KCL Strand Film Festival: Nicole Midori Woodford - Masterclass + Q&A

The 9th KCL Strand Film Festival proudly presents an exclusive Masterclass and Q&A with Nicole Midori Woodford for emerging film directors across the UK.

The evening opens with a journey through Nicole's filmmaking career, presenting three of her celebrated short films - For We Are Strangers (2015), Permanent Resident (2017) and Tenebrae (2017) - to highlight how her craft and vision have developed over time.

Following the screening, Nicole will join us in an in-depth conversation exploring her path from short films to feature filmmaking, navigating independent film funding, and the challenges she has faced along the way, before opening the floor to audience questions in a live Q&A.

ABOUT THE FILMS:

For We Are Strangers (Nicole Midori Woodford, 2015, 15 min | Mandarin) 
Director & Writer: Nicole Midori Woodford | Cast: Adele Wong, Peter Yu

A prison counsellor is forced to confront her buried trauma when she is assigned to the very man who once assaulted her — now due for release. As the boundaries between victim and assailant begin to blur, the film poses unsettling questions about morality, memory, and retribution.

Selected for the 20th Busan International Film Festival (2015) and the 26th Singapore International Film Festival (2015).

Permanent Resident (Nicole Midori Woodford, 2017, 21 min | Chinese)
Director & Writer: Nicole Midori Woodford | Cast: Yann Yann Yeo

A middle-aged woman lives with her son and mother near a man-made quarry called Little Guilin, modelled after a famous Chinese landmark. Posing as a prospective property buyer, she moves through neighbouring condominiums — quietly collecting small moments from each family she meets. Her growing obsession culminates in a solitary excursion to the quarry itself. 

Selected for Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (2018), Busan International Film Festival (2018) and Singapore International Film Festival (2018) 

Tenebrae (Nicole Midori Woodford, 2017, 16 min | Chinese)
Director & Writer: Nicole Midori Woodford | Cast: Iris Li

On the last day for the residents to vacate a high-rise apartment before its demolishment, a young girl, Iris, and her mother are moving out. As they pull away in the rental truck for the last time, Iris sits in the back with her boyfriend, watching the building before it eventually disappears forever.

Won Special Jury award at the Colombo International Women Film Festival (2020), selected at Jaffna International Cinema Festival 2019 and Thai
Short Film & Video Festival (2019)

ABOUT NICOLE MIDORI WOODFORD:

Nicole Midori Woodford is a Singaporean film director and writer, and an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Asian Film Academy, Torino Film Lab, and Talents Tokyo. Her debut feature Last Shadow at First Light, shot in Singapore and Japan, world premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival's New Directors competition in 2023, earning nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Performance at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Her short films have screened at Busan International Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and Singapore International Film Festival, among many others. She is a recipient of the prestigious Young Artist Award (2020), a director-writer on the acclaimed HBO Asia series Folklore 2, and a film lecturer at the School of Art, Design & Media at Nanyang Technological University.

"Women often have to navigate unique pressures, societal expectations, and internal challenges. I believe there's richness and resilience in female narratives, and I want to unravel them through filmmaking." — Nicole Midori Woodford

The KCL Strand Film Festival (25 March - 1 April 2026) is curated by students on the Film Festivals and Film Festival Studies module in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London.