Leeds Screendance Competition

Screendance is one of the most innovative and exciting genres of short films, and our competition is one of the highlights of the LIFF SHORTS selection.   Through the eyes of a 60-year-old contemporary dancer, Still Moving explores ageing and identity, embracing the echoes of who we were and the grace of who we are becoming. Dawn Holgate MBE is one of the original dancers of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre Jonny White | UK | 2025 | 4 mins | English Two shelf stackers at a 24/7 mega-supermarket are entrenched in the banal nature of their painfully ordinary jobs. Their imaginations fuse to provoke a jailbreak from their lives as they are transported to the retro 80s dance break of their dreams. Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern | USA | 2023 | 10 mins | Naval Ode embodies the movement of separation between dock and the ship, between the inside and the outside, between one and the other. This mysterious and suspended dance is imbued with nostalgic desire and swells like a sail. UK Premiere | Fu Le | Portugal, France | 2024 | 6 mins | Portuguese In a British-Ghanaian household bound by tradition and religion, a young girl lives under the oppressive control of her abusive father. At the family dinner table, heated arguments reveal the deep rift between them as they confront the scars of their past Yorkshire Premiere | Daniel Gurton | UK | 2025 | 10 mins | English A young woman, dressed in a tracksuit, walks through the backstreets of Sevilla into a housing project. This is Carmen Aviles - the young street superstar of flamenco. Yorkshire Premiere | Andrew Margetson | Spain, UK | 2025 | 5 mins | No Dialogue A woman explores the far reaches of rural Ireland in a desperate attempt to make peace with the darker aspect of her spirit. The film attempts to bridge generations of place and ritual into a poetic and practical film of belonging and peace. UK Premiere | Derrick Belcham | Ireland | 2025 | 12 mins | English A couple are seeking ways to restore intimacy but how can one (re)encounter the other? The play that arises from their desire involves risk and physical exertion, yet the pursuit of a shared rhythm urges them both on. UK Premiere | Astrid De Haes, Brecht Van Vliet, Jonathan Van Hemelrijck | Belgium | 2025 | 8 mins | No Dialogue A couple meet at assorted urban underpasses and dance together, expressing their affair. Eventually they realise it has to stop. UK Premiere | Stefan Georgiou | UK | 2025 | 6 mins | No Dialogue On her 34th birthday, Alesya retreats to the solitude of her remote home, following her private ritual of spending the day alone. But when a mysterious box appears at her doorstep, her carefully controlled world begins to shift. International Premiere | Mikki Sindhunata | Netherlands | 2025 | 11 mins | No Dialogue