An Award-Winning Unskippable Dark Comedy

Winner of Six Awards including Best UK Short, Best Screenplay and Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy at BIFA qualifying festivals.

Nominated for a further 34 awards, including 5 nominations for the Méliès d’Argent for Best European Fantastic Short Film by the Méliès International Festivals Federation.

Selected at 45 film festivals worldwide, including Oscar/BAFTA/BIFA/Méliès qualifying festivals.

"Fantastic...Impressive...Wonderfully inventive and emotionally compelling storytelling"
Robert Elswit - Academy Award ® winning Cinematographer of There Will Be Blood, Nightcrawler and recent Emmy Award winning Cinematographer of Ripley

"Excellent interior urban alienation"
Alex Cox - Writer/Director
Repo Man, Sid & Nancy

"Absolutely brilliant. Very smart"
Ray Panthaki - BAFTA Breakthrough winning Actor/Director
Boiling Point, Marcella

Film Shortage ranked OK/NOTOK second in their Top Ten Short Films of 2025 list.
“Set entirely in a single location and told through one still camera angle, the film uses formal restraint to amplify its ideas. The film’s minimalism becomes its strength, allowing the performances and ideas to breathe while exposing how easily connection can be commodified.”
- Film Shortage

OK/NOTOK was selected and featured in BIFA qualifying Director’s Notes with an in-depth interview you can read at the link below:
Pardeep Sahota explores the commodification of love in his genre-bending dystopic short ‘OK/NOTOK’ by Jesse Williams

Awards:

Picturehouse Create Festival 2025 - Audience Award Winner in Short Film Competition

Sunderland Shorts Film Festival 2025 [BIFA Qualifying] - Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Brighton Rocks International Film Festival 2025 [BIFA Qualifying] - Best Screenplay

Ignite Film Festival 2025 - Best Sound Design

Tweetfest 2025 [BIFA Qualifying] - Best UK Short

Romford Film Festival - Best Use of Budget

Reviews:

Take 2 Indie Review:
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
5 stars
By Mark Lakatos
OK/NOTOK is a brilliantly realized sci-fi short that benefits from sharp direction and excellent performances offering a breezy 12-minutes of contemplative entertainment.
READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

UK Film Review Podcast
By Chris Olson and Brian Penn
OK/NOTOK…It’s absolutely hilarious at times…It’s very perceptive…very cleverly done…it’s original, I’ve not seen anything like this before…It’s fresh…it felt tragic and funny at the same time and how they pulled that off is very impressive.
LISTEN TO THE SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW ON SPOTIFY HERE
LISTEN TO THE SPOILER FREE REVIEW CLIP HERE

Film Carnage
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
4 stars / 8 out of 10
OK/NOTOK is a great blend of sci-fi and rom-com, taking a very relevant issue and turning it into a charming comedy. The visual quality is extremely strong, particularly the lighting work, there’s a fantastic aesthetic which highlights its stage like setting. It’s funny, well shot and has a great cast...Sahota has fun with it.
READ THE LIGHT SPOILER REVIEW HERE

UK Film Review
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
4 stars
By Patrick Foley
OK/NOTOK is not your traditional look into a dark future.
READ THE FULL SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW HERE


PANAVISION® Official Instagram social media post on OK/NOTOK

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER - Behind the Scenes - A Shot in the Dark - Cinematographer Linda Wu reveals how OK/NOTOK used a single locked-off camera position to tell a near-future story of tolerance and human connection.

LOGLINE:
OK/NOTOK is a genre-bending love story set in the very near future with a darkly comic edge. Loretta, a working-class British Asian woman, struggles to navigate a turbulent world, a new stranger in her life and unskippable adverts.

Screenings:

World Premiere - Leeds International Film Festival 2024
London
United Kingdom
Played in Competition for Best British Short
9th November 2024

London Premiere - Picturehouse Create Festival 2025
London
United Kingdom
Audience Award Winner in Short Film Competition
5th April 2025

International Premiere - Fantaspoa International Fantastic Film Festival 2025
Porto Alegre
Brazil
Nominated for Méliès d'Argent (Best European Short Film)
16th April 2025

French Premiere - Les Intergalactiques Film Festival
Lyon
France
Played in Competition for Best Short Film
26th April 2025

Beeston Film Festival
Nottingham
United Kingdom
26th April 2025

Unrestricted View Film Festival
London
United Kingdom
Nominated for Best Cinematography
28th April 2025

Spanish Premiere - FantBilbao
Bilbao
Portugal
Played in Panorama Competition for Best Short Film
3rd May 2025

Astrophobia Film Festival
Vancouver Island
Canada
18th October 2025

FilmQuest
Provo, Utah
United States
23rd October 2025

North East International Film Festival
Newcastle
United Kingdom
23rd October 2025

Ravenna Nightmare Film Festival
Ravenna
Italy
Nominated for Méliès d'Argent (Best European Short Film)
23rd October 2025

Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival
Bruges
Belgium
Nominated for Méliès d'Argent (Best European Short Film)
25th October 2025

SCAD Savannah Film Festival
Savannah
United States
Nominated for Best Professional Short
31st October 2025

YoFiFest
New York
United States
7th November 2025

Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
Philadelphia
United States
Nominated for Best Narrative Short
7th November 2025

TweetFest Film Festival
London
Winner of Best UK Short
14th November 2025

Abertoir Horror Festival
Aberystwyth
United Kingdom
Nominated for Méliès d'Argent (Best European Short Film)
14th November 2025

Romford Film Festival
Romford
United Kingdom
Winner of Best Use of Budget
15th November 2025

Online Premiere - Directors Notes
London
United Kingdom
15th November 2026

HollyShorts London
London
United Kingdom
Nominated for Best Comedy
16th November 2025

This Is England
Rouen
France
20th November 2025

Novella Film Festival
London
United Kingdom
6th December 2025

MiraBan UK Film Awards
London
United Kingdom
Nominated for Best UK Short and Best Diversity Short
13th December 2025

Asia Premiere - Wench Film Festival
Mumbai
India
Nominated for Méliès d'Argent (Best European Short Film)
19th February 2026

Oxford Shorts
Oxford
United Kingdom
Nominated for Best Sci-Fi and Best Sound
10th April 2026

Written & Directed By: Pardeep Sahota
Produced By: Luke Grech & Pardeep Sahota
Executive Produced By: Lorine Plagnol
Co-Executive Producers: Adham Hunt & Ian Roderick Gray
Starring: Bairavi Manoharan, Jay Taylor, Viraj Juneja & Marlon Thomas
Cinematography By: Linda Wu
Music By: Nine Inch Nails
Sound Design By: Decal Audio
Production Design By: Elle Mikkola
Poster Design By: Nagy Laszlo
Poster Design By: Beth Morris