Students to showcase hand-picked short films as part of Storyhouse festival

The Student Showcase on March 21 is part of this year’s Chester International Film Festival, hosted by Storyhouse in partnership with the University and the Chester Film Society.

Led by third year BA Film and Media Studies student Jasmine Davies, the group has selected eight short films made by students and filmmakers aged under 25 from the North West of England and North Wales. Jasmine and the team of first years – Keisha Bartlett, Fiers Lewin, Billy Buckley and Celyn Williams – picked the shorts from more than 120 submissions.

One of the highlights is The Saffron Thread, a documentary made by Neeyati Singh, Oscar Warrillow and Rishit Goswami. It details the stories of shop owners on the famous curry mile in Manchester. The three filmmakers act as hosts and bring extra layer of authenticity out of the participants. It is an all-round beautiful love letter to one of the North West’s best attractions.

Another is Sincerely Yours, Always & Forever, a breathtaking piece of storytelling by Sam Oddie. The film tells the love story of Oddie’s grandparents through old media such as photographs and childhood videos. Jasmine said: "As someone who never got to see their grandparents in love as my grandad passed away over 40 years ago, meaning I never saw their relationship in the flesh, the film is a masterpiece and it really resonated with me."

Jasmine has undertaken the film festival project as part of her final year project and as well as selecting the films, has been busy liaising with filmmakers and engaging in marketing and promotion for the festival. She added: “It’s been amazing working with Dr Katie Barnett, the Storyhouse team and my team. I had a really clear plan of how I saw this project going and it worked out slightly differently but so well.

“Getting to watch over 120 completely different films with such unique styles has been so inspiring. Negotiated study is underpinned by a ton of research and for this I have read so much from film festival curators but I have also learnt a great deal from Nicky Beaumont, Head of Cinema at Storyhouse. She has had such an incredible career and she has been very supportive of this project. I can't wait to attend and host the festival on March 21!"

Dr Katie Barnett, course leader for BA Film and Media Studies, added: “It's been great to see our students involved in the film festival again, and the team have done a great job of selecting some vibrant, compelling films.

“It's a fantastic opportunity for students to see what goes into programming a film festival – the glamorous and not-so-glamorous bits – and is also a great reminder of all the young filmmaking talent out there.”

Nicky Beaumont, Head of Cinema at Storyhouse, said: “It was a pleasure to work with students at the University of Chester to curate the short film programme. They were highly professional, delivering a really well thought-out programme of short films from a large selection that came in via open submission. I am sure the showcase will be a popular event in the festival.”

For more information on the Student Showcase, visit: https://www.storyhouse.com/whats-on/student-showcase-2026. For more information on studying Film and Media Studies, visit: https://www.chester.ac.uk/study/course-search/film-and-media-studies-ba-hons.

Main image and image 3: Screenshots from the short film Sincerely Yours, Always & Forever.

Image 2: Posters for The Saffron Thread and Sincerely Yours, Always & Forever, two of eight short films to be screened in the Student Showcase.