Categories
Animation Features Movies

Shaun the Sheep
The Beast
of Mossy Bottom

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom

Directors – Steve Cox, Matthew Walker – 2026 – UK – Cert. U – 80m

*****

When the sheep’s pumpkin patch is damaged, Shaun invents a regenerative potion, which the farmer later uses as hair restorer by mistake… – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 18th

As Halloween approaches iin Mossy Bottom, the farmer (non-verbal voice: John Sparkes) would like nothing more than to invite the lady vet (non-verbal voice: Nina Sosanya) to the Halloween Hoedown, for which his two tickets have just arrived in the post. When she turns up to give injections to the sheep, who are hiding ineffectively in the barn, he keeps getting prevented from asking her by being draged around the farm by Bitzer his dog (non-verbal voice: also John Sparkes). It later turns out she too has two tickets and plans to invite him, but is similarly prevented by various incidents.

Meanwhile, unearthly apparitions – mysterious eyes appearing on a signpost – are revealed as Shaun (non-verbal voice: Justin Fletcher) and fellow sheep having put up a false background of the rural view behind the sign, to keep the farmer’s prying eyes away from their prized, secret Halloween pumpkin patch.… Read the rest

Categories
Documentary Features Live Action Movies

The Tale of Silyan
(Приказната за Силјан)

The Tale of Silyan (Приказната за Силјан)

Director – Tamara Kotseva – 2025 – North Macedonia – Cert. 12a – 81m

*****

A farmer, whose livelihood has collapsed thanks to economics and government policy, cares for a stork with a broken wing – in cinemas from Friday, December 12th

This begins with a simple voiceover story. Silyan, ostracised from the other storks because he was different, is noticed by a similarly lonely father who takes pity on the stork and invites it to live with him.

Then it swiftly switches to two parallel narratives within the same geographical area.

In one, a man’s extended family builds a new storey onto their house for the son and daughter in law. The act of building is very much a family affair, with even the man’s small granddaughter mucking in.

In the other, a flock of storks build their nests on the roof of an old farmhouse building nearby.

The man is a farmer (Nikola Conev); his extended family help him pick this year’s harvest of vegetables, then accompany him to a string of local farmer’s markets to sell his produce. At this point, the man hits a problem; the going rate has dropped.… Read the rest