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About Us

The Short Sounds Film Festival was a not-for-profit organisation managed by volunteers who were committed to celebrating cinematic music and sound. The festival was created by the team at WHITE LANTERN FILM, an established independent production company specialising in the development and production of richly thematic British feature films. As a founding partner, the team played an integral part in the festivals growth and development. For more information on the founding partner please visit www.whitelantern.film.

Our Heritage

SSFF over the years

FESTIVAL DISCONTINUED

The Short Sounds Film Festival will not be returning for the forseeable future. Thank you for sticking with us!

5 YEARS OF SSFF!

In 2022, the Short Sounds Film Festival returned live and in person! From the 24th to the 25th of February, we screened an array of incredible, award-winning shorts and features, and also learned a thing or two from the industry’s best;

BAFTA award-winning audio director and sound designer Mark Angus
Animation and documentary sound specialist Larry Sider
Academy award-winning composer Rachel Portman
The incredibly creative team behind Shuttlecock (2019); producer Simeon Costello, writer/director Tommy Gillard, and composer Freddy Mercer
And The Godfather of Foley himself, John Roesch, calling in all the way from California

WE GO REMOTE!

In 2021 the Short Sounds Film Festival returned with a new celebration of cinematic shorts and feature films. A festival to champion the audio wizards that fill our heads with sounds that make our hearts race and scores that storm our souls. Between 25th & 28th February 2021, the festival was hosted online due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. We had an amazing programme of short films and movies richly authentic in their use of sound and music together with talks and virtual networking.

A NEW DECADE

After moving to new dates on the 27th and 28th February, SSFF2020 was a huge success.  A festival highlight was the screening of MAKING WAVES: THE ART OF CINEMATIC SOUND accompanied by a talk from the movie’s writer and producer. The festival also welcomed an array of insightful and engaging speakers including:

Actor, Comedian, Director and Writer Matthew Holnes
FOR SAMA composer and BAFTA Breakthrough Brit winner Nainita Desai
Award-winning writer and producer Bobette Buster
SAE Institute Interactive audio lecture Jamie Stonehouse

A SHORT BREAK

The previous two festivals were both held in October as part of BOMO, Bournemouth’s Art and Culture festival. Unfortunately, the organisers found this period increasingly crowded with other film festivals and avoiding clashes was becoming increasingly hard.  The decision was made early in 2019 to move the festival to a new slot in the movie calendar: February. This would enable the Short Sounds Film Festival to carve out its own distinctive voice.

TAKE TWO

The second Short Sounds Film Festival took place on the 1st and 2nd November 2018 with a star-studded list of guests: 

Actress, Director and Writer Jess Hynes
Blur drummer and composer David Rowntree
Oscar winning sound mixer Ray Beckett
BAFTA Cymru Award-winning composer Alexandra Harwood
Sound designer Ben Cozens
Pinewood’s Head of Sound Glen Gathard

OUR FIRST FESTIVAL

Launched on 12th October 2017 over 4 days, our first festival was attended by over 600 people who enjoyed a unique programme of shorts, a live score by the BSO and a number of other amazing guests including:

Wonder Women Composer Rupert Gregson-Williams
Writer and Director of Detour Christopher Smith
Toydrum’s James Griffith and Pablo Clements
BAFTA-winning Film and TV composer Kevin Sargent
Foley Artist Barnaby Smyth
BSO live score to Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail

THE BIRTH OF A FESTIVAL

After touring their award-winning cult classic movie K-SHOP to film festivals worldwide, the White Lantern Film team were inspired to create a new film festival to celebrate and engage with talented film professionals. To complement the existing Bournemouth Visual Effects Festival, the team set about creating a new craft festival focused on sound – The SHORT SOUNDS FILM FESTIVAL was born!

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