There are short films that impress you in the moment, and then there are the rare few that follow you home. MAGID / ZAFAR, the blistering BIFA-winning, BAFTA-nominated breakout from director Luís Hindman, firmly belongs in the latter category. It’s not just one of the most vital British shorts of the year, it’s a film that should win.

Set over the course of one sweltering night inside a British Pakistani takeaway, MAGID / ZAFAR unfolds with a quiet ferocity. Written by Sufiyaan Salam and Hindman, and produced by Aidan Robert Brooks for Lovechild Studios, the film captures the suffocating heat of the kitchen as both a literal and emotional pressure cooker. What simmers beneath the surface is a story of fractured boyhood friendship, diverging futures, and the unspoken grief that often defines male intimacy.

At its core are raw, deeply felt performances from Eben Figueiredo and Gurjeet Singh. Their chemistry is electric in its restraint, loaded glances, barbed jokes, and silences heavy with shared history. The film interrogates authenticity, identity, and South Asian masculinity with rare nuance, presenting a brash, loud-mouthed British “bad boy” whose emotional interior gradually splinters. It’s an incisive portrait of manhood shaped by cultural expectation and personal truth, and it never once feels didactic.

Hindman’s background in music video direction lends the film a distinctive sonic texture. Contemporary Asian hip hop collides seamlessly with traditional Pakistani qawwali, creating a soundscape where generational and cultural tensions coexist. Cinematographer Jaime Ackroyd’s intimate, kinetic camerawork mirrors the mounting emotional claustrophobia, keeping us pressed tightly against the stainless steel and sweat of the kitchen, there’s no escape, for the characters or for us.

The accolades are well deserved. After winning at the British Independent Film Awards and earning a BAFTA nomination, the film also secured high-profile selections at the BFI London Film Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, cementing its international impact. Developed through the BFI and Film4’s FUTURE TAKES initiative, the project signals the arrival of a creative team poised to redefine contemporary British storytelling.

But beyond the trophies and nominations, what lingers is the ache. MAGID / ZAFAR stays with you, in the half-finished conversations, the swallowed confessions, the way pride can calcify into distance. Long after the credits roll, you’re left thinking about the things that were never said.

In a year crowded with worthy contenders, this is the short that feels urgent, fearless, and emotionally indelible. MAGID / ZAFAR doesn’t just deserve its flowers, it deserves to win.

Sally Brown

10/10