MiraBan Film Festival 2024: Top Picks
The MiraBan UK Film Awards (MUFA) returns for its 5th edition this year, at Ealing Picturehouse London. It’s a must-attend event for lovers of independent film, and for those invested in a space that is both thoughtfully curated and enables meaningful, constructive networking. MUFA has been championing the voices of both new and experienced filmmakers, winning the BFI Film Exhibition Fund.
It’s also highly affordable — check out the prices for the festival here. Two films from the festival catalogue stood out to me as especially exciting.
First is the documentary Forgetting the Many: The Royal Pardon of Alan Turing. Ten years on from Morten Tyldum’s smash-hit, Oscar-grabbing The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the legendary cryptanalyst, the legacy of homosexuality’s criminalisation in the UK remains painful. For the families of thousands of men whose ‘lifestyle’ was deemed illegal by the state, Turing’s real-life story is one of both tragedy and hope. Tyldum’s 2014 film, for all its merits, “tries to have its gay martyr cake and eat it”, as Catherine Shoard said at the time.
Still from Forgetting the Many: The Royal Pardon of Alan Turing. Director Rosemarie Reed. Producer Caryl Ratner. USA 2024. 85min.
Director Rosemarie Reed tackles Turing’s legacy much more head-on. She picks up the torch of modern posthumous LGBTQ+ justice from other moving and genuine projects like this year’s I’m Your Venus, the documentary mourning the death, and celebrating the life, of Paris is Burning star Venus Xtravaganza. Reed contextualises Turing’s story within a larger framework of LGBTQ+ discrimination in the UK, exploring the impact of Turing’s pardon by the late Queen Elizabeth II just thirteen years ago. With Turing’s family attending the screening, Forgetting the Many promises to be a deeply moving and highly informative addition to MUFA.
Another exciting project to be screened at MUFA is Toby Cochran’s animated short LUKi & the Lights. Robots, companion or otherwise, have been the subject of a lot of mainstream and indie animation in the past decade. Films like Disney’s Big Hero 6, Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, and Dreamworks’ most recent film The Wild Robot have continued to show that some of the most sympathetic and memorable cinematic characters are automata.
Still from LUKi and the Lights. Director Toby Cochran, Producer Adrian Ochoa. 11mins. USA, 2024.
LUKi & the Lights takes things one step further, presenting a robot navigating life after being diagnosed with ALS. In its lack of dialogue, the short is in very good company with some of the best animation I have seen (including the Studio Ghibli-presented The Red Turtle), and as such is crafted to reach an international audience effectively. As a collaboration with Global Neuro YCare, and based on the true story of co-creator Anjo Sniders’ own journey with ALS, LUKi & the Lights champions MUFA’s spirit of spotlighting vibrant, under-represented voices authentically.
Beyond these two picks, there is an incredible range of films available to watch at MUFA this year. You can find out more about the selection and the festival’s excellent networking opportunities here.