Spirit of Independence Film Festival Releases Lineup

28th – 30th September, The Light Cinema in Sheffield 

Friday

We’re opening Friday up with a beautifully deranged Aussie double-bill. First up is ‘Haunted’ by Myles Mcewan and Ripley Stevens, a exploration of grief, doppelgängers and a serial killer. Supporting this will be ‘After Glow’ from local filmmaker Aaran McKenzie.

Following that we’ve got a 45th anniversary screening of the film that started the aussie revolution, ‘Wake in Fright’ restored in beautiful 4k. The film will be supported by the psychological drama, ‘Down the Length’.

Saturday

Saturday is a rammed day featuring shorts, features and talks. We’re opening the day up with our showcase of films from Screen Yorkshire’s Connected Campus initiative in our Youthful Spirit section. This will be followed by our Rising Spirit section, highlighting work made with limited resources budgets, but tonnes of invention and passion.

Next up is our Independent Spirit block of shorts featuring films from seasoned filmmakers and established voices. We’re taking a break from the films for a roundtable discussion with some of our short filmmakers focussing on the challenges and triumphs of making short films next.

Following this, we’re got our Emerging Spirit showcase featuring the world premiere of our latest script to screen competition winner, ‘I’m Getting Something on You’ supported by some other locally made shorts, ‘Vae Victis, Napoleon!’ and ’The Witches of Pool Bottom’

We’re rounding the day off with two features – the U.K premiere of the locally made kung fu acitoner, ’The Lock In’ and the crime thriller, ‘Gangland’ starring Lou Diamond Philips.

Sunday

We’ve made it to Sunday so let’s take a look at what we’ve got going on.

We’re opening with beautiful dramedy, ’The Old Man’ supported by the quirky comedy, ‘Uncle Artoo’. Next up we’ve got our celebration of Northern filmmaking in our Northern Spirit section, featuring a diverse collection of shorts.

We’re setting up for our feature film roundtable discussion next where we explore how indie filmmakers make that all important jump to making their feature film. Next up is the found footage Victorian-era thriller, ’Snapshot’ featuring a totally unique, stylish filmmaking technique. We’re next off to Iceland for the true crime documentary ‘A Huldu – The Hidden Ones’, a fascinating look at folklore and a disappearance in a remote part of the country.

It’s time to celebrate our filmmakers in our awards ceremony next where we will be presenting our unique awards to some lucky filmmakers. Finally, big deep breath, we’re closing the festival with the hilarious sci-fi body horror, ‘Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant’ from New Zealand. Fresh off it’s world premiere at Sundance film festival, we’re delighted to be bringing this awesome film to our festival.

You can check out the full lineup via our website here or you can grab your tickets via the link: https://soifilmfestival.eventsolve.com/