarily resonate with an adult audience, Andreea-Lorena Florea’s use of animation creates a much more universal and symbolic language. The transformation of the images allows the film to communicate emotions and ideas that go beyond the specific narrative, making its themes of violence, identity, and inherited behaviour accessible to a much wider audience. In this sense, the animation is not simply an aesthetic choice, but an essential part of the storytelling, enabling Dance of the Spirits to speak to everyone through its striking visual language.
Pale Sun (Soleil Pâle)- Adrian Moyse Dullin
Adrian Moyse Dullin’s deeply dramatic story hits you right in the heart with disarming simplicity. There is a purity and innocence in the eyes of a child who feels uncomfortable when his father, who is suffering from cancer, gets into the water to take a swim while he is there with his new friends. At its core, the film is an exploration of childhood perspectives. The children who are with him and make fun of his father’s appearance simply do not understand the implications of what they are seeing: the appearance of a man whose body has been ravaged by cancer. At the same time, however, their words inevitably hurt the young protagonist, who feels embarrassed by his father and wishes that he would hide, making the feelings of a man who is already going through something extremely delicate and difficult even worse.
The way Pale Sun is filmed also makes it an exceptional exercise in cinematic synthesis. The film manages to contain all of these complex dynamics within a summer seaside milieu, pairing a sumptuous visual atmosphere with an emotive narrative which culminates in a final scene I’ll be thinking about for quite some time.
Ningú Borda (Nobody Barks) – Júlia Coldwell Serra
What makes this short film stand out is the fact that it was made in a student setting – during filmmaker Júlia Coldwell Serra’s Directing Master’s at ESCAC (Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya). The level of maturity in its narrative construction, but especially in the attention to the cinematography and framing, would suggest that it was the work of someone with far more experience than a student. Candela has a monotonous life in an inland town, but during the town festival, she accidentally runs over her nephew’s dog and decides not to confess. Instead, she invents a legend about a dog pilgrimage to a sacred tree and invites him to join her in the search. This simple premise allows the film to explore the lies we tell children, particularly the so-called ‘white’ lies that, as adults, we often believe are the right solution to prevent children from suffering. In Candela’s case, however, the lie gradually begins to eat away at her, raising the question of whether hiding the truth about death is really the best way to protect a child.
Although the story itself is fairly straightforward, what really stands out are the performances and the casting, which are absolutely spot-on, especially in the role of the protagonist. Ningú Borda’s real strength lies in the way it turns this apparently simple story into a thoughtful reflection on the consequences of protecting children through lies, suggesting that what we consider harmless or soothing falsities are not necessarily the right solution.
TAXI MOTO – Gaël Kamilindi
In Gaël Kamilindi’s TAXI MOTO, we find a wonderful representation of Black queerness, while at the same time engaging with a discourse around cinema that is entirely refreshing. This is because of the effect created by the question of whether what we are watching is fiction or real life: I am watching a fictitious representation, but is the reality depicted in that film the real reality? Or, within the film, is another one being shot? This kind of matryoshka effect is what makes TAXI MOTO truly incredible. It manages to intersect questions of social discourse and representation within cinema—particularly within short films—with this extremely intelligent narrative device.
You can find more DN film festival favourites in our Best of Fest collections.
