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A film which has been deservedly lauded on its festival circuit and is inspiring contemplative discussions from the post screening Q&a’s to waiting line’s at the toilets, writer/director Debbie Howard’s Safe is a film whose central tension of an unnerving encounter at a bus stop was drawn from Howard’s and countless other women’s real life experiences. An office cleaner on her way home faces an ambiguous yet immensely unsettling interaction, which upon first glance might not spark anxiety, but for anyone who has experienced that intangible, disquieting feeling sends immediate chills through them. Howard’s film opens up a vital conversation about the subtle but deeply ingrained fears women are forced to contend with regularly in public spaces. By focusing on a situation where no overt crime or aggressive conflict takes place, she immerses audiences in the mounting dread, emphasising how seemingly harmless moments can suddenly turn threatening.

Sony’s ’65’ and Universal’s ’Champions’ are also new this weekend.

This weekend’s widest opener at the UK-Ireland box office is Scream VI, the latest offering from the iconic horror franchise, hitting 624 locations for Paramount.

It is slightly up on locations to Scream – the fifth film in the slasher series – which opened to an impressive £2.5m from 622 sites in January 2022, at an average of £3,955, making it the highest-performing horror title since the pandemic at the UK-Ireland box office.

Recent horrors to do well in the territory includes Universal’s M3GAN, the second best-performer for the genre since the pandemic,...

The dynamics of a long relationship are under the microscope in Marcus Markou’s examination of a couple whose marriage is breaking down

Ten years after directing and self-distributing his feature debut Papadopoulos & Sons, Marcus Markou is back with another impressively-put-together low-budget movie. This time around he’s made a serious and slightly self-conscious divorce drama with a pair of deeply-felt performances by Laura Bayston and Laurence Spellman. They play Cassie and Matthew, a couple from London, separating in their 40s.

To the outside world, Cassie and Matthew’s divorce looks like the model of amicability: they’ve managed to agree on everything without going to court. But it gets messy at their final mediation session, as years of hurt and resentment boil over. Cassie has been the breadwinner, and she can’t help bringing up the fact that she’s “giving” Matthew the house. Furious, he yells that...

A greasy spoon cafe, filled with the usual markers of somewhere you know you will get a good cuppa and fry up, is the stage for Director Paul Holbrook’s enigmatic short Old Windows – a film which we highlighted as a standout of last year’s The Shortest Nights’ programme. Holbrook worked meticulously with co-writer Laura Bayston, who also co-produced and stars, to create an incredibly tightly scripted piece of work where every question, answer and gesture is carefully thought out and layered with nuanced additional meaning. A seemingly mundane interaction between a cafe owner and a customer, deftly played with a worrying hint of menace by Larry Lamb, brims with subverted meaning and undefinable weight making it a captivating and active watch we couldn’t take our eyes off for fear of missing even the slightest detail. Old Windows bathes you in the orange hues of golden hour which...

The Shortest Nights returns once more for its 2022 edition with a breadth of impressive and distinctly British shorts. The proceedings this year take place on September 3rd at Rich Mix in London with a programme of films that range from war-room thrillers to screwball comedies. Dn has covered the films at Tsn for a number of years now and we find ourselves continuously enamoured by the talent on display from the directors currently rising through the ranks of the British film industry. Listing our recommendations for this year’s festivities was a tricky task but we’ve managed to whittle the great work available across the board down to a selection of ten shorts that we think are must-see.

Pops – Lewis Rose

In the aftermath of their father’s death two siblings must come to terms with his odd final request, he would like to send his ashes into space via helium balloon.

Kevin is back in the booth to sit and talk with director Paul Holbrook and actress/writer Laura Bayston about their short movies Old Windows, which features Larry Lamb, and the dark thriller Hollow; as well as discuss what they’re up to next.

Old Windows

1992. South East London. Kerrie run’s the long-time family business. A local, greasy-spoon café that serves the colourful community, her community. Days are long, money doesn’t come easy and Kerrie is tired, but she gets by with a smile and a little help from her mum. Kerrie’s violent ex-partner and the father of her only young son – who tragically passed away at a young age – is in prison for serious assault, while her own father, with whom she was so close, has also passed away. Without her eternal confidante, she soldiers on. One autumn evening, just as Kerrie is about to close the cafe,...

Exclusive: Laurence Spellman (Ready Player One) and Laura Bayston (Killing Eve) are leading the cast of UK indie The Wife And Her House Husband, a two-hander from Papadopolous & Sons filmmaker Marcus Markou.

Pic tells the story of a couple, Cassie (Laura Bayston) and Matthew (Laurence Spellman), falling back in love during a divorce. At their final mediation session, Cassie produces a letter, written 30 years before to their future selves, titled “in the event of any future separation”. The letter states that if they should ever split, they will firstly follow a list of instructions they compiled during the early days of dating.

Filming is now underway on the movie in London. It is produced by Muireann Price (Love me till Monday) for Double M Films.

“Whilst we know it’s been a tough time for the industry, for independent movies it’s been almost impossible given the extra overheads and restrictions.