Odyssey 2026: In Competition 1 "Fashion as Social Commentary"

Odyssey 2026 In Competition (1/3)

As some of you know, each year, Odyssey chooses a specific theme for both our competition and curation.

This year the topic is #Fashion. We are not a festival tries to define a regional cinema or what cinema is, but as a vehicle to open new imagination and dialogue that would not been there otherwise.

There are 17 shorts in total selected as part of the In Competition. They are curated into 3 sub-strands.

Our Jury Panel is now judging them for different award categories.

“Fashion as Social Commentary” (5 films)

1. Girls Gone Guilty (2025)
Dir. Polina Kulbachevskaia | 6:14’ | Mockumentary, Comedy | UK

Five young women guide us through the various complexities of modern dating, corporate work, and taxes - all while reminding us that girlhood is eternal.

2. Gwangju Dialogue (2026) - UK PREMIERE
Dir. Baro Bolun Dai | 27’ | Documentary | South Korea

Sparked by Han Kang’s Nobel Prize and recent martial law, this short documentary retraces Gwangju’s forty-year democratic journey to ask how a nation has fundamentally changed.

3. Papa Shoes (2025) - UK PREMIERE
Dir. Ivana Lam | 23’ | Drama | Hong Kong SAR 

Inheriting her late father’s shoemaking shop, a young woman struggles with self-doubt and grief as she attempts to finish a custom pair of shoes for an old customer.

4. Bob Wanna Kill (2025) - UK PREMIERE
Dir. Yingying Yang | 19’ | Romance/Sci-Fi | Norway

In a dystopian world where breaking up requires literal murder, an arrogant man plots to end his relationship, while his perceptive partner exposes his deep-seated hypocrisy.

5. Bersærk: a Modern Saga about an Ancient Conflict (2023)
Dir. Amanda Renai Curdt-Christiansen | 29:53’ | Mockumentary | Denmark 

Archie, a young British-Chinese immigrant living in Denmark, believes himself to be the reincarnation of Thor.

Register now.

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🎬 Odyssey 2026 | #Fashion: cinema as fashion
📅 28 September – 10 October 2026
🇬🇧 Online & in cinemas across the UK
odysseychinesecinema.uk