The 2026 BIFA nominations have arrived, and ahead of the winner being revealed next month, Directors Notes is bringing all five Best British Short Film nominees together on one screen. On Wednesday 25th November, from 6pm, we return to Lanzarote Works in Hackney, London for an evening with the BIFA shorts and the people who made them.
This year’s nominated list moves from a UK asylum hotel to a West Bank road at night, from a 1988 journey to space to an art class confrontation and arrives on the campaign trail of a would-be MP. Together, the five films make a strong case for what British short filmmaking can achieve… and the results are impressive as hell!
We’re not stopping at the credits. Filmmakers from all five shorts will join us for a DN-style panel discussion, digging into the why and how behind their work.
Film Programme
Allies in Exile (Hasan Kattan, Orlando von Einsiedel)
An intimate documentary in which a friendship forged on the frontlines of the Syrian revolution meets the airless limbo of a UK asylum hotel, as Hasan and co-director Fadi Al Halabi turn their cameras on each other.
Coyotes (Said Zagha, Myriam Sassine, Laura Jumel)
A slow-tightening neo-noir thriller that follows a Palestinian surgeon on her commute home after a night shift, as an empty West Bank road pushes her towards breaking point.
Forgotten Spaceman (Elham Ehsas, Lorraine Bhattachary)
An archival documentary essay that traces Afghanistan’s only astronaut from orbit to obscurity, finding a personal reckoning with exile and a nation’s lost future in the footage left behind.
Untitled Woman (Camille Summers-Valli, Rosemarie Vind, Sorcha Bacon, Martha McGuirk, David Zander)
A drama in which Dawn, rendered invisible by a world that favours youth, fights back to be seen in the most unexpected of ways.
Vote Gavin Lyle (Aneil Karia, Scott O’Donnell, Tom Gardner)
A darkly comic satire in which Jack Lowden charms and curdles as a middle-England family man chasing a seat in Parliament on the British right, over one disquieting day on the campaign trail.
Q&A
We will be joined by Hasan Kattan (director of Allies in Exile), Said Zagha (director of Coyotes), Lorraine Bhattachary (producer of Forgotten Spaceman), Sorcha Bacon (producer of Untitled Woman)
Event Details
Wednesday 25th November
Lanzarote Works, 230 Dalston Lane, London E8 1LA
- Doors: 18:00
- Film screening: 18:45 – 20:40
- Filmmaker discussions: 21:00 – 22:00
- Networking: 22:00 – 23:00
