Africa in Motion Film Festival is delighted to announce the final short lists of its annual Short Film Competition. The short films will be screened on Monday 30 October in Edinburgh (at the Filmhouse) and on Tuesday 31 October in Glasgow (at the University of Glasgow).

The festival has successfully run its annual Short Film Competition for the past ten years. This year, the shortlist was selected from over 350 entries, a record in AiM’s history.

The Competition is central to AiM's commitment to nurturing young African filmmaking talent, and filmmakers who enter must not have previously made a feature-length film. There is a cash prize of £500 awarded to the Jury winner, sponsored by the Scottish Documentary Institute.

The selected films of the Short Film Competition are:

Chebet

Tony Koros | Kenya 2017 | 12m | Swahili with English subtitles | 15 A pregnant woman in the Kenyan highlands decides to take drastic action when she finds her husband passed out in front of their house yet again.

Occupation: Killer

Walid Ayoub | Morocco 2017 | 23m | Arabic with English subtitles | 15 In order to enter a prestigious journalism contest Sami starts writing a report on Abbas, an atypical killer he has known since childhood.

I Promise You

Mohamed Yargui | Algeria 2016 | 17m | Arabic with English subtitles | 15 On the rocky paths leading to his home town in Algeria, Allili descends into silence unravelling feelings he has held onto since childhood.

Dem Dem!

Pape Bouname Lopy, Marc Recchia and Christophe Rolin | Senegal 2017 | 25m | Wolof and French with English subtitles | 15 A Senegalese fisherman finds a Belgian passport on a beach in Dakar and decides to use it. He soon crosses paths with N’Zibou, a wise man who measures the clouds and questions the man about his search for identity.

Black Rose

Pascal Aka | Ghana 2016 | 11m | 15 Black Rose is an African film noire that explores the inner thoughts and feelings of a restaurant manager, seeking for a personal escape.

The Dark Box

Yemi Jolaoso | Nigeria 2016 | 8m | 15 Fido is all too eager to put his one-minute time machine to use in winning the heart of Kiki, until he discovers the unexpected consequences of his actions.

The Ant Queen

Leila Artese | Algeria 2016 | 15m | Arabic with English subtitles | 15 Amel, a 10-year-old girl, lives with her big sister Fatma and her grandmother. In the harsh reality of everyday life she has to reinvent her world to escape the taboos imposed on it. Her dream is to turn into queen ant to have the freedom to choose her destiny.