Wed 5th Oct

Animation 1

11:00am @ Light Cinema Screen 2
A unique collection of distorted realities and family dynamics. We explore the troubled dysfunctionality of family life, alongside the multi-layered perception of a drug induced world. Face blindness is explained throughout sketchbooks and a memory box, while Beryl̵ ...

Culture in Motion 1

11:00am Daily @ KUDOS Gallery
3:00pm Daily @ KUDOS Gallery
This selection of shorts examines the nature of the human condition through music, fashion and dance.  We embark on a journey of the mind from birth to death, loss and renewal, memory to nostalgia.

Doc 60 -1

11:00am @ Bolton Museum Theatre 1
A documentary programme observing three stories relating to home, prison, and survival. A Scottish hotel welcomes international fishermen into a short-term home. A European prison rehabilitates inmates using a dog training programme, and refugees search for scrap metal in Greece to make ends meet. ...

VR & 360

11:00am Daily @ KUDOS Gallery (VR)
Step into an immersive world of storytelling each day at The Hive Gallery. We bring the best of VR/AR/360 to the festival with incredible projects that take you on a journey, from potholing deep in the ground, to examining your own phone and how it was made, to ora ...

Art & Artists

12:20pm @ KUDOS Gallery (Cinema)
This ‘Art & Artists’ block documents the artworks of five hugely different artists. We meet a jewellery designer who steps into the world of sculpture, and watch Venus in her life as a goddess admired by all. We understand the importance of observing nature with a Japanese Ikebana artist ...

Culture in Motion 2

12:20pm Daily @ KUDOS Gallery
4:20pm Daily @ KUDOS Gallery
Embark on a journey of discovery with this programme of shorts that combine music, dance, fashion and experimental pieces looking at the ritualism and relationships we have with each other as-well as ourselves.

Doc 60 – 5

12:20pm @ Light Cinema Screen 3
An eclectic documentary programme that firstly takes a look at the victimisation of albinism and ritual crimes in Africa, secondly looks at human workers training the AI of self-driven cars, and thirdly checks out the possibility of a cyber society.

Student 1

12:20pm @ Bolton Museum Theatre 1
Our postgraduate student block features diverse storytelling for a younger audience. A strong-willed teenager struggles to cope with the behaviour of her male friends while a Romanian immigrant struggles to make ends meet. A skinhead ignoring his disabilities takes his hedonism a step too far and t ...

Culture in Motion 3

1:40pm Daily @ KUDOS Gallery
5:40pm Daily @ KUDOS Gallery
Combining fashion, music, dance and experimental film this block awakens the human spirit through the transformation of the self.  At the heart of this programme lies the notion that in order to reconnect with ourselves, each other and the place that we live, we must firstly surrender.

Student Animation 1

1:40pm @ Light Cinema Screen 2
From dildo’s of self discovery to creating a new persona for the outside world. The imaginations of student animators go wild in this block which looks at belonging and fitting in.

Environmental 1

2:00pm @ KUDOS Gallery (Cinema)
Our beautiful planet is under attack by the humans that inhabit it.  Our ‘Environmental 1’ programme hopes to tackle some of the issues relating to climate change and raise awareness so we can alter our ways.  In this series of indie-docs we dig underground for the farm un ...

International 1

2:20pm @ Bolton Museum Theatre 1
This collection of international shorts focuses on our relationship with work and what we will do in order to buy our freedom. Thai brothers take on a loan for a brighter future in Sweden, while a chaperone carries out a more sinister duty. A teenage fisherman seeks redemption at sea, while a ...

Music & Fashion

3:00pm @ Light Cinema Screen 3
In this textural tapestry of the human spirit our ‘Music & Fashion’ selection brings you the latest styles and rhythms that your eyes and ears cannot ignore.  You can find all our Music & Fashion films in our Culture in Motion programmes.

Animation 4

4:20pm @ Light Cinema Screen 2
This block of blended animation techniques from stop motion to use of the Unreal Engine tells tales about the relationship you have with yourself and relationships with others. We discover a magic record that plays everything you’ve forgotten and follow a lonely woman on her qu ...

International 2

4:20pm @ Light Cinema Screen 3
A collection of international shorts that observe a boy who can’t feel pain, watch a man on the run from the police, explore primal instincts connected to the human psyche, and follow a social media pro as she hooks up with a famous rapper.

UK Shorts 1

4:20pm @ Light Cinema Screen 1
UK filmmakers are brought together with this selection of contrasting shorts which feature stories from personal dilemmas and social acceptance to family tensions and relationship breakdowns. 

UK Shorts 6 – Made up North

5:40pm @ Light Cinema Screen 2
This ‘Made Up North’ programme showcases the talent and diversity of our northern filmmakers.  From a story of struggle at the seaside town to recontextualized Super 8 footage with a new meaning. We follow a local legend in his search for happiness, and look for the diamond through the str ...

Made in Bolton

6:05pm @ Light Cinema Screen 3
This guest programme looks at the industrial and rural landscapes that residents hold dear to their heart. A stop frame animation looks at a year on the hill, while we shine light on our local legends and Bolton’s powerhouse of community champions. A fantastic block which visits both p ...

Opening Night

8:00pm @ Light Cinema Screen 1
Bolton International Film Festival returns with an opening programme of selected shorts from the 300 films that make up the festival.  Whether it’s comedy, drama, documentary or animation, we can guarantee there will be something for everyone with these award-winning indie shorts from home an ...