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FrightFest has presented the best in global genre short film since 2004, and this year’s selection of provocative tales highlights a record-breaking year of entries as the festival programmes four Short Film Showcases, all offering their own terrifying twists and turns.

This year’s selection, screened at the Odeon Luxe West End, unleashes the latest genre gems from across the world. There are 29 world premieres, with nine countries represented, spanning four continents.

Check out the full FrightFest Short Film Showcase lineup below: Friday, August 22: Short Film Showcase 1 Dead Tooth (London Premiere)

Director: Romane Eilahtan

With: Tara Lindström. France, 2024. 20 min.

Tara has a dental appointment to fix a dead tooth. But one unexpected event after another turns this endless day into hell. Will Tara find a way to smile again, and at what cost?

Obey! (International Premiere)

Director: Jordan Wippell

With: Paige Phillips, OpieQ. US, 2025. 11 min.

After the tragic death of her viral dog,...

This fresh take on the satirical comedy slot will feature new programmes from the likes of Rachel Parris, who will kick off the series with a range of comic characters including digital stars Rosie Holt and Michael Spicer; Dom Joly, who will take a mischievous approach to investigating the week’s biggest stories; Ria Lina, bringing a global perspective to the news with comedians from around the world sharing news from their countries; Catherine Bohart, who will take a deep dive into the roots of a news story; Rhys James, bringing his trademark quick wit to interrogate the news; and Andrew Hunter Murray hosts the latest creation from The Skewer’s Jon Holmes, which takes aim at the way the news is packaged and presented.

The specials will be broadcast in Radio 4’s popular Friday Night Comedy slot this summer, between series of Dead Ringers and The News Quiz. Friday...

Simon Brew Mar 2, 2018

Ever fancied joining in the fun of Go 8-Bit? Well, before and after the episode each week, you now sort-of-can...

During March and April, Steve McNeil (Team captain on Dara O Briain's Go 8-Bit) will be hosting a series of live online shows, directly before and after Go 8-Bit premieres and repeats on Dave each week.

In WiFi Wars, viewers will get to play all the games against each other using the show's Guinness World Record-breaking tech.

In The Video Game Game Show Show, the guests will compete on retro games, but the audience will also be involved by voting on who they think will win, playing games (like in WiFi Wars) and they'll get to take part in bonus quiz rounds too.

Steve, who obviously sprung to fame writing for us, told us that "we're really excited to be doing these online shows, as we're able...

Steve McNeil Nov 7, 2017

Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit co-creator Steve McNeill on videogame streaming...

Some people reach middle-age and cheat on their partner. Others buy one of those big cars that make a loud ‘vroom’ noise. I’ve decided to become a Twitch streamer.

Well, not quite. I’ve decided to dip my toe. For those who don’t know me, I’m one of the team captains on a TV show called Go 8 Bit, where comedians battle it out on videogames. I’m in the ridiculous position where 'an idiot that plays computer games' is my actual job.

But it isn’t, quite. We filmed Series two and three back-to-back at the beginning of this year, but series three won’t air until next Spring. This means that, at the earliest (if things go well) we might film series four next Autumn. The upshot of all this...

Steve McNeil May 12, 2017

Dara O Briain's Go 8-Bit returns to our screens next week - and Steve McNeil has been telling us more about it...

The smash-hit videogaming TV show Dara O’Briain’s Go 8 Bit returns to our screens next Monday at 10pm, along with a brand new spin-off show, Go 8 Bit Dlc, immediately afterwards. Ahead of the series’ premieres, we grabbed an exclusive chat with show co-creator, and team captain, Steve McNeil.

So, first of all, for anyone who’s not seen the show before – what is it?

It’s a comedy panel show, hosted by Dara O’Briain. We have two celebrity guests each week - one on my team, one on Sam Pamphilon’s [Steve’s long-time double-act partner] – and we all compete on videogames. The final ingredient is Ellie Gibson, a brilliant games journalist and comedian that explains the rules and tells us more about the games.

Rob Leane Dec 15, 2016

Dave's fantastically fun gaming show, Go 8 Bit, will be back for 20 more episodes...

Here's some fab news to brighten up your Thursday: Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit has been renewed by Dave for two more series. The length of each series has been expanded, too, with 10 episodes now making up a complete run rather than six.

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Put simply: 20 new episodes of the great gaming game show - which had a terrific range of guests in its first series, including Russell Howard, Rachel Riley, Bob Mortimer and former England goalkeeper David James - are on their way. 

Mr O Briain said this about the news: 

"What bittersweet news. The more time I spend making this...

James Stansfield Sep 7, 2016

Dara O'Briain hosts a new videogaming TV show for Dave that turns out to be huge fun...

When Videogame Nation came to an end in June it left the UK games-based TV landscape barren yet again.

But not for long, as this week saw the debut of the latest attempt to combine gaming and good telly in the shape of Go 8 Bit. Clearly hoping to do with gaming what Never Mind The Buzzcocks did with music, channel Dave appear to have largely succeeded. The inaugural episode was a decent mix of laughs and controller bashing confrontation.

Derived from team captains Sam Pamphilon and Steve McNeil’s successful live comedy show that began life at the Edinburgh fringe in 2013, Go 8 Bit pairs each with a different celebrity guest each week to take part in a series of gaming challenges. The whole thing is overseen by the...

Short films by Michael Pearce, Ben Mallaby and Bafta-winner James W Griffiths are among the highlights of this collection

Bafta has begun an enjoyable new tradition in recent years: releasing its nominated short films as a feature-length package. The curate's egg is mostly very engaging. The prize this year went to Room 8, directed and co-written by James W Griffiths, a disturbingly surreal account of what happens when a man, played by Tom Cullen, shares a cell in a Soviet-style prison in eastern Europe. It's smart work, but my favourite is Island Queen, an excellent, laidback piece directed by Ben Mallaby, starring its writer Nat Luurtsema as a twentysomething who's bored with living on a small island, whose best mate Danny (Sam Pamphilon) is not-so-secretly in love with her and who decides to be a proper grownup by having a baby through sperm donation. Could Luurtsema and Mallaby develop this to feature length,...

British live action and animated shorts to screen in cinemas from 28 February.

BAFTA has revealed that a feature-length package of films nominated in the British Short Film and British Short Animation categories at this year’s Ee British Academy Film Awards will screen in UK cinemas from Feb 28 and will tour internationally.

Selected screenings will be followed by a Q&A with nominated filmmakers who will discuss their working process and creative inspirations. The activity is part of BAFTA’s ongoing work to spotlight British-based filmmaking talent.

Following the first-ever theatrical release of nominated shorts in 2013, BAFTA is partnering for a second year with specialist distributor the Independent Cinema Office (Ico), which will handle all UK theatrical bookings, and the British Council, which will tour the nominated films internationally through their network of offices in 110 countries.

The UK-wide rollout of BAFTA Shorts 2014 begins with a special screening at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Ica) in London on Feb...

Title: Automate Cast: Sarah Sweeney, Sam Pamphilon Director: Martin Stirling Writers: Sam Norton & Martin Stirling DoP: Carl Burke Producer: Michelle Craig Produced by Shoot! Group More info: www.martinstirling.com

“With Automate you don’t need to date” – A lonely woman struggles to connect with a robot companion designed to love her.

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About HeyUGuys’ Short Film Cinema: We get sent dozens of links by people who are eager for people to see their work and often we don’t have the space or the time to watch / write a story up about them. So much of what we’re sent is simply beautiful and I want to try and get as many of them posted as...