Established in 2010 the SFF supports all genres and encourages submissions that draw upon the diverse and radical traditions influenced by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Artists, writers and filmmakers influenced by Swedenborg include William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, Hilma af Klint, Jorge Luis Borges, Ingmar Bergman and many others. Films featured previously in the SFF have explored ideas of transcendence and symbolism, and themes have ranged from social reform to psychogeography.

Shortlisted films for SFF2024 will be screened during a live event on December 7, where winners will be selected and announced by our guest judge. This year, in a change of location, the event venue for the screening of shortlisted films will be the Zilkha Auditorium at the Whitechapel Gallery.

FILMMAKER BIOS

Jacob Cartwright and Nick Jordan‘s collaborative work explores interconnections between natural, cultural and social histories.They have exhibited widely and have undertaken a number of international residencies and public commissions, including Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Manchester Museum, and most recently for the British Textile Biennial.

Islands of Women Collective (including writer Alice Albinia, artists Rose Gibbs and Léonie Hampton) is a multi-disciplinary creative practice, set up to explore ancient and contemporary feminist cultures. The collective enacts metaphorical rites of passage by performing walks between islands, across sea-bed now passable at low tide but which will be permanently covered in the future. 

Nik Liguori is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Detroit, Michigan. His work ranges from film and video art to collage, cut-up poetry, and prose. He has screened and exhibited with the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Media City Film Festival, San Francisco Cinematheque, Xinema, and the Detroit Artists Market, among others.

Curtis Miller is an artist working across film, video, photography and publication. His films have shown at the Centre for Contemporary Art – Glasgow, Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, EXiS, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Mimesis Documentary Festival, Antimatter [media art], and Renaissance TV – The Renaissance Society, among others. He currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.

Leeseul Oh is a visual artist and director specializing in animation. She explores themes of inner conflict and emotional isolation through metaphorical storytelling. Her films blend abstract and figurative elements, inviting audiences into immersive, introspective journeys.

Felipe Esparza Pérez’s work creates dynamic links between film and visual arts, with an interest in rituals, faith and its symbolic derivations. His work has been shown in Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Guangzhou Image Triennial, Biennale Videobrasil, among others. He is a fellow at the Film Study Center at Harvard University.

Katharine Round’s award-winning film practice challenges the boundaries of non-fiction film. Since 2005 she has made films for broadcast, cinema, and installation, often focusing on ‘people in place’ through formal invention, the poetic use of place and time, and the construction of ‘situations’.  She teaches the MA Ethnographic and Documentary Film at UCL. www.katharineroundfilms.com

Keith Sargent is an artist and filmmaker. Known for his collaborative work with Lindsay Seers on large-scale exhibitions/installations globally, blending VR, CGI, and sound to explore quantum theory/metaphysical thought. Works can be found in the Tate and the Artangel Collections. His films have showcased in 100+ film festivals.

Daisy Smith works from a personal archive in which family members, friends and previous workplaces are situated within a backdrop of wider social dramas. Recently her work has been shown at B3 Biennial, Galerie Martin van Zomeren, De Ateliers and Aesthetica Film Festival. She is co-programmer of Mascara Film Club.

Krista Leigh Steinke is an artist and filmmaker known for her experimental approach to photo media. Her work draws from film and photographic history, science, current events, and the female experience. She regularly exhibits and screens her work in museums, galleries, and film festivals across the US, as well as internationally.

Susanna Wallin works with moving images, sound and words as well as non-linguistic material while probing subject matter across timescales and diverse environments to explore how living manifest and lie in wait, through fiction as practice. Born in Lund, Sweden she lives and works between Tampa, US and London, UK.

Josh Weissbach is an experimental filmmaker. His films have been shown worldwide in festivals such as Ann Arbor Film Festival, EMAF, 25 FPS Festival, First Look, and Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris. He has won jury prizes at Montreal Underground, Videoex, ICDOCS, and Onion City.