By Felix Glanville, Second Year History and Meadow Wattret, Film and TV Co-Deputy Editor
Felix Glanville
As we traversed in anticipation into the biggest screen in the southwest, Bristol's Independent Film Festival offered Epigram a great selection of films, from intense dramas to spirited comedies with contemporary relevance. In an age of the million-budget blockbuster, this event confirmed the importance of independent filmmakers and their acting counterparts, who collaborated to craft imaginative and thought-provoking stories which were both engaging and in the case of the winning feature film, Mommy’s Lambie, exceptionally high quality.
Mommy’s Lambie (Dir. Umut Evirgen)
Mommy’s Lambie was a deeply visceral watch. We follow Murat, who is currntly in prison and unable to shake his past, constantly reliving the traumatic memories of his childhood. With a particularly psychotic knife-wielding mother and a father who is unable to mould his son into a real man, Murat is haunted by this past as he is brought to trial. Umut Evirgen creates an emotionally charged piece, which deals with a wider breakdown of poverty in modern-day Turkey. The feature thrives through its flashbacks, depicting the experience of a young person in prison with the constant motif of cutting hair, which acts as a symbol for insanity and disorder. The well-crafted rising action came to a slight stalemate near the end with a cheesy gun moment, which felt more like an Eastwood western than a grippingly dark psychological thriller. However, Mommy’s Lambie did have an exceptional ability to capture the frenzied mind of our protagonist that was illustrated stinkingly in the colouring of the film, despite it at times being slightly cumbersome piecing together the plot.
Dead Man Walking (Dir. Jacob Polat)
I could not tell if Jacob Polat’s Dead Man Walking was supposed to be a funny and critically ironic short film mocking the bombastic style of action movies or a sincere tribute. Yet, Polat certainly delivered on this explosive brand. With only 13 minutes to play with, it felt as if the first quarter of this already short film was dedicated to purely the opening credits of cast and crew in dramatic marvel fashion, leaving us wanting more from the actual action rather than looking at text. The physical combat and set production in the film was impressively detailed, never once thinking this is an under-developed student production. Polat showcased the openings of his talent in the action-thriller genre.
The Last Dumpling (Dir. Jadey Duffield)
The film festival could not have ended on a more different tone to what we opened with, and in such fittingly light fashion with Jadey Duffield’s playful The Last Dumpling, garnering an honourable mention for best short film. This deserves all the praise it can get. Fast, quirky and hilariously to-the-point. How could a fight between two unassuming hungry men over the last remaining dumpling get so dramatic, the audience were completely gripped in Duffield’s hands, and it paid off tremendously. The film's climax featuring a particularly hungry dog destroyed all hope for the two men's satiety, and certainly helped certify Duffield’s comedic chops. It was a modern slapstick that Chaplin would firmly applaud.
Meadow Wattret
Reroutes: In search of the Qhapaq Ñan (Dir. Adam Andres Pawlikiewicz & Leonardo Brasil)
The adventures of two friends bikepacking to rediscover their South American heritage is an inspiring breath of fresh air. Reroutes follows two buddies who bond over a similar desire to trek the Andes, a terrain that makes Attenborough’s Planet Earth look like child’s play. They're pushed to their limits, eating peculiar foods (tinned tuna mixed with crisps), running out of water, and getting injured - all in hopes of reconnecting with the nature intrinsic to their culture.
Many documentaries are deemed uninteresting or, dare I say, boring compared to their narrative counterparts, but this was stock-full of fun-to-watch anecdotes about resilience and the desire to feel closer to where you come from. Beautiful cinematography captures the sheer size of the place they’re navigating. Just a quick warning: watching these blokes surmount these peaks, all with a smile on their face, might make you feel a little ashamed of your own accomplishments. But I guess that’s what you look for in a documentary, to live vicariously through incredible people while sat in the pictures finishing packets of crisps. At least that’s how I watched it: gawking at such cool friendship and people exploring all the corners of the world.
A Sunday In The Vale of Tears (Dir. Maxine Sibanda)
This film is a folk-horror-inspired trip following tween girl, Lwazi, as she grapples with her first period whilst also inheriting her grandmother’s sangoma talents. A sangoma, from the South African Zulu people, is a healer who diagnoses, prescribes treatment, and performs rituals to heal an individual, physically, mentally, or spiritually.
From the off, the film creates a perfectly unsettling atmosphere which has you at least adjacent to the edge of your seat. And that’s saying something for me: I was sat in a lower row and because the screen is massive I spent most of the festival squidged as far back into my seat as possible. Until this particular film played. It’s unique – I wasn’t really sure what to make of all the eeriness until I realised that’s exactly what it’s going for. Two words. Folk. Horror. It’s got this eery lighting, the kind you get in summer just after the sun has gone and dusk has arrived. A string of implications to the supernaturalness of it all, makes it feel like there's something you can’t put your finger on.
It’s also got this very clever recurring use of the colour red – a great tie in, I thought, to the main issue at hand. Also, for Lwazi, growing up doesn’t just mean magic – it means the confusing reality of getting a first period. Even though I hadn’t actually known what a sangoma was before watching, I could absolutely understand the metaphorical link between it and menstrual foreboding. There is something so ineffable about the world you’re stepping into when your body begins to change, and this pick is a uniquely unnerving spin on that experience.
Where Are All The Gay Superheroes? (Dir. Tom Paul Martin)
This was by far the flick I was most excited for the whole night. On a break from one of their missions, two superheroes grapple with the state of their relationship as gay men when the weight of the world is on their shoulders. And this, as the title suggests, makes for some extremely insightful commentary on the Marvels, the DCs, and the whatevers. Superheroes are supposedly the bravest, most powerful, reliable, intelligent, selfless, people out there. So why aren’t any of them queer? Does that suggest, in some round-a-bout, implicit way, that gayness and all-powerfulness are mutually exclusive?
The film delves into such an important part of that phenomenon with a beautifully written script that lets the characters talk and be intimate like humans, a refreshing change from the avengers ‘Let’s do this!’ tripe. Their delicate love for each other is so powerfully depicted that helps their scenes pose several thought-provoking questions about how the world will both use someone for power while despising them for who they are. ‘What does that mean for us?’ they ask, tugging at my heart strings. I’m ashamed to admit that before I’d read the title of the film, I hadn’t even properly realised that what it was pointing out was so true. But it's had been right in front of my face the entire time these mega-blockbusters are hitting cinemas. This is what made it such a thought-provoking and, at the risk of repeating myself, absolutely necessary addition to a great line-up. It discussed something we don’t discuss enough, let alone about superhero films - films we constantly consume and don’t question enough. I should also admit that as it wound to a close, a feeling sat in my mind that other writers and screenwriters I’m sure will understand: Wow. Why didn’t I come up with that?
Did you manage to catch Bristol Independent Film Festival? No need to fret if not, it will return in April 2026!
