We develop imaginative film projects, including the curation of contemporary British film programmes. We organise international events (festivals, seminars, master classes, workshops and multi-arts festivals), and help filmmakers and industry experts to represent the UK abroad.
- find out more about the UK film sector and our work around the world
- explore a directory of British films
- download films from the historic British Council Film Collection.
BAFTA Shorts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public.
The BAFTA's annual film awards ceremony, which takes place in February, is known as the British Academy Film Awards or "the BAFTAs". They are awarded for the best work – of any nationality seen on British cinema screens – during the preceding year.
Two of the awards categories are BAFTA Award for Best Short Film and BAFTA Award for Best Short Animation. These awards celebrate innovative and experimental short fiction and non-fiction films and animation.
The British Council invites you to discover the 2018 BAFTA Shorts, the best British short films of the year.
The British Council created a touring programme called “The BAFTA Short Film Nominees”. This has run for several years in Spain, and in 2017 for the first time in Portugal. More than 10.000 people regularly enjoy this programme of films which each year presents the most outstanding British film productions. From comedy to tragedy, from documentaries to fiction, from stop-motion to animation; the formats, themes and genres contained in these shorts reflect the diversity of creativity “made in the UK”.
The BAFTA Short Film 2018 programme features five live action shorts and three animated films with an approximate running time of 110 minutes. The films are available on DVD and are not suitable for audiences under 16 years of age.
The Short Films are:
A Drowning Man MAHDI FLEIFEL
Alone and far from home, The Kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive, his life of exile grows one day longer.
Poles Apart PALOMA BAEZA
In a harsh Arctic landscape, a hungry and solitary polar bear has to decide if a naïve Canadian grizzly bear is her food or her friend.
Work ANEIL KARIA
A teenage dancer’s perspective of the world around her begins to shift as she is confronted with its capacity for injustice.
Have Heart WILL ANDERSON
A looping GIF has an existential crisis.
Cowboy Dave COLIN O’TOOLE
Cowboy Dave is the story of a drifter, a war party and a hustler.
Wren Boys HARRY LIGHTON
On the day after Christmas, a Catholic priest from Cork drives his nephew to prison.
Mamoon BEN STEER
Mamoon follows the story of a mother who, along with her infant child, is forced to leave her home when mysterious dark shadows envelope the light in which they exist. As her own light begins to fade, she is forced to use the mysterious red light to save her child.
Aamir VIKA EVDOKIMENKO
13 year old Aamir is stranded alone in the largest unofficial refugee camp in Europe. When he is befriended by Katlyn, a thinly stretched volunteer, she becomes Aamir's last hope for salvation.
Watch the 2018 trailer video above.
If you run an arts venue, museum or educational centre and you are interested in screening this film pack please get in touch with Richard.Fleming@britishcouncil.org
Past events
Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival
Queer Lisboa is the first Portuguese Film Festival dedicated exclusively to screening gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual themed films, a genre known as Queer Cinema. This is a genre that is increasingly included at major international film festivals, and it is the goal of Queer Lisboa to programme what is more relevant in the world today in terms of aesthetics and narrative, given that the mainstream audience has limited access to this area of cinematography.
The 2016 edition featured the life and work of Derek Jarman. Derek Jarman was an English filmmaker, theatre designer, writer and painter.
As part of the 20th edition programme, Queer Lisboa and the British Council co-organised a special debate – the retrospective Jarman and the Last of England, dedicated to Jarman, and which took place at the Cinemateca Portuguesa in September 2016. Debaters included James Mackay (Jarman producer), Keith Collins (actor and former colleague of Jarman), John Scarlett-Davis (director) and William Fowler (British Film Institute).