Women X is an exciting, fresh short film festival based in the North East of England, celebrating the achievements of emerging and established talent from women and non-binary directors, writers, and producers. Our programme strives to include stories that challenge the narrative set by mainstream media, exploring both fictional and real stories that open our eyes, break our hearts, make us laugh, and question our perceptions.
Dates
2nd – 4th September (in person)
(Online attendees can catch up with films online and watch roundtable discussions)
Locations
Darlington Hippodrome, Darlington
Online, Leeds Film Player
Women X will display a programme of 40+ short films across 6 strands which combines various genres and storytelling forms including comedy, horror, experimental and a special showcase of North East talent. Excitingly, with a whole screening dedicated to films created by women in the North East and curated by award winning Darlington filmmaker, Caris Rianne who is the director behind the festival.
Special programme highlights include PRAGMA: PRAGMA is an off-beat romantic comedy, set in a Post Graduate Partnering Programme, led by the world’s leading practitioner in sustainable love. We follow our protagonist Willow on a series of hilariously intense compatibility assessments lead by Dr Francis (Nick Mohammed) with an onslaught of outrageous suitors. She is left caught between a rock and a hard place asking herself the ultimate question; should you trust science or trust your heart (or let’s be honest…burning loins)? Directed by Ellie Heydon, who has been featured at the festival each year since 2020, and executive produced by Ted Lasso favourites Phil Dunster and Jason Sudekis
SNUFF: A woman in the middle of an affair arrives home to find her wife making a snuff film in their living room. Directed by Louise Nesbitt and starring DERRY GIRLS favourite Saoirse Monica-Jackson
LA GROGNE: A child by all means tries to gain her father’s affection, but the family dog proves to be a fierce rival. La grogne is a short animated film, a disquieting fable with dark humour, portraying the hurdles to maintain family equilibrium. Directed by Alisi Telengut, a returning award winning filmmaker from the 2021 festival, whose work was also showcased at Sundance Film Festival.
The main focus is to allow space for new creatives to be spotlighted with our awards celebrating the achievements of both student and first-time filmmakers. The official programme announcement will take place on 27th July.
This year the festival will be held at Darlington Hippodrome [2nd – 4th September] and online allowing people to either attend in person or purchase an online pass where they can enjoy the films from home.
The 3rd edition of Women X will also include two special industry talks and workshops focusing on developing career pathways. Live events involve a fun interactive networking session of matchmaking and quick chats, a filmography card game challenge sponsored by Cinephile, a marketplace stand from Spilt Milk Press, a 00’s inspired film quiz.
The award show, equipped with a very on brand pink carpet, is sponsored by Flamingo Heights, Fulwell73 and No Drama who donated prizes such as mentoring, studio space and equipment hire for winners. Festival Partners this year include Film and TV Charity, Letterboxd, Breaking The Lens, Screen Queens, Superyaki, I Like Networking, Invisible Women, Leeds International Film Festival, Norwich International Film Festival, and many others. The festival is also sponsored by Darlington for Culture.
Film lovers can also check out the Women X Film Festival Podcast where the team are sharing episodes on not only what it takes to have your film selected in the film festival world, but also the behind the scenes of putting the event together. Featuring interviews from local festival friends Durham Film Festival and Sunderland Shorts Film Festival, along with filmmakers featured in the programme.
You can book your tickets here: riannepictures.com/womenx
ABOUT WOMEN X
Since its launch in 2019, Women X has been a fast growing festival with a purpose. With its core focus being to support not only women and non binary filmmakers, but also to cement a new home of film activity in the North East, the independent and volunteer run event has gone from strength to strength attracting some incredible talent from around the world and over 200 film lovers as attendees.
We have focused our efforts on creating a safe and inclusive space for both filmmakers and attendees, valuing elements such as including breaks in between film screenings, no clashes in our scheduled events, accessibility consultancy to improve our methods to be inclusive and incorporating events and activities with a focal point on mental wellbeing.
Our team has grown hugely since we launched the festival, allowing young programmers the opportunity to be part of our film curation, audience development, operations and marketing. Breaking down the barriers for entry level positions into the film festival world and allowing room for fresh ideas and talent. We’ve continued this by partnering with local colleges and sixth forms in Darlington for students to volunteer at the festival to gain some real life experience in film exhibition during their studies.
