Oxpecker - A Short Film – Extra, Gaffer

20:00, Sat 21st June 2025 at Riley Auditorium, Clare College (Private Screening of Work in Progress - Presented By Clare Actors)

ZOE: I don’t know why you insisted on sleeping together like kids. We were eighteen, for god’s sake…
RUWEENA: I just got lonely sleeping without you.

Ruweena and Zoe were best friends - well, sort of. Actually, it was more like Ruweena followed Zoe everywhere, from lunchtime to after school and even to uni, while Zoe kind of… tolerated her.

Then, six years ago, Ruweena disappeared and left Zoe all alone. Zoe likes it better this way. Doesn't she? So why is it that she still keeps the single bed they used to sleep in - why is it that she lets Ruweena kiss her the moment Ruweena reappears?

And why does it feel as if there's something terribly, awfully wrong with the bed they used to call theirs?

IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37884542

The Sink - A Short Film – Runner

17:00, Sun 28th September 2025 at Pembroke College Auditorium (Cambridge 'Rivers of Film' Festival)

The Sink follows Princess, who recently lost her twin brother, Prince. She’s been struggling to sleep and maintain a routine. Worse still, the kitchen tap has been leaking for a month, and the water bill is extremely high. She finally calls a plumber who offers an unexpected solution. A random conversation forces Princess to move on from her past.

The Sink is commissioned as part of the Cambridge Rivers of Film Festival 2025, which is organised by Cambridge Past, Present and Future and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. The completed work will have its World Premiere at the festival on 28 September 2025.

The writer-director, Alessia Mavakala, is a graduate of Anglia Ruskin University with experience in a number of Cambridge student-led film projects.