Film-maker Tomisin Adepeju has curated and will be hosting a collection of compelling and beautifully crafted short films that interrogate the meaning of home and the familial and emotional ties that shape our attachment to it. Can home be found in a person, in a loved one or physical location?
How do we navigate the decision to stay or leave our home? How does grief, identity and love shape our relationship with this home?
The curated films, eclectic and layered in their tone, genre and language all explore the profound power and complexities of home.
MOUNIA AKL
Mounia Akl is a Lebanese director and writer based in London. She earned her MFA from Columbia University and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®.
Her debut feature, Costa Brava, Lebanon, inspired by her short Submarine (Cannes 2016), premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, TIFF, and BFI London, winning the Audience Award. It was released in the US by Kino Lorber and later on Netflix. She developed the script through the Sundance Labs, Cannes Cinéfondation Residency, and Torino Film Lab. Her second feature film “Hold me if you want” is currently in development.
In TV, she has directed episodes of BBC’s The Responder, Boiling Point, and Netflix’s House of Guinness (created by Stephen Knight). She is also developing her own TV series “Yes we do”.
MATTY CRAWFORD
Matty Crawford is a BAFTA nominated British Filipino writer-director based in London. His films cross genre and burrow under your skin, blending unflinching emotion with bold visual storytelling. He is a Sundance Ignite Fellow and graduate of the National Film and Television School in the UK.
His short films have gone to broadcast, whilst screening at festivals such as Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and SXSW, whilst collecting a number of awards including the 'Midnight Shorts Jury Award' at SXSW and a BFI Future ‘New Talent Award’. He's represented for Film & TV by Nina Amini & Sophia Zhang at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in the UK.
EDEM KELMAN
Edem Kelman is a French-born, British writer/director of Togolese and Cameroonian heritage. He graduated from UCL with a degree in Philosophy. His first short film, "PRINCESS," was long-listed for the BIFA for Best British Short Film. Subsequently, he has been developing his debut feature, "CHAIRMAN," backed by FILM4.
Edem focuses on pushing stories from the African diaspora towards the realms of romance and spirituality, whether through childhood memories or contemporary life experiences. Edem was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2021
JESSICA BISHOPP
Jessica Bishopp is an award-winning filmmaker fascinated by subcultures, myth and our connection to place. Her work has screened internationally at film festivals including SXSW, AFI FEST, Sheffield Doc/Fest, DOK Leipzig and DOC NYC.
Her films are Oscar-Qualified, BIFA-Longlisted and Grierson-Shortlisted. She has been selected to take part in highly competitive labs including Berlinale Talents 2020 and UnionDocs 2024.
TOMISIN ADEPEJU
Tomisin Adepeju is a British-Nigerian filmmaker, writer and curator based in London. His award-winning shorts have screened at over 150 film festivals, including Sundance, BFI London Film Festival and London Short Film Festival. He has just completed a new short, Journey Mercies which recently played in competition at BAFTA-Qualifying London Short Film Festival 2025.
He is currently developing his debut feature, The Light of the Living with Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films and BFI. Tomisin's writings have appeared on MUBI, Sight and Sound and several other publications.