Earlier this month, I attended my first ever film festival. The Watersprite Film Festival is the largest student film festival in Europe. The position of the film industry has been a hot topic lately given Timothée Chalamet’s recent comments. The Marty Supreme star expressed his fear that film is becoming a dying art which “nobody cares about” like opera or ballet. While his wording was inflammatory, there are truths in his sentiments. The legacy of COVID-19 restrictions and the rise of streaming has led to massive declines in box office sales. The rise of AI generated entertainment also diverts attention from traditional media like film and television. This context prompts numerous questions. Why bother making films? Why bother going to a film festival – a student festival at that? Why bother writing an article about said festival? The answer to all of those questions is simple: cinema still has a lot to tell us about others and ourselves.

Watersprite 2026 Highlights

There were two standouts from the weekend to me: Lyndon Henley Hanrahan’s Sunday Lunch and Natalia García Agraz’s Passarinho.

Passarinho is a Mexican film following two young girls plotting to get the autograph of their favourite football player at his last match before retirement. Before their plan can take off, one of the girls gets her first period. This leads the girl to consult her mother who, through a drunken pitch invasion, tries to take matters into her own hands. Passarinho is funny, charming, and driven by excellent lighting and performances from the two young actresses.

Sunday Lunch is a British film following Grace, a young lesbian, who finally summons the courage to introduce her girlfriend to her Catholic family over Sunday lunch. Unfortunately, she is interrupted by various distractions including her brother ‘coming out’ as vegan and her girlfriend having an allergic reaction. At the end of the film, the family are sat in the hospital bruised, dirty, and in awkward silence. As the closing score begins to play, the mother tentatively shows one of her children that she still loves them despite their differences. Spoiler alert: it’s not the vegan brother … Grace’s girlfriend is invited round for fish next Sunday. Sunday Lunch is very well written, acted and carried by an original operatic theme, making for a hilarious watch.

5 ways to say ‘I love you’ without just saying ‘I love you’

Despite having radically different plots, cultures, and themes, there was still many things that the films had in common, namely the theme of love.

In Ayomikun, ‘I love you’ is “I love you more than jollof rice, plantain, and chicken”.

In Yo Soy Yo, ‘I love you’ is “If I’m still alive it’s because of you”.

In Sunday Dinner, ‘I love you’ is “does she like fish?”

In Like Other People, ‘I love you’ is the protagonists sitting together in silence at the aquarium.

In 7 Hours Behind, ‘I love you’ is an immigrant mother humming her son’s favourite lullaby to herself as he is still in Hong Kong.

Whether in English, Spanish, or Cantonese, explicitly or indirectly the same sentiment was apparent in many of the films. This was both fascinating and beautiful to observe.

Final Reflections

The Watersprite Film Festival celebrated its 17th year this March with 2,243 submissions from 108 countries. Filmmakers from over 17 nations came to Cambridge to celebrate each other’s art and share their creative process. At the Q&A Panel for the ‘Metamorphosis’ screening, a representative of the director of Piano on the Cliff remarked: “I think that creating a piece of art is a fight”. For this Russian film, this fight could be creating a beautifully animated piece in an era where cartoonists are being pushed out by generative AI. Nevertheless, this sentiment runs true in many of the films.

This fight could be spotlighting state violence and suppression, as in the Iranian film If There is a Ghost Among Us.

This fight could be crafting a queer story amidst restrictive laws and norms, as in the Lithuanian film Glitter Kiss.

This fight could be daring to share the story of a man opting for assisted suicide in a world where this is still taboo, as in the Colombian documentary-film Yo Soy Yo.

Every film is fighting for something, whether that fight is worth it is up to us as the audience.

All the films at Watersprite this year were incredibly made with a level of passion and expertise I did not expect from student filmmakers. Despite the variety in entries, there is equally as much to unify the films and their audiences as there is to differentiate them. The film festival provides a space for humanity’s creativity and skill to be celebrated and has platformed emerging creatives for 17 years. Watersprite offers hope for the future of cinema at a time where that future is uncertain.

I believe that is something worth showing up for.

The 17th Watersprite Film Festival took place from 6-8th of March 2026: https://watersprite.org.uk/. Find out more about the spotlighted films in the festival programme.

Edited by Abby Williams