Dozens of people turned out to the first ever Around the Bay Short Film Festival (TBIFF) at The Roxy Cinema.

The event screened eight films as part of the 'Stories Beyond Borders' programme, featuring nominees, award winners, and finalists from TBIFF23.

The short film programme offered a diverse selection of award-winning shorts that traverse a range of human experiences and emotions.

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This ranged from the poignant and introspective magic-realism of Demon Box and the hauntingly surreal Forbidden, to the stark and intense drama of Our Males and Females.

Festival organisers said the short film collection was designed to span various genres and countries to take viewers on a thought-provoking cinematic journey capturing the essence of resilience, transformation, and the complexities of the human spirit.

(Image: The Bay International Film Festival) Each film was a powerful exploration of personal and societal struggles with audience members getting a chance to vote for the film they loved the most.

The winner was the film Our Males and Females by Ahmad Alyaseer, from Jordan.

Festival director Darren Henderson said: "We were thrilled with the turnout and engagement at our Ulverston event. The enthusiasm from both filmmakers and audience members was fantastic, and it's clear there's a strong interest for independent cinema in the area.

"This collaboration with The Roxy has laid a solid foundation for future events, and we're very excited to build on this success."

(Image: The Bay International Film Festival) The Roxy Collective's Nathan Walton added: "The Roxy Collective were delighted to be able to team up with TBIFF to bring these unique and brilliant award-winning films across the bay to Ulverston.

"We are always striving to work with other organisations to bring events that expand our cultural offering to the wider community and this short film festival provided just that. It was great to see it well attended and we hope to be able to continue developing more events similar to this with TBIFF in the future."