WOW FILM FESTIVAL
WELSH x SOUTH AFRICAN SHORTS
WOW × DIFF Shorts was a Wales–South Africa short film exchange between WOW Wales One World Film Festival and Durban International Film Festival, supported by the British Council Culture Connects programme.
Across 2026, the project brought together emerging filmmakers, curators and audiences through live screenings in Wales and Durban, a free online programme across Europe and Q&A activity with curators and filmmakers.
First presented at WOW Film Festival in Aberystwyth, the exchange introduced Welsh audiences to South African shorts alongside new Welsh work. It then continued at Durban International Film Festival, where Welsh shorts reached South African audiences and were placed in conversation with new South African films selected for the DIFF context.
The project championed young and emerging filmmaking talent from both countries, created new international visibility for short films from Wales and South Africa and strengthened the relationship between WOW and DIFF as partners in future festival exchange.
This project was supported by the British Council Culture Connects programme. #FestivalConnectFund
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FLEAS
Jordy Sank, South Africa, 2025, 15'30'', English, Shona, Zulu with English subtitles
Tonderai waits for his mother as xenophobic violence rises. With no water, he risks everything to save his ailing brother.
FLOCK
Mac Nixon, UK, 2025, 20', English, Welsh with English subtitles
When a tight-knit farming community’s sheep mysteriously vanish, suspicion turns on an elderly shepherd... his small flock are the only ones left untouched.
Vimba 2
Monde Gumede
South Africa, 2025, 9 min, English, isiZulu with Subtitles
An Östlund-like satire relocated to the cultural contradictions of contemporary South Africa.
Mari Lwyd
Charlie Grayson, UK, 2025, 10' English, Welsh with English subtitles
An ancient South Wales tradition reimagined through a short documentary told from the perspective of the beings who arrive with the Mari Lwyd each winter solstice.
B(l)ind the Sacrifice
Nakhane, South Africa, 2024, 22', isiXhosa with English subtitles
Led by “The Father,” nomads and servants roam under divine certainty... until The Son questions it, and punishment closes in.
Perception
Miselwa Ngamlana
South Africa, 2026, 9 min, English, Xhosa with English subtitles
Follows 18-year-old Ace as he drifts through Johannesburg, surviving on handouts and addiction.
Leapt Niches
Dominique Spies, South Africa, 2025, 4', no dialogue
Orphaned Allie boards her reclusive grandfather’s deep-sea submarine; a bioluminescent encounter ignites their tentative, hopeful bond.
Butty
Liz Cartwright, UK, 2025, 8', English with subtitles
An awkward father-daughter relationship told through bacon butties.