The backbone of the whole LIAF mission. We’ve emerged from under the pile of 2,400 entries to put together a series of programmes that showcase the best 128 new films. Six ‘general’ International Competition Programmes, our ever popular Abstract Showcase and Long Shorts programmes, plus the British Showcase and Animated Documentaries. The films come in from every corner, they use every technique, they can be funny, dramatic, eye-popping, subdued, documentary or autobiographical. The one thing they have in common is that we think they’re the pick of the crop.
The films come in from every corner, they use every technique, and this bunch are some of the darkest, scariest and spookiest films that came in this year. Watch out for all manner of creepiness.
At Barbican book tickets
Johnno’s Dead (Chris Shepherd, UK/France)
Serving twelve years behind bars for a crime you didn’t commit focuses the mind.
A terrifying and twisted tale of obsession, destruction and revenge.
9’00, 2016
Decorado (Alberto Vazquez, France/Spain)
Is this bizarre dystopian landscape real? Or are we all just living through set pieces in some strange movie?
11’00, 2016
Neck & Neck (Shaun Clark, UK)
Behind the marital bed curtains Othello and Desdemona are disturbed by the poisonous words from Iago leading to detrimental consequences for the lovers.
5’00, 2016
Happy End (Jan Saska, Czech Republic)
A black comedy about death with a happy ending featuring hunters, a tractor driver, a disco boy and a corpse.
9’00, 2015
Beast! (Pieter Coudijzer, Belgium)
The life of a scruffy, banished homeless man is enlightened by the arrival of a very unexpected visitor.
20’00, 2016
Ruben Leaves (Frederic Siegel, Switzerland)
Ruben is just trying to get to work but his mind has other ideas, filling his horizon with increasingly weird and wild scenarios.
5’00, 2015
A Coat Made Dark (Jack O’Shea, Ireland)
Navigating a twilight world with few clear markers, a man follows the orders of a dog to wear a mysterious coat with impossible pockets.
9’00, 2015
Bird Flu (Priit Tender, Estonia)
A man, a snake, a drunk penguin and the disappearance of birds. Paradise and being expelled from it.
10’00 2016
Wake Me Up (Dea Jagic, Croatia)
After waking up in a strange place, a boy embarks upon an unsettling journey on his way to a home that has changed forever.
9’00, 2015
