Shorts catalogue

This catalogue includes live action, animation, documentary, artists' moving image, and virtual reality/immersive shorts. Many of the films selected have been showcased on the British Council’s UK Shorts Portal. We've also included some of our top picks and key names to watch.

Download the new catalogue here:

2026 UK Shorts and New Talent Catalogue

Snapshots from the shorts catalogue

The selection below gives you a flavour of what's included in the catalogue across fiction, Animation, Documentary, Artist Moving Image and XR. For each film you can read a synopsis and find contact details for the production company and sales agent.

Abracadabra

On a school bus ride home, 12 year-old Agastya is left adrift when his best friend Naman, chooses to sit elsewhere. A small shift quickly spirals into a quiet storm of identity, guilt and longing. Set entirely during one afternoon, a tender story about friendship, identity, and the invisible ways children absorb the world’s expectations; on a bus that moves forward, even when they’re not ready to.

A Friend of Dorothy

Dorothy is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy’s daily routine of pills, prunes and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.

I Don't Speak Dog (But I'll Try)

Exploring the filmmaker’s evolving relationship with their dog Miso, a one-year-old German Shepherd. Blending observational and verité footage with personal narration, this tender story of unrequited love takes the filmmaker on an intimate journey through the complexities of caregiving and cross-species bonds, contending with the influence of intergenerational parenting styles on the human-dog relationship and how dogs express their agency, ultimately asking whether it is possible to love truly without conditions.

Burnt Toast

A contemporary ghost story that resurrects legendary British comedian Tommy Cooper, who famously died mid-performance in 1984. Blending machine learning, VHS footage, archival materials, and a trained impersonator, the film follows Phil, an unemployed magician trapped in the decaying home of the director’s late schizophrenic uncle.

Download the new catalogue here:

2026 UK Shorts and New Talent Catalogue

and you can still see our 2025 catalogue here: