About this Event
DREAMS, MASKS, AND MIRRORS
Characters search for freedom within expectations placed upon them. A model retreats from a world that demands perfection. A date unfolds inside a society where gender roles are reversed. Elsewhere, dance, dreams, and imagination offer temporary escape from judgement and pressure.
Friday 8 May, Cavendish Hotel, 16:00
Shorts Synopsis
Let Me Put It This Way
Turkey | 2024 | 19’32” | Comedy
Dir. Damla Ersan
In a matriarchal society with reversed
gender roles, Arya and Meriç meet in person
after connecting online. She seeks
desire and freedom, he seeks marriage
and status. Their encounter exposes
clashing expectations and the tensions
of a world shaped by inverted norms.
Did you know there’s a sacred well
behind a carpark in Bromley
UK | 2025 | 03’26” | Documnetary
Dir. Orlanda Forrest
Shot on Super 8 and camcorder, the film
explores forgotten sacred sites across
England, tracing how myth and memory
continue to shape the landscape.
Among them is a Celtic cross hidden
behind a church in Eastbourne, a quiet
marker of layered histories.
The Beneath - Onderaards
Netherlands | 2025 | 07’31” | Drama,
Horror
Dir. Lisette Vlassak
Haunted by pressure and self-doubt,
young model Lone retreats to her garden,
her only refuge from a world that
consumes her. But when a mysterious
underground creature begins destroying
her sanctuary, Lone’s battle to save
it forces her to confront something far
darker than what lurks beneath the soil:
herself.
Cats - Mačke
Serbia | 2025 | 13’14” | Drama
Dir. Danilo Stanimirović
A silent little boy Miša finds an abandoned
kitten on the street. As his parents
neglect him, he is left to learn to live life
on his own through the only relationship
he can build, with the kitten.
I don’t wanna be the best... I just wanna
dance
UK | 2025 | 08’30” | Experimental
Dir. Sally Waterman
A reimagining of the filmmaker’s childhood
memory of learning to dance, in order
to overcome their shyness and defy
the trauma of school bullying through a
reflective telephone conversation with
her mother. This narrated slide show
draws upon three analogue photographs
from the family album to illuminate her
pursuit of self-transformation amid perceived
failure.
Finishing Touches
UK | 2025 | 05’32” | Drama
Dir. Fia McMullen
Maddie’s getting ready for her first date
and nothing feels simple. With her friend
Esme by her side, a makeover turns into a
heart-to-heart about love, fear and what
it means to be a woman dating today.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Cavendish Hotel, 38 Grand Parade, Eastbourne, United Kingdom
GBP 6.13 to GBP 9.38
