Welsh filmmakers cultivate new shorts with support from Ffilm Cymru Wales

Beacons shines a light on Welsh talent, supporting emerging filmmakers from Wales to make a cinematic calling card with funding, training, mentoring and guidance. Since 2014, the scheme has produced 45 short films seen on cinema, television and digital screens around the world. 

The latest slate of short films in development encompasses a variety of voices and stories; five of the eight projects include Welsh language, two feature animation (plus a puppet!) and one is a documentary. The writers, directors and producers will now develop their scripts and pitches with support from Ffilm Cymru Wales, before applying for additional funding to progress into production in the new year.

Jessica Cobham-Dineen, Ffilm Cymru Wales’ Manager of Development & Production, says: “From a baby-growing plant, to a post-apocalyptic North Wales, and the ancient tradition of telling the bees, this year’s eight films selected for development showcase the imaginative filmmaking happening in Wales today. We are also pleased to see growth in animated and Welsh-language projects in the cohort. The Ffilm Cymru Wales team are looking forward to working with these teams on their films.”

Aberpont Valley 

A lonely stop-motion animator confronts his sexuality after receiving an episode of his children’s show. 
Writers/Directors: Jake Thompson, Alexander Griffiths
Producer: Sue Gainsborough 

Ar Amrantiad

TV star Eifion Samuel feels that time is not on his side. As his first live broadcast since the death of his wife looms, the weight of his grief and fears, the changing world around him, and the realization that things are not ok, will stare him in the face.   
Writer/Director: Nico Dafydd

Bara Lawr

Esmerelda Evans' time as a Welsh pop star in the 1970s was short and inflammatory. She has given up drinking and drugs for years, she lives in a clean town in West Wales, so has anonymity. As she struggled with the loss of the community where she grew up, and the mourning of her mother, a face comes from the last to churn the waters. 
Writer/Director: Ynyr Morgan Ifan 

Closet 

A closeted flight attendant and his chaotic best friend visit his eccentric family to help his also closeted twin brother come out, only for a drug-cocktail-fuelled dinner party to unravel everyone’s hidden truths – just in time for the end of the world.
Writer/Director: Yassa Khan 
Producer: Rosie Hartley 

Plant 

When a woman who is struggling with her fertility begins despondently pouring the contents of her menstrual cup into a house plant, the plant grows so big it takes over her bathroom. And when, nine months later, a bud opens to reveal a human newborn baby, she realises she got her wish – but she must sacrifice everything she knows.   
Writer/Director: Jodie Ashdown 
Producer: Jenny Thompson 

Sea Change 

Maryam is frustrated by her relationship with her elderly mother Elie. They now live in Wales, but Elie originally comes from Iran and Maryam grew up there too. They visit a family therapist to discuss their issues, and the session reveals deep-seated trauma about the life and the country they left behind. 
Writer/Director: Leyla Pope 
Animation Director: Efa Blosse-Mason

Telling The Bees 

Welsh beekeepers meditate on their deep, spiritual connections to their bees, as we uncover an ancient tradition which has connected people with nature for generations.     
Writer/Director: Florence Browne 
Producer: Siân Adler 

Y Salwch

Two sisters navigate post-apocalyptic North Wales, without the knowledge that one another are still alive, until the threat of a rapidly spreading water sickness forces them together again. 
Writers: Beth Noonan-Roberts, Rebecca Wilson 
Director: Rebecca Wilson 

Three earlier Beacons shorts premiered on BBC Cymru Wales in August and are now available to watch on BBC iPlayer: Toby Cameron’s psychological thriller Grappling, Isabel Garrett’s part-animated documentary Follow The Dogs, and Emily Burnett’s poignant drama Mother’s Day, which was recently nominated for Best Short Film at the 2025 BAFTA Cymru Awards. Fellow nominee Mared Swain’s Welsh-language drama Baich is also the latest short film to feature on Ffilm Cymru Wales’ AM profile.