BAFTA® Race Heats Up With Ross Syner’s BROTHERS
Starring BAFTA-winning actor David Bradley, Ross Syner’s BROTHERS is a BAFTA®-qualifying short film that confronts the ties that bind families together, and the painful choices that can tear them apart. Selected for prestigious BAFTA-qualifying festivals including HollyShorts and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, the film is officially qualified for the 2026 BAFTAs®.
At once intimate and unsettling, BROTHERS presents a powerful moral dilemma: when two grandsons bring their grandfather (Bradley) an impossible choice, he must decide whether to protect his family at any cost or risk repeating the mistakes of the past. Through stripped-back, camera-led storytelling, the film draws audiences directly into the quiet intensity of the moment, offering no easy answers, only the universal question: what would you do for the ones you love?
Rooted in themes of sacrifice, guilt, and resilience, BROTHERS reflects on the legacies we inherit and the choices that define us. It asks audiences to confront grief, morality, and the delicate balance between loyalty and responsibility.
Ross Syner, director and co-writer, is a British filmmaker working across film, television, and music videos. Known for his character-driven narratives, Syner’s work fuses visual simplicity with emotional intensity. His breakout short FRANCOIS earned a place at the Cannes Short Film Corner, followed by JACK, which won Best Short Film at the Royal Television Society Awards. As the founder of Mockingbird Film Co., Syner has become known for bold, emotionally honest storytelling that places audiences inside the heart of the drama.
Co-writer and assistant director Leanne Dunne brings an equally distinctive voice, layering the story with emotional sensitivity and moral tension. Dunne is currently developing a slate of original projects in scripted film and television.
Producer Ben Keen, a driving force at Mockingbird Film Co’, brings a sharp eye for detail and a passion for storytelling. With experience across independent film and commercial production, he has built a reputation for balancing creative ambition with precise execution. Also an accomplished writer, he penned JACK, the Royal Television Society Award-winning short film. On BROTHERS, his ability to fuse creative vision with production pragmatism made him an essential partner in bringing the story’s themes of family, sacrifice, and morality vividly to life.
At the center of BROTHERS is David Bradley, a BAFTA-winning actor renowned for his unforgettable roles as Argus Filch in Harry Potter and Walder Frey in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Here, Bradley delivers a performance of piercing humanity, a grandfather torn between past regrets and present responsibilities, embodying the film’s central theme: the lengths we go to protect those we love.
As a BAFTA-qualifying short, BROTHERS enters the awards conversation as a deeply British story with universal resonance. By holding a mirror to family dynamics, their strength, fragility, and moral complexity, the film positions itself not only as a contender for the 2026 BAFTAs®, but as a story that lingers with audiences long after the credits roll.