S.O.U.L. Fest 2026: Short Film Programme

Eight new shorts, gathered around a single question: who are we allowed to be? These films move through faith and rebellion, belonging and love, memory and loss — from a forbidden lottery ticket to a miner's search for solidarity, a fraught anniversary dinner to a teenage rapper's reckoning, a world-builder's fatal creative block to the quiet weight of an ordinary working day, a young man's shifting inner worlds to a first car that meant everything.

Tender, bold and unmistakably now, this is a chance to celebrate the range and daring of Black British short filmmaking today.

HOW TO HIDE IT
After a humiliating break-up, a young Muslim woman buys a forbidden lottery ticket. What begins as a small act of rebellion becomes a private crisis of faith — especially when her coworker is convinced their ship has come in.
Dir. Ramla Ali & Richard Moore | UK | 2025

WE'RE ALL BLACK DOWN HERE
A Black miner in 1950s Britain finds solidarity underground — and hostility above it. Taut and atmospheric, this short strips a familiar era of its nostalgia and asks where, and with whom, a man is permitted to belong.
Dir. James William Mellors | UK | 2025

FISH & CHIPS
A first anniversary dinner becomes a confrontation with the competing identities, histories and expectations two partners carry into their relationship. Shot partly in a single take, Fish & Chips is a sharp, tender debut that refuses easy resolution.
Dir. Macadie Amoroso | UK | 2025

FREE LYRIC
A 17-year-old female rapper is publicly shamed after a sexual confession spreads online. Weaving dramatisation, archive and observational footage around Niki's attempted comeback, the film probes gender, consent and our collective complicity in call-out culture.
Dir. Cherish 'Chez' Oteka | UK | 2026

END OF PLAY
Seven is a junior creative at a cosmic agency that builds worlds. When he's handed the chance to create his own, he faces something more terrifying than the brief: a creative block with fatal consequences. Starring Sope Dirisu.
Dir. Edem Wornoo | UK | 2026

TO RUN IS TO RETURN
Michael is a young Black British pharmacist who has learned to perform competence under pressure. A quietly devastating character study in which the small, desperate acts of a single working day reveal the full weight of what has been lost.
Dir. Precious Wura Alabi | UK | 2025

BETWEEN REALMS
Maleek moves through shifting worlds shaped by memory, spirit and emotion, each forcing him closer to wounds he has never faced. As reality dissolves, a search for connection becomes a journey of healing that stretches across generations.
Dir. Romaine Reid | UK

HINDSIGHT
Jamal's first car opens a world of possibility — adventures, laughter, friends who feel like family. But time moves on, and what once felt like freedom quietly becomes a reminder of all that has been lost.
Dir. Remi R.M. Moses | UK | 2026

We are delighted to welcome S.O.U.L. Fest back for 2026, once again in partnership with ABFF London, the UK home of the American Black Film Festival. Now in its eighth year, S.O.U.L. Fest has established itself as one of the most important platforms for Black British cinema.