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British filmmaker Olly Ginelli just shared the emotionally charged trailer for his new short film, The Long Spring, which will premiere at festivals in late 2025. Drawing from his own time in a refugee camp in Dunkirk, the story captures a deeply human side of the migrant crisis, often left out of headlines.
A Personal Story Transformed into Fiction
Before it became a film, The Long Spring was a lived experience. In 2015, Ginelli volunteered at a refugee camp in Dunkirk where he met Saady, a Kurdish asylum seeker fleeing ISIS. Their meeting wasn’t fleeting — it changed both men. Saady eventually made it to the UK, got asylum, and now works as a barber in northern England. His story stayed with Ginelli, long after the camps. He didn’t want to document it, but to build a narrative that could reach a wider audience.
The Long Spring isn’t a biopic. But it carries the emotion and reality of lives caught in transit. The 15-minute film throws us into the grim confines of a truck, where siblings Arron and Kika are crammed among other refugees. Their destination is unclear. Days stretch, supplies dwindle, and the line between smuggler and trafficker begins to blur. There’s tension, but also flickers of hope and solidarity.
Ginelli says this fictional route allows the conversation to open up: “It’s a gentle way in,” he explains. Film can reach people who would otherwise shut down at the mention of politics or headlines. That thought really stayed with me — how cinema, at its best, can soften our defenses just enough to shift our perspective. To read Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton face off in 2026’s Apex trailer
Authenticity at the Core
To keep the story grounded, Ginelli worked with Justice and Care, a UK-based charity focused on modern slavery, as well as members of local law enforcement. These collaborations helped the team depict a reality audiences might not want to believe — but need to confront. A portion of filming took place just outside London, reinforcing the idea that these stories aren’t distant or “foreign” problems. They’re closer than we think.
The cast is led by Aymen Hamdouchi, whose previous roles in projects like Black Mirror and War Machine have shown his talent for handling morally complex characters. Here, he continues in that vein, bringing gravity and vulnerability to a role shaped by real trauma.
Ginelli’s decision to shoot a short rather than attempt a feature length debut also feels like a deliberate choice — one rooted in impact over scope. In fifteen minutes, The Long Spring manages to unsettle, move and inform. I’m always impressed when a short film doesn’t feel like a stepping-stone, but a complete thought in itself. That seems to be the case here.
Festivals and Reception
The film will be part of festival lineups like the Soho Indie Film Fest and TweetFest before becoming available globally in 2026. Already, it’s generating curiosity more for its subject than its cast or budget. And when it comes to a short film, that’s rare.
Saady, whose experiences formed the essence of the story, watched the film despite the difficulty. “It reminds me of a lot of things,” he said quietly. But he also praised the film’s delicate honesty. “Olly has done a really good job… It’s been happening for many years, and no one knows about it.” To read Ranking Shyamalan’s Hits: Which Film Defines His Legacy?
That stuck with me. The story’s power lies not in sensationalism, but in the fact that these moments — fear, confusion, waiting — are real and mostly invisible. We read numbers, borders, policies. But behind all that, there are people like Saady.
What Comes Next
Ginelli is not stopping here. Inspired by the momentum from The Long Spring, he’s developing a four-part limited series focused on modern-day slavery. According to him, this isn’t just a historical issue — it’s worse than ever.
Key elements of the upcoming series:
- A deeper look at labor and domestic trafficking inside the UK
- Stories based on survivor accounts, in collaboration with NGOs
- A narrative structure that blends realism with thriller elements
- Backing from investors already involved in The Long Spring
This step into longer form storytelling opens new doors for Ginelli. While many upcoming directors would look toward features or commercial gigs, he’s doubling down on difficult, often overlooked narratives. That takes guts — and conviction.
He sums up his motivation in a way that feels both humble and ambitious: “The only thing I know is consistent with my work is I like to try and show people something they haven’t seen before — particularly worlds they haven’t seen before.”
As someone who’s always believed in cinema’s ability to open eyes, I’ll be keeping a close watch on where his storytelling leads next.
