Brighton - world’s leading festival for films made by or featuring people with learning disabilities or autism

Nicholas Pinnock and Tillie Amartey who feature in ASA (contributed pic)

Oska Bright Film Festival, the world’s leading festival for films made by or featuring people with learning disabilities or autism, returns to Brighton for its biggest-ever edition this March.

Spokesman Ollie Denton said: “We’ll be showcasing bold, brilliant and boundary-breaking stories from learning disabled film-makers across the world. Over 110 films will be shown from March 11-17 at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange & Studio Theatre, Dukes at Komedia and Depot in Lewes.

“The festival opens with our launch night event on Monday, March 11 at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, screening BFI London Film Festival favourite This is Going to be Big. Thomas Charles Hyland’s humorous and heart-warming coming-of-age story follows a school of teenagers living with disabilities as they share their dreams, desires and confront their personal challenges .

“Nicholas Pinnock (The Book of Clarence, For Life) stars in ASA (Family Values), which will be celebrating its world premiere. Asa (newcomer André Tamakloet) is struggling with the loss of his mum and his ability to articulate those feelings, instead finding solace in his toy robots, while his sister Rachel (Tillie Amartey) does much the same with old videos. Their father John (Pinnock) becomes increasingly frustrated with his inability to communicate with either of them. One day, Asa spots a delivery robot trundling past their house and his obsession with robots leads him in pursuit. John and Rachel begin a panicked search to find him, and more importantly, find a way to reconnect.

“Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, The Girl with all the Gifts) stars alongside Bethany Asher (The Undateables) in chilling drama-short The Cunning (Wild Women) from director Alexandra Maher. It’s 1724. A mother and daughter are accused of witchcraft. Together, they hatch an ambitious plan for escape. The tiniest mistake, however, will result in certain death.

“Dead Cat Film (Wild Women) sees a young woman become increasingly attached to the taxidermied corpse of her housemate’s cat. The dark comedy stars Will Gao (Heartstopper), Josie Charles and features the voice of Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Notting Hill).”

The 14 strands for this year's festival are: animation; best of the fest; documentary; family values; Features; Love Won’t Tear Us Apart; nature; other worlds; portrait of the artist; queer freedom; sound and vision; reel Ireland; wild women; and young people/emerging talent. For more information: oskabright.org.

“At our awards night (Friday, March 15) nine awards will be given out across the 14 strands of this year’s festival including Best Story, Best Performance, Best Dance, Best Women in Film, Best Emerging Talent, Best Animation, Best International Feature, Audience Choice and the Strike Media Award for Best Moment.”

Matthew Hellett, head programmer, Oska Bright Film Festival, added: “We are so excited to be back with another edition.

"We're packing more than ever into this edition: four feature films and over a hundred shorts from across the globe. The festival gets better and better.”