Axis Art Film Festival 2025

Axis Art Film Festival 2025 ran from 8-14 September 2025, presenting over 30 short films by contemporary artists from across the UK and beyond.

This first online edition brought together seven themed screenings and live Q&As hosted by Lucy Wright. Each event lasted around 90 minutes and included direct conversations with selected artists and filmmakers.

Thank you to all artists, audiences and supporters who helped make our first festival a success.

Staff Picks 2025

To close the festival, the Axis team came together to reflect on the programme. These are the films that stayed with us the most, works that sparked conversation, lingered in our minds, and captured the spirit of the festival.

• Pomo d’Orographies by Francesca Paola Beltrame
• Blood Seeps Between Bodies by Anna Hughes
• Sister Films by Alex Hetherington
• Grief/Rage Ritual by Radha Patel / DARCH Collective
• A Private Land / Tir Diarffordd by Penny Hallas
• Action Space by Huw Wahl

In Nature

Screening: Monday 8 September 2025

An evening of films exploring our relationships with the natural world in a time of deepening climate crisis.

• The Curlew Way: Walking & Talking with Landscape by William Titley
• John Barleycorn Must Die by Matt Rowe
• The Seed by Ren Wolfe
• Whispering Reeds by Tegen Kimbley
• The Museum of The Vibrant Collector by Sophy King
• Heirlooms by Lyndsay Martin
• #DarkEcologicalAesthetics / A Phenomenology of Modern Anxiety / something bad happened here emerging from the darkness by Paul R Jones

The Bodies We Live In

Screening: Tuesday 9 September 2025

Six films exploring health, disability and feeling comfortable in your own skin.

• Where the green is blue by Helen Snell
• A Breath Holds Itself (Together) by Bella Milroy
• Isle of Dwindle by Lottie Simpson, Megan John and Eira Bassett
• The Patient by Jamie Limond
• Blood Seeps Between Bodies by Anna Hughes
• My Heart Is Flying by Rachel Norwood

Power / Control

Screening: Wednesday 10 September 2025

How is power exercised in contemporary life? Who or what holds the reins? Is it possible to take back control? Five artists offer their perspectives.

• How We Used To Queue by Adam York Gregory and Gillian Jane Lees
• Living the Dream by John O’Hare
• What Pleasure Is The Feast Without The Cabbage by Jo Clements
• A Private Land / Tir Diarffordd by Penny Hallas
• You Made Me Mad by Tracy Satchwill

Queer Perspectives

Screening: Thursday 11 September 2025

Six films exploring queer joy, relationships and resistance.

• the world is a bad dream 𓆰𓆪 by Charlotte Cook
• When I Am Laid by Kuch Bhogal
• Sister Films by Alex Hetherington
• کور (koor) by Tasalla Tabasom
• Icarus Rising by Billy Klotsa
• Grief/Rage Ritual by Radha Patel / DARCH COLLECTIVE

Lost Time

Screening: Friday 12 September 2025

Films on grief, loss and the fleeting nature of life on earth.

• A Minute's Silence by Darshana Vora
• Morning Walk by Mary Fletcher
• TBC by Huw Wahl
• THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TIME by Andrea Hackl

Notes from Home

Screening: Saturday 13 September 2025

What does it mean to be displaced? What are the totems and recollections that we carry with us as we move from one place to another? 

• The Weather Report by Jill Impey
• My Dear Fatherland / Mana Mīļā Tēvzeme by Madara Vimba
• Pomo D'Orographies by Francesca Paola Beltrame
• Family Dinner by Helen Clifford-Jones
• Blocklist by Ruaridh Law
• With All Parts by Alastair Levy

Staff Picks - Festival Awards Ceremony

Screening: Sunday 14 September 2025

To close the festival, we reveal this year’s Staff Picks – the films that resonated most with the Axis team.

A final night of highlights, celebration and conversation.