Missed the in-person screenings? Don’t worry, you can still watch the films online.
The Bolton International Film Festival 2025 is now available to stream worldwide, with its online edition running from 8–19 October 2025.
Audiences can enjoy over 300 short films — including all the winners and finalists — from home, anywhere in the world. The virtual festival features the same award-winning line-up that screened earlier this month at The Light Cinema, Market Place Bolton.
Watch now at: www.boltonfilmfestival.com – Online schedule
BEST INTERNATIONAL
Winner: Hard; Like Cleaning Blood
A young woman who fled her oppressive, patriarchal environment in search of freedom is forced to return. Her three brothers, determined to erase the shame of her escape and restore the family’s honor, plot to kill her. However, the blood they shed will leave a permanent stain on their conscience.
Runners- up: Favours – Aux Armes, Christopher – Barlebas
BEST UK SHORT
Winner: Masterpiece Mommy
A modem musical between Tess, a mother, and her daughter Justine. After suffering a fall, the doctor express to Tess, from the CT scan, a potential presence of a lump in her breast and recommends a mammogram. Justine accompanies her and ultimately uncovering the real reason of the fall.
Runners- up: Farmers!? – End of Play – Three Keenings
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winner : To the Embers
To the Embers is a deeply personal short documentary that confronts rape culture through the filmmaker’s own experience of sexual assault and accountability. Seven years after being raped by someone she once liked, the filmmaker received a letter from him accepting responsibility for his actions. The film transforms that correspondence into an open dialogue. A visual “letter” to society about consent, healing, and justice.
Runners- up: Their Eyes – Apocalypse – We were the scenery
BEST ANIMATION
Winner : Playing God
A clay sculpture comes to life in the darkness of a workshop, surrounded by strange creatures…
Runners- up: Hurikan – Ovary-Acting – Voiceless
BEST MADE UP NORTH
Winner: Rhubarb Rhubarb
In the legendary Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle, Jo and her elderly father produce the pink delicacy that made the region world-famous a century ago. Harvesting by candlelight like their ancestors before them, they could not prepare for the danger looming in the dark.
Runners- up: Humble Pie – Meat Raffle – KAM
BEST HORROR
Winner: Jake Goes On A Date
A man undergoes a painful transformation before his big date in the city.
Runners- up: Skin Deep – Grandma Is Thirsty – Plastic Surgery
BEST SCI/FI & FANTASY
Winner: End of Play
Seven’s a downtrodden Junior Creative at a cosmic agency that creates worlds. When he’s unexpectedly gifted the opportunity to create his dream world, he finds himself in a life or death race against the clock to overcome his creative block before his head explodes.
Runners- up: Himalia – The Poison Cat – Mermaids
BEST COMEDY
Winner: In Jeff We Trust
Two mentally ill girls regret joining a cult…but is it too late?
Runners- up: Long Black – Dating Mark Silcox – Thanks to Meet You!
BEST LGBTQ+
Winner: One Day This Kid
One day this kid will feel something stir in his heart and throat and mouth. One day this kid will reach a point where he senses a division that isn’t mathematical. One day this kid will talk.
Runners- up: I Hate Helen – Beyond Eden – Two Black Boys
BEST WOMEN IN FILM
Winner: Himalia
Set on an idyllic farmland, a child’s fascination for the light leads the way into this otherwordly tale structured around the passage of a single and ever-flowing sunbeam.
Runners- up: To The Embers – When I Bleed – Barlebas
BEST FIRST TIME FILMMAKER
Winner: Apocalypse
Deep in Hellfest, gigantic metal festival, music gradually takes possession of metalheads.
Runners- up: When I Bleed – To the Embers – Playing God
BEST DANCE
Winner: Spoken Movement Family Honour
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 shared history.
Runners- up: Carmen – Spiral – Hip Hop Puree
BEST FASHION
Winner: Florescence
A thought-provoking exploration of the cultural, biological, and symbolic roles that flowers play in our understanding of gender and sexuality. Blending elements of a fashion film, short documentary, and experimental visual essay, Florescence dismantles the simplistic, often gendered associations that flowers have been assigned throughout history.
Runners – up: Weird – No Land – No Landers – Pump
BEST MUSIC
Winner: Consider Me Venus
Sei unfolds her modern interpretation of Venus from Roman mythology, where the idea of beauty is redefined, where it is her traumas, scars, and sacrifices that marks her beauty. Through an orchestrated ritual Venus seeks to reveal the trauma and insecurities we all carry.
Runners – up: Clown Song – Invincibility – FeelsLikeI’mFallingInLove
BEST THREE MINUTE QUICKIE
Winner: Very Important Call
A woman has back to back calls.
Runners – up: Our Wayne – The Last Dumpling – Skate Like A Lass
BEST POSTGRADUATE
Winner: Resort
After mum’s most recent psychotic episode a dysfunctional family of three tries their hardest to holiday together.
Runners – up: Walud – Family Sunday – When I Bleed
BEST UNDERGRADUATE
Winner: Now That You’re Back
After the suicide of a childhood friend, Connor and Liam are reunited by the difficult task of choosing their friends burial clothes.
Runners – up: Mimic – Outlier – Wuthered
BEST STUDENT ANIMATION
Winner: Burnout
A character is trapped in a furious cycle of work, as mounting stress begins to unravel him. Born from this inner turmoil, an uncontrollable force emerges, wreaking havoc in its wake.
Runners – up: The Shyness Of Trees – The 12 Inch Pianist – Apple Gatherers
BEST VR/360
Winner: The Time Before
Caught between waking life and dreaming, Olly delves into his childhood memories, navigating the fantastical dream worlds his sister created to shield them from family strife. A journey into the buried past that shapes who we are.