Independent film · North West UK

A film by Ben S. Hyland

Quiet Carriage

Starring Amit Shah & Emma Sidi
A passive man. An overactive imagination. One very noisy commute.

Hidden Art Films

Hidden Art Films.

We make films with characters you recognise and voices you haven’t heard before. Stories that make you laugh, draw you in, and stay with you.

Founded by producer Adam Gregory Smith in 2014, Hidden Art Films develops new and emerging talent across live action, animation and feature films.

Meet the company ↗

Across the festival circuit

Festivals we’ve screened at.

A selection of the international festivals that have presented our films. Explore a film for its festival history and awards.

BFI London Film Festival

Premiers Plans d’Angers

Aspen Shortsfest

Cleveland International Film Festival

Seattle International Film Festival

Cinequest Film Festival

Encounters Film Festival

LA Shorts International Film Festival

Aesthetica Short Film Festival

Edmonton International Film Festival

Flickerfest

London Short Film Festival

Cambridge Film Festival

Tallgrass Film Festival

Rhode Island International Film Festival

Bengaluru International Short Film Festival

RiverRun International Film Festival

Manchester Film Festival

The portfolio

Our films

14 projects

Comedy · 10 min

Ciaran Dowd · Rebecca Shorrocks · Sunil Patel

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Stop-motion · Drama · 16 min

Rakie Ayola · Gary Carr

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Comedy · 6 min

Amit Shah · Emma Sidi

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Comedy · 9 min

Julia Deakin · Pearce Quigley · Tim Key

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Supernatural drama · Feature

Rosie Allerhand · Gemma Jones · Chris Keelty

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Animation · Drama · 7 min

Danny Sapani · Sara Powell · Harrison Madikazi · Mandisi Madikazi · Jodyanne Richardson

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Drama · 18 min

Sian Hill · Hisham Khan · Jamie Melrose · Max Williams

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Drama · 9 min

Rebecca Grant · Marlene Madenge · Alma Eno

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Drama · 18 min

Kate Lassman Long · Dominic Kinnard

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Animation · Comedy · 7 min

James Askill · James Naylor · Sophie Barker

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Comedy · Horror · 1 min

Paul Taylor · Elizabeth Guterbock · Sadie Clark · Tegan Cecil · Joel Samuels · Kyle Ross

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Comedy · 90 sec

Laura Evelyn · Liam Ballantyne

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Comedy · Drama · 10 min

Emily Williams · Daniel Lillie

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On the festival circuit

Stories finding their audience.

Our films have screened internationally at Academy Award-qualifying and BAFTA-qualifying festivals. Here are some of the audiences they have reached.

Short Film Competition · BFI London Film Festival 2025

Hope Is Lost

BFI London Film FestivalPremiers Plans d’AngersCleveland International Film FestivalDurban International Film FestivalBengaluru International Short Film FestivalEmerging Lens Cultural Film Festival

Winner · Crédit Mutuel Anjou Audience Award, Animated Films · Angers 2026

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A festival journey across the UK and North America

Quiet Carriage

Aspen ShortsfestCleveland International Film FestivalEncounters Film FestivalLA Shorts International Film FestivalAesthetica Short Film FestivalLondon Short Film Festival

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From Cinequest and Cleveland to Encounters and Flickerfest

Talk Radio

Cinequest Film FestivalCleveland International Film FestivalEdmonton International Film FestivalFlickerfestEncounters Film FestivalShow Me Shorts

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International festival screenings before its online premiere

The Snip

Seattle International Film FestivalAesthetica Short Film FestivalCambridge Film FestivalEdmonton International Film FestivalBolton Film FestivaldeadCenter Film Festival

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The hidden art of filmmaking

Bold filmmakers.
Lasting partnerships.

Hidden Art Films is an independent UK production company based in the North West UK. We work with new and emerging writers and directors to develop their ideas into short and long-form films, building lasting creative relationships along the way.

Filmmaking is collaborative. It is the conversations that shape a story, the people who keep going through the long days and late nights, and the shared effort to make something that connects with an audience.

Our films feature performances by

Amit Shah · Emma Sidi · Julia Deakin · Tim Key · Gemma Jones · Rakie Ayola · Gary Carr

Start a conversation

Talk to
Hidden Art Films.

info@hiddenartfilms.com ↗

For production collaborations, film enquiries and conversations about future projects.
North West UK.

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About Hidden Art Films

About Hidden Art Films.

An independent production company working with emerging and established filmmakers across fiction and documentary, live action and animation.

The company

Hidden Art Films is an independent production company based in the North West UK, founded in 2014 by Adam Gregory Smith. We work with emerging and established writers and directors across fiction and documentary, in live action and animation, from shorts to features.

Film is made through collaboration. A story begins with someone seeing the world in a particular way, then grows through the ideas, skill and commitment of everyone who joins it.

We are interested in films that connect with an audience: through laughter, discomfort, recognition or something they cannot quite put into words. Our job is to help filmmakers find the practical route from the story they want to tell to the film they want to make.

Bold filmmakers.
Lasting partnerships.

That work takes time. It means developing ideas, asking difficult questions, bringing the right people together and staying with a project through the long days, late nights and changes of plan.

We want to build relationships that last beyond a single production—giving filmmakers room to develop their voices and make the next piece of work.

Tell us about your project ↗

Founder & producer

Adam Gregory Smith

Adam came to film from a background in marine biology, bringing a curiosity about people, their environments and the stories that shape them. He founded Hidden Art Films in 2014 to build a home for new voices and collaborative filmmaking.

His work spans fiction and documentary, live action and animation, including short films and feature development. He is particularly interested in the relationship between a filmmaker’s ambition and the practical decisions that allow a project to move forward: who needs to be involved, how the work can be made and where it might find its audience.

Adam’s industry development includes the Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab, Reykjavik Talent Lab, four years with BFI NETWORK × BAFTA Crew, and Creative UK’s Creative Enterprise and Market Trader programmes.

Through Producer’s POV, he also works with emerging filmmakers on their projects, careers and production challenges—sharing experience, questioning assumptions and helping them identify a useful next step.

Mentoring with Producer’s POV ↗

The practical side of making films

Making a film means navigating creative decisions, practical constraints and plenty of uncertainty. Producer’s POV brings a producer’s perspective to that process, offering mentoring, project feedback and troubleshooting for new and emerging filmmakers.

Founded by Adam Gregory Smith and operated through Hidden Art Films Ltd, Producer’s POV draws on the experience of developing and producing films. It is a place to ask questions, test assumptions and work out the next practical step for your project or career.

Support is shaped around the filmmaker: a focused conversation about a specific problem, or a longer mentoring relationship as a project develops.

For writers, directors and producers, this can mean understanding how a pitch is assessed, preparing materials, considering a project’s practical demands or identifying the decisions that need attention first.

Alongside individual support, Producer’s POV shares resources and practical approaches to the work of producing. The aim is to help filmmakers make informed decisions and move forward with a clearer sense of what their project needs.

Looking for mentoring or feedback? Explore Producer’s POV. Looking for a production company to consider your film? Use the Hidden Art Films project pitch form.

Explore mentoring at Producer’s POV ↗

Mentoring

Individual conversations focused on your project, career and next decisions.

Project feedback

A producer’s perspective on your pitch, materials and the questions a project raises.

Troubleshooting

Practical discussion of the creative and production challenges holding you up.

Documentary in development

Adam is producing The Useful Time Machine, a feature documentary directed by Eno Enefiok. The project was selected among the final 15 for The Whickers Film & TV Funding Award 2026.

Eno on developing the film ↗

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Pitch a project

Tell us the story.
And why it’s yours.

We’re interested in distinctive characters, clear writing and directorial voices, and stories with a reason to exist. Introduce the idea, where you’re based and the partnership you’re seeking. We’ll ask for fuller information if we want to take the conversation further.

Review your pitch before sending it securely to Hidden Art Films.

Please answer every part of each required question. Where a question contains several parts, cover each one; “not yet decided” is a useful answer.

01 / Introduce yourself

Your name *

Email address *

Where are you based? *For example: Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom; or Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria. No street address needed. Your location helps us understand how we could work together and which regional funds or schemes might be relevant to a collaboration.

02 / Introduce the project

Project title *

Format, genre, intended runtime & current stage *Please answer all four parts: format, genre, intended runtime and current stage. If something is undecided, write “not yet decided”.

Logline *Maximum 500 characters.

Short synopsis *0 / 250 words

Your role & any key collaborators *

What are you looking for from Hidden Art Films? *

Optional supporting links — no scriptsPlease check viewing permissions. We are not requesting scripts, script attachments or script links at this stage.

Your pitch summary

Check your answers and remove any script links before sending. Review your answers, then send your application below.

Contact details ↗

Quiet Carriage

Hidden Art Films.

Festivals we’ve screened at.

Our films