BOURNEMOUTH’S largest independent arts festival returns to the Shelley Theatre next month to give filmmakers from across the region a forum to screen their short films.

But time is running out, as the deadline to submit films for BEAF (Bournemouth’s Emerging Arts Fringe Festival) is tomorrow, April 5.

Film festivals in 2015 and 2018 have featured works of students from the Arts University Bournemouth’s Film Production and Animation Courses, graduates of which have moved on to work on Oscar winning productions, BBC documentaries, and for major studios such as Dreamworks.

Previous entrant Gabe Robertson, who screened his film My Grandfather was Probably a Secret Agent at the 2015 film festival, won The Dorset Visual Arts Award 2017, and Elliot Gonzo, who presented his film Sour Milk in the same year has since directed works for Tate Modern, Nowness and London Fashion Week.

The 2019 event is being produced by 2019 AUB Creative Events Management Graduate Alex Praag, who has produced for various film and music festivals.

Further film highlights at this year’s BEAF include a double bill screening of Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera & Mary Shelley’s Future Shocks with a powerful new live score by The Cabinet of Living Cinema on Friday, 10 May, at 7.30pm

Celebrating its 90-year anniversary, Vertov’s astonishing 1929 silent movie documents city life in Moscow, Odessa and Kiev, told through a mix of imagery and experimental filmmaking techniques. The evening will conclude with a performance of Mary Shelley’s Future Shocks, which brings together cinematic archive with Mary Shelley’s and Yuval Harari’s words to explore the future of humanity, ‘upgraded’ by artificial intelligence.

On Saturday, May 11 at 7.30pm, Dirt in the Gate will present a special 35mm screening of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (18). Aaron Boone is a troubled young man who may or may not be responsible for a series of brutal murders. He’s having recurring nightmares, drawing him towards a place called Midian, an underground community populated with monsters.

When his psychiatrist, Dr Decker, confirms to the police that Boone is indeed a murderer, Boone is forced to go on the run to discover the truth about himself and about the monsters of Midian. Actor Nicholas Vince, who portrayed the character of Kinski, will be attending the screening.

n All screenings will be held at the Shelley Theatre, Boscombe. Submissions for the BEAF Film Festival are open until Friday, April 5, short films under 12 minutes in length. Films can be submitted via: https://filmfreeway.com/BEAFFilmFestival. BEAF receives support from Arts Council England and Bournemouth Coastal BID