Manchester Film Festival is delighted to announce the line-up for the NINTH edition of the festival, taking place at the Odeon Great Northern 12-19th March.
With 6 feature film world premieres and 17 feature film UK Premieres.
All Films are screening in Manchester for the first time.
Over 140 short films will screen at the festival including 32 world premieres. Local talent will be on show with three sessions of North West Shorts (most ever screened at the festival.)
Over 100 films are from the UK.
Films starring Nicolas Cage, Timothy Spall, Minnie Driver and Juliet Rylance.
Films fresh from Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto.
Opening the festival will be British film RYE LANE – a romantic comedy about two twenty-somethings both reeling from bad break-ups, who connect over the course of an eventful day.
Rye Lane will be making its world debut at the Sundance film festival before having its UK Festival premiere at MANIFF on Friday 12th March at 7PM. Director Raine Allen-Miller and cast will be in attendance for a post screening discussion and audience Q&A after the screening.
Of the feature film selection SIX WORLD PREMIERES will take place at the festival.
Stockport actress Kelly Wenham stars in Dan Clarke’s A KIND OF KIDNAPPING, about a young, broke couple who kidnap a sleazy politician who decides he can spin the story to his own advantage.
Manchester based production company Old Hall Films present WAIT FOR ME, about a young woman dragged into a life of crime after arriving in England from Ireland.
LOVE WITHOUT WALLS about a young couple who, after struggling to pay their rent, find themselves lost in the underbelly of life on the streets.
BOLAN’S SHOES, starring MANIFF alumni Timothy Spall and the directorial debut of Ian Puleston-Davies, captures glam rock mania through the experiences of a group of kids before a road accident changes their lives. Years later survivor Penny takes best friend and fellow Marc Bolan fan to visit his shrine in London, but a chance encounter catapults her back to the horror she had tried to forget.
Rounding out the narrative world premieres is SNORKELING, which sees a teenage romance blossom just as a new hallucinogenic drug hits the streets. The film is the feature debut of renowned music video director Emil Nava, who has shot videos for Ed Sheeran, Eminem, Calvin Harris and more and stars Funny Pages Daniel Zohlgari.
In the documentary section there will be the world premiere of THE ROAD OF EXCESS, which follows the stars of early noughties cult TV show DIRTY SANCHEZ and examines the consequences the show had on their lives.
17 UK premieres will take place at the festival. Highlights include:
EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO TELL MY DAUGHTER ABOUT MEN, a collection of 23 short stories, directed by 23 female directors in support of Survivors of Abuse.
Horror film ANACORETA starring and produced by Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor, Misfits)
JILL – LIFE WILL FIND YOU YOU starring Juliet Rylance (Sinister) and Tom Pelphry (Ozark).
Manchester premieres include the NICOLAS CAGE starring western BUTCHER’S CROSSING, about a young Harvard dropout seeks his destiny out West by tying his fate to a team of buffalo hunters.
Other Manchester premiere highlights include Medusa Deluxe, Rodeo and Godland.
Manchester Film Festival is pleased to be joined in 2023 by our ethical jewellery partner Lily Arkwright.
We are also pleased to welcome Manchester based JOANIE CLOTHING, our vintage inspired clothing partner.
Manchester Film Festival 2023 will take place 10th-19th March at the Odeon Great Northern.
Full details can be found at
Press Kit Available at
See full feature film premiere line-up below:
For full short film selection visit
World Premiere
Wait For Me – United Kingdom
Love Without Walls – United Kingdom
Snorkeling – United States
A Kind of Kidnapping – United Kingdom
The Road of Excess (Documentary) – United Kingdom
Bolan’s Shoes – United Kingdom
International Premiere
Lakelands – Ireland
UK Premiere
White Berry – Netherlands
Something you Said Last Night – United Sates
Blazing Neon – France
Shut Eye – New Zealand
Hunting in Packs (Documentary) – United States/United Kingdom
The 9th Step – Lithuania
To the North – Romania
Every Day in Kaimuki – United States
Mascot – Netherlands
Sam Now (Documentary) – United States
Flowing – Italy
Anacoreta – United Kingdom/Canada
There’s Always Hope – United Kingdom
Everything I Ever Wanted to Tell My Daughter About Men – United Kingdom
JILL – Life will find you – United States
Dreams Live in Trees – Italy/United Kingdom
UK Festival Premiere (First screening outside of London)
Rye Lane – United Kingdom
Manchester Premiere
Medusa Deluxe – United Kingdom
New Normal – Republic of Korea
A Life on the Farm (Documentary) – United Kingdom
Godland – Denmark
If the Streets were on Fire – United Kingdom
Rodeo – France
Butcher’s Crossing – United States
Cerebrum – United Kingdom
Sick of Myself – Norway
We Might as Well Be Dead – Germany
