The Sunderland Shorts Films Festival is one of the cultural highlights of the year and this year’s edition – the ninth – features over 150 short films and music videos as well as industry workshops and masterclasses.

In acting terms alone there are plenty of big hitters appearing in this year’s selection of shorts, from Oscar winners to national treasures – including the likes of Mark Rylance, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry, and many more besides. And the sheer variety of films they are starring is astonishing and take in the best new shorts drawn from right around the world. So without further ado, let’s delve into some of the delights that each day and night of the festival has to offer.

Wednesday

The Opening Night Showcase is taking place at The Fire Station and will be split into two parts, each lasting around seventy minutes. Among the highlights of the first chunk is sure to be My Week With Maisy, starring Joanna Lumley. When uptight retiree Mrs Foster begins chemotherapy she’s thrown together in the treatment room with Maisy, a whirlwind inquisitive child aspiring to be a lesbian. Spirit of Place concerns Edward, who likes watching birds, and Athel, who seems to have a much deeper connection to the landscape. When Athel makes a discovery, she is forced to re-examine what the wetlands mean to her. The estimable Mark Rylance is in this one. The second Opening Night Showcase features six shorts including Muna, which sees a British-Somali teen desperate to go on a school trip. But tragedy strikes when her grandfather dies back in Somalia, and Muna must navigate a confusing mourning period for someone she never really knew. Also in the offing is Better the Neville You Know. Following a personal tragedy Neville is ready to face the world again. But he inadvertently gets embroiled in a situation that leads to another but with devastating consequences.

Thursday

This night at 17Nineteen will open with a gig from Crack faves Amateur Ornithologist. Following that will be the Music Video Showcase, which will feature 16 of the most inventive new music videos around from the likes of Sparks, Kitty Smith, Kirsten Ludwig, Nicole Blakk, TV Death and many more. Following these will be the Thursday Showcase, which will include another six shorts including the comedy The Friendship of Fish (three complete strangers unite under one common goal: saving the life of a goldfish) and drama The Sun Is Up Forever (on a hot summer’s day, a young daughter seeks to soak up the sun but finds her thoughts are preoccupied with her mother at home).

Friday

The Royalty Theatre is the place to be on Friday and things kick off early (2.30pm) for the Young, Emerging & Student Screening. This runs for around 75 minutes and features eight shorts from some of the hottest up and coming filmmakers around. This will be followed, at 4.30pm, by the Documentary strand, which will include Dear Vladimir (a Ukrainian refugee narrates a letter to her least favourite world leader) and The Hearts of Bwindi (following the rangers of the Bwinidi Impenetrable National Park – brave people who enter the forest every day to protect wildlife). Next up, at 6.30pm, is the Northern Exposure Showcase, which, as the name kind of hints at, will present us with some of the best stuff coming out of the north at the minute including Chip Shop Girl (a teenage mum with a mixed race daughter works a shift at her local chippy and faces a racist customer) and The Last Cowboy in Salford (a darkly comic neo-Western set in Manchester). Finally, at 8pm, is the always popular Horror Screening. Among the highlights to look out for here will be Black Samphire, an environmental folk horror, featuring the voice of Stephen fry, and Bloody Mary (what happens when a girl says ‘Bloody Mary’ in front of a mirror three times…).

Saturday

There’s a huge amount of good stuff taking place on Saturday – again at The Royalty Theatre – including the Animation Screening at 10.30am, the BFI Academy Showcase at 11.45am and another Young, Emerging & Student Screening at 12.30pm. The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Screening is next up at 2pm, which promises to be as eye-opening and inventive as ever and features The First Time I Never Met You. This concerns John, a grieving scientist who inadvertently rewinds time and finds himself at his very first date with his late wife… The Saturday Showcase Screening is at 4pm and includes Black Sunflowers, which follows the stories of two Ukrainian refugees. The second Documentary Screening will be at 5.30pm, and the next Drama Screening will be at 7pm. Among the highlights here is sure to be Killing Boris Johnson (what happens when the inner turmoil of a grieving son collides with the failing political tenure of the Conservative party?). The night closes at 9pm with the Hazy Pine Showcase ‘The Toast Trilogy’: Floppy Toast with Drippy Butter, Burnt Toast And Cigarettes, and Toast Soldiers. File under ‘Unmissable’.

Sunday

There’s oodles going on during the last day – once again at The Royalty Theatre. Things kick off with the Art And Experimental Screening strand, featuring a whole bunch of mindbenders. The Sunday Showcase Screening also has quality wherever you look including Surprise, Baby! (featuring a baby shower like no other). The Sunday Drama Screening runs from 2.30pm before we get the Comedy Screening at 4.30pm. Look out here for Sidewalk Shuffle (an awkward encounter on a sidewalk turns into a, yep, shuffle…) and The Bloke In The Boot (a couple of northern lads attempt to dump a body – and fail miserably). There’s another North East Showcase Screening at 7pm before the Closing Awards Ceremony brings the curtain down at 9pm. We’ve only given you the briefest of tasters of everything on show this year, so be sure to check out the Sunderland Shorts website for the full programme.

Sunderland Shorts Film Festival 2024, Wednesday 8-Sunday 12 May. sunderlandshorts.co.uk