Thanks to all who submitted to our DIY Filmmaking Challenge: Horror x Celluloid Screams. We asked filmmakers to create Horror micro-shorts on the theme of Retro Nightmares, looking back to the films of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. All submitted films were made by young, Northern filmmakers on a shoestring budget and to a tight production deadline.

Each shortlisted filmmaker will receive a one-to-one mentoring session with our BFI NETWORK filmmaker development team. One winning filmmaker will receive £1,000 of funding and production support to make a micro-budget short.

We’ve shortlisted 12 films which will be presented at a special showcase as part of Celluloid Screams in Sheffield. Book your ticket for the event and find out more about the films below.

Two aspiring film makers explore an abandoned building and their fate is sealed.

Weave a Web and Become a Spider.

A stalker follows his victim.

The making of a 1980s giallo film proves to be slightly more difficult than it first seemed.

A local pumpkin enthusiast buys the strangest pumpkin, things don’t go to plan…

Director: Brandon Lewis
80s Style Analog Horror based around a girl and her CRT TV being attacked by a black figure.

A mysterious informational VHS tape about the village of Killamarsh.

A phone call reveals a dark myth about the land beneath an empty Morecambe Bay campus, disturbing a novice room checker’s quiet shift.

A woman is stalked in a liminal space

Late at night, an overworked young man finds himself disturbed by strange sounds from within his own home.

The ever-present expectation of masculinity interrupts an evening in front of the television.

After a cancelled production of Macbeth, an actress is haunted by her past.



DIY Filmmaking Challenge: Horror is delivered by Film Hub North as part of BFI Film Academy.