Photos: London Breeze Film Festival Honors Independent Filmmakers

London Breeze Film Festival closed its eleventh edition, its largest in-cinema film festival to date, following five days of screenings of over 135 independent films, industry days and special events across nine London cinemas.

The closing gala included the festival's annual award ceremony, where crystal glass awards were given in eleven categories, and two new pendant awards designed and made by Bristol-based jeweller, Ephemera Rose, the Golden Breeze and the Silver Breeze, were awarded.

The inaugural Golden Breeze and Silver Breeze pendant awards were designed by Ephemera Rose – a Bristol-based jeweller. These special new awards were for two new awards categories: the 19-25 Young Adult Award as selected by an expert panel including BAFTA nominated and Oscar longlisted filmmaker and London Breeze ambassador, Louisa Connolly-Burnham (Sister Wives/The Intimacy Coordinator), and producer, Damian Keogh (A Thousand Blows).

The afternoon event at The Garden Cinema on Sunday 25th October, consisted of screenings of fourteen short narratives, documentaries and animation, by emerging filmmakers who can often struggle to afford to get their films onto the festival circuit. The Silver Breeze went to Ava Bounds for narrative short film, The Witches of Pool Bottom (UK 7 mins).

The Golden Breeze went to director, Ina Lüders, who rather than be daunted by her debut feature film stalling due to things beyond her control, got a group of creatives together, including producer Julia Gurry of musical duo Belle Roscoe, and writer David Fedash plus the local community of Nailsworth in the Cotswolds, and wrote and directed another film in quick time. The result was Such A Vivid Imagination with a very young cast led by Sheherazade Farrell in this coming-of-age thriller.

Auteur filmmaker and London Breeze ambassador, Maeve Murphy, is the winner of this year's Women of Film Award. Maeve has had to fight long and hard for her feature debut from 2001, Silent Grace (Ireland 2001) to be recognised as the landmark 'Troubles' film that it is. It had its RTE premiere in 2017, and in 2020, the Irish Times recognised it as one of the fifty best Irish films of all time.

At last Friday's special 25th Anniversary screening at The Garden Cinema, the audience was so moved, several to tears, by this brave and previously untold story of NI Republican women's resistance and resilience in the fight for justice from behind the bars of Armagh's women's prison during the hunger strikes and dirty protests of the 1980s. This film is the epitome of courageous cinematic storytelling.

Maeve has dedicated her working life to the craft of filmmaking, and she continues to make award winning short films such as her current trilogy of recent award-winning shorts that address the continuing epidemic of violence against women - not least, The Wolf, written by and starring Kellie Shirley, which was part of the UK Women of Film Part 1 programme, and St Pancras Sunrise, which won an Honourable Mention at the 9th London Breeze Film Festival, and is now in development as a feature film.

Maeve Murphy is courageous, talented, and a voice for women within the industry and society through her films. A worthy winner of the 2026 London Breeze Women of Film award.

This year's IMPACT Award was judged by Georgia Hall, documentary filmmaker, IMPACT producer and safari guide and co-founder of the Friends of LAMO AURU Conservation Project. The prize is given to the film that best reflects the filmmaker's and society's concerns for the environment and the world that we share with all living things.

The winner was Rhapsody on the Outlaw Ocean (USA) by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist, Ian Urbina and composer, William Segal. The film had its world premiere at London Breeze. The Outlaw Ocean team created a whole new genre of film with the animated rap musical documentary based on Urbina's ten years reporting from the oceans of the world on stories of sea slaves, oil dumpers, vigilante conservationists, whalers, poachers, mercenaries and stowaways, with the key challenge of rendering these true stories with emotional accuracy.

Awarding the prize, Georgia Hall said, 'Frankly, we are running out of time to address climate change and avoid its worst effects. However, when bombarded with films centered on ecological and systematic collapse, compassion fatigue and 'eco-doom' can be overwhelming. Impact films have to be innovative, imaginative and encourage curiosity to inspire behavioural change, rather than trigger active avoidance. This year's winner of the Impact Category is not only creatively unique and captivating but has a global, multiplatform impact campaign that broadens the perceptions of what an 'environmental' film is. The effect of their project is broad and deep – recording 224 instances of political and personal impact worldwide.'

The feature documentary prize this year went to a Spanish/Jamaican co-production, Miss Jobson (Spain/Jamaica) by Amanda Sans Pantling (Songs of Redemption). The UK premiere played to a packed Screen 1 audience at The Ritzy Picturehouse last Friday, who were enthralled and delighted by this documentary about the now eighty year old fearless lawyer and indefatigable champion of the poor, friend of Bob Marley and a woman who lives her life entirely on her own terms, Diana Jobson.

Judged by award-winning documentary filmmaker and artist, Jeanie Finlay (All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea/Your Fat Friend), who said, 'How could I not fall in love with Bob Marley's lawyer, [Diane Jobson]. This is a beautifully crafted observational portrait of a larger-than-life character who simply jumps off the screen. I want her in my corner.'

Debut feature fiction, Man Baby, written and directed by Philip Hardy, won the UK Feature Fiction judged by director, producer Charlie McDowell, whose last film, The Summer Book, previewed at London Breeze's 10th anniversary festival.

Funny, whacky and weird but with something to say about adult male immaturity and reluctance to take on parental responsibility, Man Baby tickled the preview audience in unexpected ways, not least as the team brought a props table to the event where they could interact with some of the surprising puppet and mask elements of the film.

Charlie McDowell said of the film, 'The director takes a wonderfully absurd premise and commits to it with such originality. It's genuinely funny, strange, and unpredictable, but beneath all of that is something surprisingly human about growing up, parenthood, and the fear of responsibility. I enjoyed the film's willingness to take risks and to follow its own peculiar logic without compromise. It feels handmade, inventive, and completely itself. This is a great example of what independent filmmaking can be: bold, personal, funny, and unafraid to be weird.'

Other Winners

International Feature Fiction - Judged by Flaminia Graziadei, documentary filmmaker and Cinesister. Winner: The Crowd/Jama'at (Iran) by Sahand Kabiri. 'The well-directed acting, atmospheric photography and very accurate detailed setting, combine to conjure up a strong, compelling work. The juxtaposition between the difficulties of being young and free in a society that is still rooted in the traditions and boundaries of the past versus the strength given by the complicity and support of friendship, at the core of this film, is very effectively depicted in all its emotional nuances.' - Flaminia Graziadei

UK Short Documentary - Judged by filmmaker, Daisy Ifama. Daisy's films have received international acclaim, including winning London Breeze's Short Doc award last year for her film SET PACE, as well as the inaugural Women of Film award. Winner: (UK 11 mins) Now That's What I Call Dock Pudding directed by Sarah Mason. 'This film was funny, expressive, and bursting with character from the very start. Centered around a quirky local competition, the film weaves together history, mischief, and a wonderfully strong sense of identity, bringing its community and characters vividly to life. Full of charm and personality, it left me entertained, hungry, and, most importantly, wanting to try the famous dock pudding.' - Daisy Ifama

International Short Documentary - Judged by Johan Nayar, a British director and editor with roots in Guyana, Malaysia, and India. His debut feature film, The Banjo Boys, had its World Premiere at LBFF '25. His passion for music is a strong influence in his storytelling, shaping his approach to both documentary and narrative filmmaking. Winner: Miles of Life (Uganda 15 mins) directed by Charli Doherty. 'The winner is an exceptional and captivating short film. It follows Sam, a runner who decides to reignite his passion for running and brings his community along with him. It looks at both sides of sport: the failure that can occur, but also the way sport helps us engage with our communities and make our lives better. The craft and storytelling of this film can be seen from the opening all the way through, and it is this that makes it the clear winner.' - Johan Nayar

UK Short Fiction - Judged by Nathan Haines, a writer, director, producer at Iron Box Films. His short film An Imperfect Cadence has been recognised at 14 festivals, including a nomination for Best British Short at London Breeze 2025. He also co-founded CenterFrame and runs the British Short Film Awards, championing new talent. Winner: Uncle Artoo directed by Zoë Whittaker. 'A fun, redemptive subversion of a well-worn myth. If there's hope for Nosferatu then there's hope for the rest of us. Excellent hair and make-up too.' - Nathan Haines

Animation Award - Judged by award winning creative producer, Camilla Deakin, whose career spans more than 30 years in film and TV. Winner: Brain Space (UK 8 mins) by Laura Tofarides. 'This beautifully animated film successfully combines strong production and character design with a powerful story to create a very impactful result. The director has crafted an extremely memorable and sensitive film that deals with a difficult theme in a very effective way.'

Outstanding Contribution: Soureh Cinema Organisation, Tehran. Soureh Cinema have submitted very high-quality Iranian films for London Breeze's consideration over the past few years – dramas, documentaries and, this year, a children's feature animation, Dreamland. Several of their films have been selected and programmed, including The Narrator, Night of Silence, The Banana Garden. This year, they dubbed Dreamland into English specially to enable it to be accessible to the festival's youngest audience members.

Madeleine Casey, lead programmer and festival coordinator, said, 'The whole Breeze team is delighted for all of our winners. It is always so hard to make these decisions, not least as the standard was exceptionally hard this year. Many congratulations to them all, and all who were selected for this year's biggest ever edition. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a team with our eleventh edition. We chose our guiding principles for this year early on and they served us well. Over half the programme was female-led films, including our opening and closing gala films, Love Chaos Kin and Such a Vivid Imagination. We decided to take a deep-dive into sound and music for film, so all films had exceptional sound designs. And our overarching theme was 'courage' (inspired by this year's Refugee Week theme) – the courage of the filmmakers to bring their creative visions to the big screen, and the remarkable stories they told of big and small daily acts of courage from around the world.'

More information is available at www.londonbreezefilmfestival.com.

Photo Credit: Andrew Gulland, Tea Truong, Ephemera Rose

Recent Articles

Photos: Love Chaos Kin to Open London Breeze Film Festival's 11th Edition

9/1/2026

Lea Michele to Return to GLEE Reboot as Rachel Berry

10/21/2026

GLEE Reboot Officially Greenlit at Disney+ and Hulu

10/21/2026