Northampton Film Festival 2025 - And the winners are …
As the curtain closes on another successful Northampton Film Festival, the pulse of Northamptonshire has been a major part of the story, with the voices of rebels, revolutionaries, misfits, mavericks, creatives and change makers echoing throughout the celebrations.
From the choice of films, to screenings at historic local landmarks (Delapré Abbey and Northampton Guildhall) and the packed audiences - there was much to celebrate, including the list of winners awarded on the final evening.
And those winners, in the following categories, are …
1. Youth Award winner: How To Build A Life, by Matthew Reese
Selected by the festival’s Youth Board, this short film tells the story of Louis, a young man with Asperger’s, who talks candidly about a decade-long struggle with bullying that nearly ended his life. He finds strength in his unique passion for Legos and his loyal dog, creating an outlet for his creativity and healing.
2. Youth Disability Award winner: Unique Perspectives, by The A Listers
Awarded by the festival’s Youth Disability Board, from a selection of films provided by the Oska Bright Film Festival which champions disability rights, issues and achievements. The winner was Unique Perspectives, a music video by The A Listers where 2 East Sussex learning disability clubs united to create a collaborative musical celebration.
3. 16yrs and Under Award winner: Out of Time, by Blaenau Gwent Film Academy
In the near future a scientist creates a time traveling device and performs a basic test. Unfortunately for him, the device malfunctions almost instantly. What starts off as a simple inconvenience quickly spirals out of control, as each jump into the past or present becomes increasingly dangerous.
4. Best Northants 16yrs and Under Award winner: Climate Action Super Super Heroes, by Fermynwoods Contemporary Art.
Children across Northamptonshire schools participated in workshops where they chose a character to embody, engaging in creative exercises like writing, collage, and visual compositions to explore the characteristics and superpowers of their chosen hero with the resulting artwork contributing to a Climate Action Super Super Hero Animation.....
5. 17-23yrs New Filmmaker Award winner: Time Between Us, by Isabella Campbell.
An experimental short film exploring the themes of memory and nostalgia. Filled with the character's fragmented childhood memories, brought to life through a combination of projections, archival footage, and practical effects, as she begins to understand the value in capturing memories and the blissful pain feelings which nostalgia can create.
6. Misfits and Mavericks Award winner: Exchange Rate by Emma Stansfield.
Exchange Rate is a story about a woman's struggle to provide for her daughter and the incremental sacrifices she will make in exchange for her child's future, but ultimately it's a story about hope.
7. Documentary Short Award winner: Drainspotting by Andy Oxley, Joshua Gaunt
A novelty calendar of drain covers turns humble lengthsman Archie Workman into a curious form of celebrity. A lengthsman is a road worker who looks after a length of road, and Archie is one of only a handful left in the country. With flooding on the rise, Archie was hired by his parish council in the Lake District to clean out blocked drains, providing a medieval solution to a modern problem. This documentary charts his curious journey from the gutter to the stars.
8. Documentary Feature Award winner: This Award was won by two films: She Walks A Line, by Timothy Lovell and Gama Bomb -Survival Of The Fastest, by Kiran Acharya
She Walks a Line is a gripping documentary that reveals the harrowing journey of thousands of young Nepali women and girls who are trafficked across the border into India each year and sold into the sex industry, Amidst international indifference, one Nepali woman, Shanta Sapkota, has taken a courageous stand to combat this humanitarian crisis.
Gama Bomb -Survival Of The Fastest: Cult Irish thrash band Gama Bomb were trapped by lockdowns, missing a drummer, and unable to tour when their seventh album ‘Sea Savage’ hit the American Billboard charts. The film picks up when they return to the UK and Europe on a quest to perform for 10,000 people at Hellfest, ‘the Glastonbury of Metal’. This warm and wayward film embraces the universe of alternative music while reflecting on the earliest sparks of the Peace Process alongside a band of friends trying to keep the show on the road.
9. Narrative Fiction Short Film Award winner: Victory To The Mimers, by James Green. A satirical Dramedy inspired by the infamous UK Miner’s strikes of the 1980s; however this time, the fight isn’t in the pits, but on the stage. In this surreal, alternate vision of Britain, struggling actors and artists wage war against government cuts and cultural indifference, exposing the deep-rooted classism and underfunding plaguing the industry.
10. Best Northants Narrative Fiction Short Film Award winner: He’s The One, by Lewis Simpson. Aaron and his best friend Raya head on a night out to their regular queer bar that Aaron often DJs at. While there, Aaron meets the man of his dreams, Connor. It's love at first sight for Aaron. Swept away and blinded by his attraction, Aaron ignores all of Connor's red flags, as his romantic attraction transforms into a Hollywood-style dream ballet depicting the spontaneous date night the evening has become.
11. Narrative Fiction Feature Award winner:All This Time, by Rob Worsey
Trapped with a mysterious vampire in an endless time loop, Grace must unlock the secrets of the house, the previous night’s party, and her own past, to find any hope of escaping and returning to her normal life and young child.
12. Best Northants Narrative Fiction Feature Award winner: The House That Stood, by Antonella Spirito
Italy, 1943. Camillo, a teenager, sees his life being turned upside down when, one day, some retreating German soldiers begin using his family's inn as a base of operation. Amid a war that seems never-ending, Camillo has much more in mind; and first things first, to ask Bianca, his longtime crush, on a first date. The world seems a little less ugly, even for a moment, until something changes their lives forever. The film’s director, Antonella Spirito lived in Northamptonshire for 2 years and the film's Producer is from Kettering.