Al Pacino drama Billy Knight headlined at 2025 UK Film Festival London

This year’s UK Film Festival London once again offered London audiences a unique chance to catch the latest award-winning short films from around the world on the big screen, alongside a selection of impressive features and documentaries by talented newcomers.

In Alec Griffen Roth’s Billy Knight (UK and European premiere), Al Pacino leads a stellar cast, including Charlie Heaton, whose discovery through Stranger Things and its recent revival has catapulted him into the limelight.

Another feature film highlight was Zhao Shuo’s masterpiece Reborn in Love, a stunningly cinematic love story set in the mountains of Tibet.

This year’s shorts competition included Palme D’or 2025 nominee The Spectacle by Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary and France), the Bafta 2025 nominated The Flowers Stand Silently, and Witnessing by Theo Panagopoulos (UK), which premiered at Sundance.

Other titles in the lineup were Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Romero’s Agapito (Philippines), following their success at the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, as well as the multi-award winning Two Black Boys in Paradise by Baz Sells (UK), a movingly tender stop-motion animation based on Dean Atta’s acclaimed poem.

Another gem was the touching and little-known short film, Going Down by Aella Jordan Edge (UK), in which two sex workers (Lucy Jane Rae and Anais Lone) booked for a threesome meet for the first time in a hotel elevator.

This year’s cutting-edge documentaries included Solitary Road by Johan Palmgren, which covers the ups and downs of a community in Northern Sweden, cut off from the world due to a connection to the main road system never being completed back in 1955.

Another poignant title was the thought-provoking Living in my Car by Oisin Byrne, in which main protagonist Jon is left homeless and forced to live in his car, caught between a rent boom and the UK’s worsening cost-of-living crisis. Abu Jabal, by Bisan Owda, follows a mother and child who return to the wreck of their house in Gaza, grieving for their son and brother, who was killed on the first day of the conflict.

Films were screened to the public every evening at two London venues: the Soho Hotel, and Close-Up Cinema.

Many screenings were followed by Q&A sessions, after which there was an opportunity for informal discussion with the filmmakers. The 2025 programme was once again been curated by the twice Berlinale- winning director Petros Silvestros, with the help of an international jury panel.

The festival was delighted to offer candidates prestigious awards in a variety of categories, including Best Short Film, Best British Short, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Animation and Best Music Video.