BFMAF New Cinema Awards. Short film programme

Full Out – In 19th century Paris at the Salpêtrière Hospital, patients were hypnotized on stage to reproduce the symptoms of hysteria for public audiences. Over a century later, high school cheerleaders are fainting en masse. Full Out is the first in a suite of films investigating intricate threads between historical accounts of mass hysteria, the body’s capacity for knowing, and ways in which collective resonance can both fracture and heal. 

Dir. Sarah Ballard | United States | 2025 | 14’ | French with English Subtitles 

Half Memory – Using Toni Morrison’s The Site of Memory as a starting point of integration Half Memory is a languid mediation on memory, conurbations, isolation and the histories we live amongst. Oscillating between years, cities, and unfolding images, the film is an examination of the present as an artefact of the past. Shot on Super8 and filmed between the US, France and the UK over the past three years. 

Dir. Ufuoma Essi | United Kingdom | 2024 | 27’ | English  

Oceania – Sixteen-year-old Najib spends his summer days gaming until his mother informs him of a neighbour’s passing. Taking the keys to their apartment, he discovers an unexpected world. “Oceania is an ode to tenderness. To a new generation that carries on our struggles, that seeks to remember whilst also  moving forward. A tribute to love, to the dead and martyrs, and to a history being currently dismantled and destroyed.” ~ Valentin Noujaïm 

Dir. Valentin Noujaïm | France | 2024 | 24’’ | French with English Subtitles