Bristol short film showcase to host 207 films across competitive strands.

Bristol’s short film and animation festival Encounters (Sept 16-21) will showcase 207 works from 30 countries across its competitive strands.

The festival’s Thicker Than Water programme features Happy Toys, the directorial debut of actress Zawe Ashton, while Billy Connolly’s daughter Cara Connolly’s Sundance selected film, Exchange and Mart, will also feature in competition with a cast including Scottish actor Ewen Bremner.

The Journeys programme will feature The Karman Line by Oscar Sharp starring Olivia Colman and shot by Robbie Ryan and established artist filmmaker and Encounters veteran John Smith presents Dark Light in competition.

Meanwhile, Katarzyna Klimkiewicz’s Hanoi Warsaw plays in the Encounters Retrospective. Klimkiewicz previously collaborated with Bristol-based film producer Alison Stirling, which led to Katarzyna’s first feature Flying Blind.

Other films in competition include Crocodile by Gaelle Denis which was selected in the Critics’ Week in Cannes.

In the Strange Beauty animation programme Japanese films Anomalies by Atsushi Wada and Wonder by Mirai Mizue are both distributed by CaRTe bLaNChe in Paris.

Oscar-winning Chris Landreth returns to the festival with Subconscious Password.