UNTHINKABLE is a Hull based short film festival; 2023 will mark our first year.
You can expect a selection of some of the most original shorts from around the UK and further afield. The only entry criteria is that the projects are under 15 minutes.
Expect special guest appearances from our patrons including director Mark Herman, Actor Vincent Regan and Hull artist Richie Culver. At the end of the evening the judging panel will select what they believe to be the winner.
We are set up as a charity with the aim of creating opportunity for local film making talent in partnership with Hull Truck Theatre and Hull Independent Cinema.
Encore Screening.
When a precious hoard of gold is stolen from the river Rhine, it unleashes a chain of destructive events, pitting gods and mortals against one another for generations.
Wagner’s Ring cycle boasts some of the greatest music ever written for the opera stage.
Join us as we embark on a spectacular journey into the world of myth, dream and memory, with the figure of Erda – Mother Earth herself – at its centre. Antonio Pappano conducts Barrie Kosky’s bold new imagining of Wagner’s Das Rheingold – which marks the start of a new Ring cycle for The Royal Opera – with an outstanding cast including Christopher Maltman (Wotan) and Christopher Purves (Alberich).
In the shadow of the pandemic, a small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Bookstore is a magical, beatnik gem thanks to its owner, Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. This intimate portrait of The Bookstore and the family at its heart offers a journey through good times, hard times, and the stories hidden on the shelves and in the hearts of its owner, staff and customers.
Featuring Matthew Tannenbaum, Shawnee Tannenbaum, Sophie Tannenbaum
Awards & Festivals
Berkshire International Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival Official Selections
When friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. This stellar debut from directors Danny and Michael Philippou features an outstanding ensemble cast of rising stars, superb visual and sound design and brilliant practical effects that deliver genuine scares. A lean, terrifically compelling high-concept horror film.
Featuring Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen
Dir Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou| 2022 | Australia | 94 mins | 15 | English
A regional hair-styling competition is cancelled when the favourite to win is found murdered – and scalped. A community already riven with competitive rivalry quickly succumbs to suspicion. As the investigation into the murder begins, rumours quickly spread, while some competitors continue to work on their artistic creations to prove themselves despite the event’s cancellation. A fun, quick-witted whodunit, skilfully told in a one-shot format, sees extravagance and excess collide in this feature debut from writer/director Thomas Hardiman.
Featuring Clare Perkins, Kayla Meikle, Luke Pasqualino
Dir Thomas Hardiman | 2022 | UK | 101 mins | 15 | English
On Pine Ridge Reservation, Bill is determined to hustle his way to the American Dream, whether it’s by siphoning gas, delivering parcels or breeding Poodles. Meanwhile, twelve-year-old Matho can’t wait to become a man. Desperate for approval from his young father, a series of impulsive decisions turns Matho’s life upside down and he finds himself unequipped to deal with the harsh realities of the adult world. A measured and expressive story of Indigenous America powerfully depicted by a non-professional cast.
Featuring Jojo Bapteise Whiting, LaDainian Crazy Thunder
Dir Gina Gammell, Riley Keough | 2022 | USA, UK | 115 mins | 15 | English, Sioux with English subtitles
During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover they have just tangled with no ordinary miner. No matter what the Nazis throw at him, this one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to regain his gold. This deliriously gory grindhouse pastiche sets about its task with inventive, messy, cartoonish and hugely satisfying abandon.
Featuring Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan
Dir Jalmari Helander | 2022 | Finland | 91 mins | 15 | Finnish, English with English subtitles
Amanda is 24, lives alone and has never had any close friends. Her family barely tolerates her self-absorbed neediness. Achingly lonely and angry at childhood events that she believes have robbed her of connection with the wider world, she is fixated on the past. When she learns that she once had a friend, Rebecca, as a toddler, she embarks on a quest to reignite that relationship. A quirky, unconventional and deadpan funny study of offbeat female friendship.
Featuring Benedetta Porcaroli, Galatéa Bellugi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Dir Carolina Cavalli | 2022 | Italy, France | 93 mins | 15 | Italian with English subtitles
When Pietro’s family head to the mountains on holiday, the young boy quickly forms a deep friendship with local lad Bruno. As they grow older they drift apart, but the death of Pietro’s father brings them back together to fulfil his wish to build a remote mountain cottage, which soon becomes a place invested with deep meaning and a focus for reflection and reconciliation. A powerful, beautifully-shot meditation on male friendship, family, and the struggle between wanderlust and rootedness.
Featuring Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi, Filippo Timi
Dir Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch| 2022 | Italy, Belgium, France, UK | 147 mins | 12A | Italian, English, Nepali with English subtitles
Set against the backdrop of South London and humming with the energy of iconic Tina Turner hits, Pretty Red Dress follows a family tested to their limit when Travis, fresh out of jail, is found wearing a little red dress by his partner Candice and secretive teenage daughter Kenisha. The family is spun by this startling discovery and the truths it reveals. Dionne Edward’s debut feature is a vibrant, joyous journey of self-discovery.
Featuring Natey Jones, Alexandra Burke, Temilola Olatunbosun
Dir Dionne Edwards | 2022 | UK | 110 mins | 15 | English
On an impulse to reconnect with her origins, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France, for the first time. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions. Park Ji-min’s arresting, magnetic debut performance is the heartbeat of this insightful film about the universal human need to know who we are and where we come from.
Featuring Park Ji-min, Oh Kwang-rok, Guka Han
Dir Davy Chou | 2022 | France, Germany, Belgium, South Korea, Romania, Cambodia, Qatar | 119 mins | 15 | Korean, English and French with English subtitles
This season, Hull Independent Cinema’s Audience Choice Screening is a celebration of LGBTQ+ filmmakers and stories to mark Hull Pride. From a shortlist of suggestions from audiences and HIC team members, the winner of the public vote is late 90s cult classic BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER.
Megan considers herself a typical American girl. She excels in school and cheerleading, and she has a handsome football-playing boyfriend, even though she isn’t that crazy about him. So she’s stunned when her parents decide she’s gay and send her to True Directions, a boot camp meant to alter her sexual orientation. While there, Megan meets a rebellious and unashamed teen lesbian, Graham. Though Megan still feels confused, she starts to have feelings for Graham.
This coming-out comedy was underappreciated by audiences and critics alike on release but its impressive cast (Natasha Lyonne, RuPaul), neon aesthetic and its impact on a generation of young LGBTQ+ people has seen it gain cult classic status since.
Starring Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall and RuPaul
Certificate: 15 | Run time: 92 minutes | Director: Jamie Babbit | English language
This gripping film tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Little Richard’s complicated inner world. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, and reminds us of the debt modern music and wider culture owe to his radical, vital presence in a world that wasn’t ready for him.
Featuring John Waters, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones
Dir Lisa Cortés| 2022 | USA | 101 mins | 15 | English | Documentary
Magic and fairy-tale characters are brought to life through ballet – a family favourite.
The Sleeping Beauty holds a very special place in The Royal Ballet’s heart and history. It was the first performance given by the Company when the Royal Opera House reopened at Covent Garden in 1946 after World War II. In 2006, this original staging was revived and has been delighting audiences ever since. Frederick Ashton famously cited the pure classicism of Marius Petipa’s 19th-century ballet as a private lesson in the atmospheric art and craft of choreography. Be swept away by Tchaikovsky’s ravishing music and Oliver Messel’s sumptuous designs with this true gem from the classical ballet repertory.
David Harewood (Homeland) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) play feuding political rivals in James Graham’s (Sherwood) multiple award-winning new drama showing at Hull Truck Godber Studio
In 1968 America, as two men fight to become the next president, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal.
During a new nightly television format, they debate the moral landscape of a shattered nation. As beliefs are challenged and slurs slung, a new frontier in American politics is opening and television news is about to be transformed forever.
Jeremy Herrin (All My Sons) directs this blistering political thriller, filmed live in London’s West End.
National Theatre Live brings the best of British theatre to a cinema screen near you. Whether you show up for serious drama, romcoms or sold-out award-winning hits, we bring you unmissable theatre, filmed live from Britain’s most exciting stages.
Join Hull Truck Theatre for the launch of their Artist Development season.
This will give you a chance to meet other artists in Hull and enjoy the preview of Hull Truck’s digital shorts project, a series of short films created by local talent.
Free (places must be booked in advance)
