KINOFILM Festival Presents GREATER MANCHESTER Shorts Programme
Thurs 15th May 2025, 8:15pm at Mini Cini, Ducie Street Warehouse
Greater Manchester Shorts spotlights the vibrant storytelling of filmmakers from the region. This dynamic selection spans iconic music legends, emotional fishing trips, fake news spirals, frantic students, and dancers moving through grief.
DON’T MENTION THE HACIENDA – THE SEARCH FOR ALAN WISE
Dir: Christopher Benfield, Prod: Beverley Gallier, UK, 2024, 19:55 min
The film is a taster from a work in progress, about “Dr” Alan Wise, who started out promoting at the Russell Club, same time as Tony Wilson, but got sidelined from the Factory/Hacienda project which followed and instead became manager to the legendary Nico, for her last years – among dozens of roles which made him a player in the music business until his tragic death in 2016.
WHAT DID YOU SAY
Dir/Wri/Prod: Jodie Griffiths, UK, 2025, 4:15 min
Short film visualising the gravity words can have – it’s not always what we say but how we say it. What happens behind closed doors cannot always be transcribed to relay real events.
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A LOVE BEYOND
Dir/Wri/Prod: Dennis L Hanse, UK, 2024, 12:14 min
In an atmospheric 13th-century church filled with soft shadows and beams of coloured light from stained glass windows, A Love Beyond follows Marcia, a woman sitting alone in prayer and grief. She reflects on the memories looking at a photograph of her husband, desperately yearning for a final farewell. Through a series of deeply emotional, dream-like flashbacks, Marcia’s memories bring the audience into her past — a life of shared love, quiet moments, and unspoken promises.
FAKE NEWS (EXAM BLAST FAST)
Dir/Wri/Prod: Richard M. M. Howe, Co-Prod:  Olimpia Szubka, UK, 2025, 10:11 minÂ
A story about fake news, propaganda, and white lies in a situation.
Three students Cappy ,Price and Lois, wake up on a party sofa. Face graffitied, Wasted they have a race on to make the grade at the exam hall and attend a baptism. Cappy has a cunning idea. A girl with a vandalised face trying to get to a baptism, looking unblemished.
FOLLOW YOUR GHOST
Dir: Amelia Dennett, Wri: Alex Spencer, Prod: Jacob Cato, UK, 2024, 14:01 min
Mandy, a young dancer entrapped in grief over her deceased mother, must overcome her demons and forge her legacy.
LOSSLESS
Dir/Wri/Prod: Ella-May Dearden & Seamus Thomas, UK, 2024, 10:35 min Â
Lossless is an experimental short film which focuses on the relationship and experiences both filmmakers have with food. Coming from the unique perspective of living with the rare genetic disorder Phenylketonuria (PKU), Lossless is a visual representation of when food and the body move from sources of comfort to avenues of shame and embarrassment. The film is entirely conceptualised, filmed and produced by two creatives and comes from a deep internal place where confusion and creativity coexist.
L’AMOUR LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE YOU
Dir/Wri/Prod: Jorge Walsh, UK, 2024, 11:50 min
When Gracie returns to Manchester for a brief summer reunion with her friends, an old crush is reawakened within Karl. Relationships, romantic and otherwise, are thrown into jeopardy as Karl considers leaving Alice, despite four happy years together, in order to chase the possibility of romance with Gracie in Paris.
GONE FISHING
Dir: Christopher Deakin, Wri/Prod: Paul Ludden, UK, 2024, 11:16 min
Men of a certain age will generally talk about anything other than their mental health. Ben and Pete are no different. Two middle-aged mates on their first fishing trip since their friend Marko took his own life, a complete and utter shock to them both. Even the crazy stories, dark humour and piss taking can’t stop them opening up in a way they never expected.
WIVES TALE
Dir: Sonny Huddart/Cameron Lalor, Pro: Cameron Lalor Wri: Antony Woolmer UK,2025, 12:32 min
OisĂn longs for answers from the father who abandoned him. But on a quiet night at sea, the legends he grew up hearing prove more real—and more terrifying—than he ever imagined.
Total running time 1hr 45mins
Tomorrow’s programmes (Fri 16th May)
6.15pm Italian Shorts programme, 8.15pm Kino Tales: Outside In Programme
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