On Tuesday 20th January at Watershed, BFI Film Academy South West invited colleges and 16 to 24 year-olds from across the region for a showcase of Encounters Film Festival 2025 shorts!
Encounters is a globally renowned short film festival based in Bristol, which celebrated its 30th birthday in September 2025. We curated some of our favourites shown last year, including Yasmine Djedje-Fisher-Azoume’s Dédé (Ancestor) and Elham Ehsas’ There Will Come Soft Rains, and presented them to a large group of ambitious students potentially looking to make their own shorts.
Following the showcase, we welcomed the Executive Director of Encounters, Dave Taylor Matthews, to share insights on running a film festival. This included how the process begins, with pre-selectors delving through thousands of submissions – you can volunteer for the 2026 edition by Friday 30th January.
Dave was joined by Associate Producer on Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada, Bex Rose, plus the director of shorts such as Pickney and The Babka and directing credits for BBC’s Outlaws, Michael Jenkins. They shared their experiences of making films, plus the key to finding your voice and unique selling point.
Closing out the masterclass, we heard about some of the exciting opportunities coming up at Watershed. 16-19 Film Club hosts Jojo and Amy hyped the next session on Tuesday 27th January 17:30 of No Other Choice, occurring monthly with free food and friendly chat.
Undershed producer Toki Allison shared the gallery’s latest exhibition, The Everyworld. Running from Friday 23 January to Sunday 12 April, artists Andrew and Eden Kötting bring together a multimedia collection of their work from the last 25 years. From virtual reality to giant inflatables of lost relatives, it’s an archaeological deep dig celebrating family, the creative spirit, grief and togetherness.
Thank you to everyone who came to our Encounters Festival Showcase and Masterclass; we look forward to hearing what ideas these films and filmmakers inspired! If you did attend, please could you fill in this survey so we can continue providing such events.
