Jordan/Palestine

After an airstrike hits the home of a newlywed family in Gaza, the pregnant wife survives unharmed, alongside her husband’s head, which remains alive without a body. How can life ever return to normal for this small family?. We dive into their surreal journey as they grapple with loss, survival, and the fragile hope of rebuilding in the aftermath of tragedy.

Mexico

Susan, a middle-aged American tourist, finds herself alone in Mexico City. When she encounters a group of young Americans, she jumps at the opportunity for a little adventure, discovering just how powerful her dollars can make her.

Ukraine

Being on a mission, one word fails you: six. It's vital. Now what?

USA

Reflections on personal and systemic failures woven into a thorough archival analysis and interpretation of The Department of Human Services hold music.

Palestine

A poetic reflection on identity, loss, and belonging, Mirrors follows a young man as he confronts his own image in the mirror. Through a quiet inner monologue, he questions his purpose, his past, and his place in a fragmented homeland.

Palestine

JKR Against Everything" dives into the life and mind of a graffiti artist, musician, and a rebel from the streets of Ramallah. This isn't just about his art; it's about how he started tagging walls at 14, and how today, he's grappling with the deep emotional wreckage of war, the loss of friends, and that paralyzing feeling of not being able to express himself artistically under occupation.
The film shows, with raw honesty and a biting sarcasm, how the war in Gaza shattered JKR’s ability to paint, to think, even to function. His murals get interrupted by gunfire; his days are just about surviving economically. But even in all that chaos, colors remain. His art transforms into a defiant act of refusal – choosing noise over silence, graffiti over erasure. It truly embodies the idea of art as a means of resistance, a way artists in such contexts fight to stay human.
This isn't a hero's story. It’s a gritty, electric portrait of a young man just trying to hold onto his humanity in a system designed to crush the spirit, revealing the sheer rage that somehow still fuels creativity even amidst the ruins.

UK

During WWII in Germany, Eddie, a wounded British soldier, wakes up in a Priest's house with no recollection of how he got there. Struggling with disorientation and visions of a dead German soldier, Eddie tries to piece together his past.

Ukraine

This video project explores the emotional transformation of human connection during war, told through a conversation between a daughter and a voice clone of her father. The dialogue transitions from warm and human to robotic and detached, symbolising the impact of technology and distance on intimacy and identity.

The film opens with an intimate close-up that gradually fades out until we are in the vast cosmos. This visual journey mirrors the emotional distance widening between a daughter and her father—a poignant reminder of how something once so close can feel light-years away.

By blurring the line between real and artificial, the project invites viewers to question the nature of memory, presence, and reality.

Iran

It is about the process of women's life from birth to death, despite all the problems ahead, especially in my society, Iran.

Iran

A woman in her 40s, who has confessed to the murder of her brother-in-law, returns to the scene of the crime with the investigation team to reconstruct the murder.
In the courtyard of their home, she reenacts the killing in front of her son.
After the reenactment is complete, and at the request of the investigator, the boy recounts the events differently—offering another version of what happened.

UK

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.

Netherlands

After Party is a story about Clara, a sober young woman stuck in an intense morning afterparty at her own apartment. While her friends dive deeper into drugs, alcohol, and chaos, Clara feels completely disconnected from the scene—and from them. When a strange purple powder shows up, the energy shifts, pushing things to a darker, more uncomfortable place. Trying to escape, Clara steps outside for air, where a meaningful conversation gives her a glimpse of something real. But as the party spirals,a sudden scream pulls her back inside—forcing her to face the dangerous consequences of a night gone too far.

Iran

The story is about a large, different creature who doesn’t fit in its home. Everyone tries to change it, but a child with Down syndrome comes along and shows that it doesn’t need to change. With a simple, unique approach, the child helps the creature find its place at home.

UK

Komoru is living a happy life. He goes to work every day, he likes his job, and he spends his time watching TV. Everything is fine, until one day he starts feeling uneasy about being around people. This feeling will quickly grow to the point where his perception of the world and people will change entirely. Soon he decides to self-isolate entirely. He becomes a hikikomori, a person who chooses to withdraw completely from society.

USA

Blending historical overview with character portraits, Tessitura explores the entangled ways that voice, character, and gender are continuously reformulated in opera by those who contend with these connections daily. The film delves into the ways that contemporary transgender opera singers navigate the traditional rule and categories of their art form, interweaving personal stories with historical contexts to highlight the ongoing dialogue about gender fluidity in opera. By purposefully deemphasizing the historical figures of the castrati and women performing trouser roles, the film instead focuses on transgender opera singers who are contending with the constraints their genre imposes.

USA

One day, the police bring a young boy to a quiet monastery. The boy, named Emile, is said to have been found alone in an abandoned castle. Emile insists he lived in the castle with a vampire named Charlie and wants to return there. Concerned about Emile's mental state, the police ask Sister Angela to interview him.

USA

After his mom gets engaged to a vindictive cop, Carter, a 21-year-old mama’s boy still living at home, must secure a paid promotion at his internship by the end of the day or find a new place to live. To land the job, his boss gives him a seemingly impossible list of tasks to complete: get his Jeep detailed (the Jeep gets towed), babysit his teenage son (Carter loses the kid), set up his birthday party (a model ODs on the living room floor), and recover a sex tape (a world-famous rapper kidnaps his best friend after a failed blackmail attempt). If Carter can conquer this wildly chaotic day, he might be ready for the real world after all.

Kenya

Victoria, who runs a kids' entertainment business in Nairobi, navigates one of her busiest weeks while finding joy and healing after escaping an abusive relationship. As she redefines herself as a mother, daughter, and woman, her story beautifully embodies the playful and light properties of helium.

Czech Republic

Stone of Destiny explores the beauty of finding your path, even when it’s fraught with uncertainty.

USA

BOUNCY BROTHERS follows the ups and downs of two brothers after one decides to take a second crack at The American Dream.

BOUNCY BROTHERS follows Tony (55), as he finds himself in dire need of his younger brother Ted (53) after quitting his job, cashing in his house, and leaving his entire family behind to take over a bouncy house business in rural Florida. The film examines the unspoken bond of brotherhood and what it looks like to take a second crack at the American dream.

UK

An experimental documentary reimagining the childhood recollections of a Jersey inhabitant, Margaret, through the intimate lens of the director's British South Asian background by channelling his own family's generational diasporic experience and sisterhood. The cast is comprised of the director's own family reconstructing Margaret's memories on 16mm Kodak film.

Ukraine

Ficus is a metaphoric look at the inner life of the world's famous symbol of unity, self-sufficiency and joy.

Canada

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.

USA

Erin Bohannon has devoted the latter part of her life to a singular pursuit: collecting lost portraits from decades past and tracking down the descendants of those featured in the photos. To date she has returned hundreds of photos thought to have been lost. While this work brings her immense joy, it sometimes comes at a high cost to her personal life.

Iran

tells the story of a wandering soul of a man who becomes a victim of politics in pursuit of love

Serbia, Switzerland

When eight-year-old Miša finds an abandoned kitten in the street, he tries to provoke the affection his parents are not providing.

Canada

A town is left deserted after the AI ​​that runs its systems fails. All alone, Charlotte must chose between staying in the temporary safety of her residence, or leaving to join the stranger roaming the streets below...

Canada

Matéo, a teenager from a good family, is sick of being bullied and wants to buy a gun. He enlists the help of Karl, a childhood friend who has fallen in with bad company. During the deal, Matéo realizes that the rifle he wants will cost a lot more, and the situation quickly escalates.

UK

An irate shopper loses her temper when she asks a question in Urdu and gets a reply in English.

UK

In a world where men are inferior, Jamie navigates the difficulties of life through a matriarchal lens.

UK

With his father passing away recently and an upcoming court case with his ex-wife. Marcus decides the best way to distract himself is to spend the night with an escort. Lola.

UK

John is an aspiring young screenwriter living in Leeds. We watch as he tries and fails to write his script. At the same time he discovers his true feelings for his childhood friend, Becky, all under the sardonic tutelage of the imaginary Orson Welles.

UK

A young woman is pursued through the woods by an unseen entity.

UK

Dan, still reeling from the loss of his father, finds himself down memory lane when he finds an old Atari 2600 amongst his father's possessions.

UK

Home Away is a striking and intimate documentary that explores what it means to start over in a place that doesn't always see you.

Through the lens of filmmaker Ibitayo 'Tsaint' Ibikunle’s own migration journey, alongside the honest reflections of others who have left everything behind, the film confronts the invisible weight of immigration, from job rejections and cultural clashes to the aching distance between "home" and "belonging."

While conversations about immigration grow louder, Home Away turns the camera toward those living it every day — immigrants rebuilding their lives with quiet resilience, unspoken grief, and relentless hope.

This is not a political film. It is a human one.

UK

A group of rebellious older women fight against the invisibility of ageing.

The Belles follows a group of older, northern women who perform raucous street theatre and dance. Why? To overcome social isolation and the feeling of invisibility that comes with being an older woman.

As they enter their fifth year together, the group is starting to form a stronger identity and reputation. Despite personal difficulties, financial problems, and the challenges of ageing, the group must persevere to deliver their next big performance.

With humour, irreverence, and lots of sparkly costumes, the film explores how older women are treated in society and what happens when they refuse to be quiet.

USA

A psychedelic experience in an abandoned warehouse is interrupted by a building inspector and a talking rat.

USA

In America, the things we create we also find a way to destroy. We follow four people who have never met, but will smash each other to smithereens in a Demolition Derby.

UK

Gus works at a frozen food warehouse store, after receiving a cup of tea from his co-worker made with spoiled milk he goes on a absurd spoiled-milk-fuelled dream journey of self-reflection.

UK

In Bradford, England in 2017, local bar personality Eddie Reed started a band and recruited filmmaker Jax Griffin to document the progress. The band dematerialised after one "un-rehearsal".

UK

Fresh out of prison Tracey soon learns that the simplicity of a quiet pint may no longer be so simple.

Austria

In a bustling bathroom, amidst the chaos of everyday life, two toothbrushes, find themselves drawn to each other. "Brush me" is a heartwarming tale of love, loss, and the resilience of the toothbrush spirit.

Brush Me is a quirky and hilariously absurd stop-motion short that transforms everyday toothbrushes into the stars of a playful and provocative narrative. With its janky yet charming animation style, the film delivers a wild tale of flirtation and passion, amplified by perfectly chosen tango music and humorous voice acting that moves from suggestive foreplay to full-on comedic action.

The clever use of simple props and unexpected scenarios keeps viewers laughing while exploring an offbeat, risqué humor that feels both bold and delightfully uncomfortable. The toothpaste twist and cheeky ending add a final touch of hilarity, cementing Brush Me as a unique, entertaining gem that’s equal parts absurd, daring, and fun. It’s an unforgettable ride that showcases the filmmaker’s creativity and leaves audiences eager for more.

UK

An absurd stop motion horror comedy about an old man who is stalked by a paralysis demon who wants to play a game of blackjack.

Canada

Rhys, a dedicated people pleaser, winds up at their boss’ gender reveal party with their two partners. The trans throuple soon realize that they are dealing with more than they were prepared for and their ability to survive the event comes into question.

UK

A film about the power of the arts for amazing everyday children. In Leeds, England two children escape the ordinary and the obstacles of life through their creativity, energy and imagination. But one of them imagines a little too hard...

UK

Five British stories explore British five values on one British estate.

Austria

Bibiza on a wild spin through Vienna. Life on the fast lane.

Norway

When the guitarist in Håndgemeng loses his arm in a battle against demons, the band makes a pact with the Devil himself, also known as Medieval Knievel. One blood offering later, they’re back – resurrected, possessed, and ready to party. Fueled by hash, heavy metal, and hellfire, they tear through the night on motorcycles.

Slovenia

The music video for Goodbye Butterfly follows an animator as he creates the story of two young lovers who dive into life too quickly and ultimately lose themselves in the process.
Throughout the video, the animator shapes their narrative and conjures the band itself, intertwining live performance with animated storytelling.

As the narrative unfolds, the boundaries between creation and reality blur—the animator becomes deeply absorbed in his work until the real world intervenes and wakes him from his artistic immersion.
Goodbye Butterfly is a fresh single from the Slovenian rock band Big Foot Mama. A subtle spin-off of their classic rock sound, the track incorporates tango influences to tell the bittersweet story of two lovers who know they aren’t meant to stay together.
They share the awareness that separation is inevitable, but choose to hold on to joy, for as long as it lasts.

UK

Claymation music video for British band WEAK13. Written, animated and directed by Nick J Townsend

Belgium

Gwendo and Éric take to the skies in a propulsion-driven flying chicory heart. in the air, and in the process, they catch Pierre, their favorite cook concocting his mom's recipe for chicory au gratin. The clip was made with the members of MÜ and a few satellites around them.

Belgium

Dat is mijn verdriet, this is my pain. Based on a poetic text, Linh Pham and Nathan Roche attempt to express their loneliness and the sadness during the Covid 19 crisis.
The Wild Classical Music Ensemble has never broken its ties and continued to produce songs during this troubled times.

FR : Dat is mijn verdriet, c’est ma peine. Sur un texte poétique, Linh Pham
et Nathan Roche tentent d’exprimer leur solitude, la tristesse qu’iels
ont traversé pendant la crise du Covid 19.
Le groupe « the Wild classical music ensemble » n’a jamais rompu les
liens et à continuer à produire des chansons pendant cette période
trouble.

Ireland

After years of searching, Brian and Suzanne finally find their dream home. As they realise they share the space with a malevolent force, how much are they willing to put up with to stay there?

UK

Savage Song is a poetic short film that explores the duality of destiny — the quiet battle between who we are and who we are meant to become. It is a story about the necessity of letting go in order to begin again, about the pain and beauty of transformation, and about the fragile truths we often silence within ourselves.

Set against the raw and haunting landscapes of the Orkney Islands, the film follows a character on the edge of personal change. The natural environment becomes more than just a backdrop; it reflects the character’s internal struggle and spiritual evolution.

This short does not follow traditional narrative structure. Instead, it leans into symbolism, rhythm, and atmosphere to express themes of growth, identity, and emotional rebirth.

Savage Song is a visual meditation on change. It reminds us that starting over often demands a kind of inner violence — a tearing away from comfort — but that in this process, something honest, young, and fearless can emerge.

The film was created with a small, dedicated team and features original music composed to match the emotional and tonal arc of the story.

Qatar

As the blue sky meets the surrounding seas, the native-turned-archeologist Hassan Al-Failakawy returns to his abandoned island of Failaka, off the coast of Kuwait, after decades of displacement.

Canada/Syria

In war-torn northern Syria, Who Loves the Sun delves into the world of makeshift oil refineries and the stark realities of life within this post-apocalyptic landscape. Mohammad is a prominent figure in these operations, navigating harsh working conditions and complex local dynamics.

UK

A very short animation fuelled by hearing Bitterns in Leeds

UK

An animation created from 15 years of sketches made in the reception area whilst waiting to see the Dentist.

France, USA, UK

Through travel, sensory experiences, memories, literature and encounters, we follow a man's transformative journey seeking light and a deeper purpose in life.

UK

Unspun Stories celebrates Bradford’s textile heritage from the 1970s onwards. Its creation stems from 509 Arts’ two-year research programme, Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions, blended with footage from the Yorkshire Film Archive and the voices of textile workers. An original digital design and specially composed music create a unique perspective on a very special time in Bradford’s recent history.

Alan Dix, Artistic Director of 509 Arts said: “We are very proud to launch this series of videos. Unspun Stories is atmospheric, moving and reflects the energetic and complex changes taking place in Bradford’s textile industry at the end of the last century. The videos capture the spirit of those times and take the viewer on a rich imaginative journey.”

Unspun Stories has been created by 509 Arts and The Colour Foundry for Bradford 2025 (UK City of Culture), and funded by The Space CIC, Bradford Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Audiences loved Unspun Stories, and now it can be viewed on screens at home! Experience the full 20 minute film or find your favourite track in our handy Unspun Stories playlist – all completely free via YouTube. Audio of the music tracks are also available via SoundCloud and Spotify.
For more information contact info@509arts.co.uk