It’s already been a week of factual, fictional, frictional, emotional, experimental and exceptional big screen content in Manchester. A film-fest, if you will. And I surely have.

As has been the case over the last few years, the selection at this year’s Manchester Film Festival has been rich and diverse and with various pulls on my time including full-time working, the need to eat, sleep and watch Love Story: JFK JR and Carolyn Bessette (don’t judge me, I am but human), I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Hold your horses, ‘me’. It’s not over yet and with three more days (at the time of writing) film festival left, this is just an initial flavour of what I’ve seen since last Thursday, with a preview of what’s still to enjoy for those mancunians, non-mancunians, honorary mancs, mancophiles and industry players visiting this glorious city and festival.

Opening night – Gala Premiere: Psychopomp and The Good Boy

As was the case last year, opening night (and too will closing night) took place at the brilliant Aviva Studios (home to one stupendous Factory International). As I and my plus one in life entered the main space, it was already very festivally and exciting, as photographers, pundits and punters swarmed around one Kit Harrington, as he stood being interviewed in front the branded backdrop, ahead of his directorial/writer debut of short film, Psychopomp.

Now I’m one of those, I guess, heathens who hasn’t watched Game of Thrones. Jo(h)n Snow is a newsreader in my world, but I’m picking up that Kit is kind of a big deal. Now I don’t know about his ‘day job’, but I have to say I was there for his foray into behind the camera.

[Starring Harry Melling and Ciaran Owens] …a suicidal man hires an assassin to end his life, only for their final road trip through his past to spark an unlikely friendship that makes him question if it’s ever too late for a second chance.

Now what you get with film festivals is not only the chance to catch an early showing of some innovative work, but some insight from the artists themselves, as if you’re lucky, you’ll get a Q&A at the end. We learned what inspired Kit, what led him to some of the location and casting choices, and what it’s like to race to the final location of under the Humber Bridge with only hours of shooting time left to spare. The film itself is dark, intense and despite its themes, funny and leaning well into the surreal. The two-hander will have you hooked until ‘bang’ it’s over…

And then it was the main feature – The Good Boy. I won’t pretend that I wasn’t disappointed not to have star of the film Stephen Graham ‘in da house’ itself for a live Q&A rather than the recorded version with Director, Jan Komasa at the end. But given that his unarguable talent lends itself to an almost omnipresence on our television and cinema screens (and for that we are truly grateful), the man has more pulls on his time than the average being. And recorded or not, we, as an assembled audience, still got to be privy to an exclusive invite into the whys and wherefores, after the lights came up.

[Starring Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough and Anson Boon]…a surburban couple kidnap a violent 19-year-old hooligan. Chained in their basement, Tommy is subjected to a terrifying, ‘disciplined’ new life, where he must survive the couple’s relentless mind games or find a way to escape. It’s a dark, high-stakes exploration of forced rehabilitation.

Yeah it is…Wowzers.

The role of the husband of the couple being something of a departure from those we’re usually accustomed to seeing Stephen Graham in (although such is his eclectic acting repertoire, you could probably say the same every time you see him in something new), it’s a revelation. He’s creepily pleasant, creepily hospitable to his captor and creepily creepy.

And the hands. The hands. Keep your eye out for the hands.

This film is giving Trainspotting meets 10 Rillington Place, meets Weapons, meets The Others. And it’s funny until it’s once again not. The Good Boy will keep you unsettled until the bitter end, sending you (in my case) off into the dark streets of Castlefield (as in it was 10.30pm, not conceptually moody) to contemplate what you just saw, in Cask…

Day 3 – Father Mother, Sister, Brother

Day 3 of the festival and it was back to its spiritual location of the Odeon cinema in Manchester Great Northern.

First off, Father, Mother, Sister, Brother.

[Starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik]…estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevalute their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents.

Loved this. It’s a compendium of three stories, three families, three awkward, strained and heavy-historied meet-ups. And what the blurb doesn’t tell you is that the rest of the casting is rich, including Cate Blanchett and Charlotte Rampling amongst others. Three reunions, three sets of very different relations (1 – Father, Sister, Brother; 2 – Mother, Sister, Sister; 3 – Sister, Brother (twins), and three narratives which have you chomping at the bit to learn more about each.

With clever threads joining each story together (look out for the sartorial colour choices, phrasing ‘Bob’s Your Uncle’, and seemingly universal question that is, ‘can you raise a toast with anything non-alcoholic?, this is a film that goes deep to the heart of human behaviour. The ‘what happens when life takes you on a journey out of the childhood family set-up, only to throw you back in like a square peg into a persistent round-hole’. And whilst much aesthetically has changed, below the surface, the same themes, tensions and age old patterns begin to re-emerge. Exceptional.

Still to come from me and my laptop…

And whatever else may come my way over the next couple of days…

In the meantime, take a trip to the website to see what’s playing out 27 – 29 March 2026, including another chance to see Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (I recommend you take it), more shorts than you can shake a stick at and the Closing Night Gala Premiere back at Aviva, California Schemin’, brought to us by James McAvoy and starring Steven Coogan and Jonathan Pryce.

For tickets, passes and the fully programme of events, visit Manchester Film Festival