NRFF LONDON 26 - BLOCK M — At Breaking Point

BLOCK I — In Search of Belonging
Brief theme: Across cultures and generations, people confront displacement, fractured identity and the enduring need to understand where they belong.

Total Film Runtime: 2:20:25

Recommended screening order

Chan Kin, the Last Breath of the Ancient Maya — 13:50
Once a Child Soldier — 31:42
L’étoile des bergers / The Shepherds’ Star — 1:34:53
The feature completes the journey from cultural inheritance and stolen childhood to one woman’s search for her own origins.

BLOCK J — The Bonds We Fight For
Brief theme: Parents, children and surrogate families struggle to remain connected when illness, homelessness and circumstance threaten to pull them apart.

Total Film Runtime: 2:23:37

Recommended screening order

THE GAME — 10:43
A Film About Dad — 13:54
(Mum) — 15:00
What We Dreamed of Then — 1:44:00
The two Parkinson’s films form a natural dramatic-documentary pairing, while (Mum) introduces homelessness and surrogate care before the feature.

BLOCK K — Desire and Consequence
Brief theme: Desire promises escape and transformation, but attraction, obsession and impulsive choices carry unexpected consequences.

Total Film Runtime: 2:18:30

Recommended screening order

MAGIC — 15:00
Small Gods — 14:47
CURIOUS — 9:28
Terminal — 9:55
A Story of Spring — 1:13:09
The programme moves gradually from romantic possibility towards increasingly destructive forms of desire, concluding with the feature’s complex relationship between attraction and power.

BLOCK L — Art in Motion
Brief theme: Through animation, photography, dance and music, artists transform memory, identity and lived experience into creative expression.

Total Film Runtime: 1:59:29

Recommended screening order

Prayer of the Sea — 6:30
Ball Lightning — 11:59
Anchor Points — 25:13
Cindy Sherman: Picture This — 22:38
NWOBHM — 14:42
Now Hear This | The Sound Revolution — 38:27
This begins with a contemplative audiovisual piece, moves through animation, dance and photography, and concludes with two complementary explorations of music and sound.

BLOCK M — At Breaking Point
Brief theme: Five lives are pushed towards their physical and emotional limits by prejudice, addiction, grief, responsibility and disability.

Total Film Runtime: 2:06:47

Recommended screening order

Game Over — 13:23
Behind the Reflection — 24:00
Down the Length — 28:03
DELIVERY — 25:00
Peripheral — 36:21
After moving through confrontation, addiction, grief and intense professional pressure, Peripheral provides an expansive and quietly hopeful conclusion.