Deg Ffilm Wych o Gymru Efallai Nad Ydych Wedi'u Gwylio Eto!

1.  Jerry the Tyke (1925-1927)
Recently celebrating its 100th year, Jerry the Troublesome Tyke, is Wales’ oldest animated cartoon character. The cheeky dog appeared across UK cinemas within British Pathé’s news-magazines. It was first produced in 1925, by Cardiff-based animator Sid Griffiths and photographer Bert Bilby, who both worked as projectionists at Cardiff’s Capitol Cinema. Inspired by the American animation Felix the Cat, Jerry the Tyke was a mixture of live-action sequences and animation, 40 animations were created between 1925 and 1927, with ‘lost’ episodes later discovered by the Welsh Animation Group in the vaults of British Pathé at Pinewood.

2. Y Chwarelwr  / The Quarryman (1935)
Y Chwarelwr was the first ever talkie in Welsh made by Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards and John Ellis Williams. This drama portrays aspects of the slate quarryman’s life in Llechwedd Quarry, Blaenau Ffestiniog – work, home, chapel, courtship, community spirit and how its dust can be deadly, with a painful legacy for family and society. The film’s fourth reel of images (covering life after the father’s death) were missing. The National Archive restored the incomplete original using the sound and script and TV company Cwmni Da recreated the last reel with contemporary actors and a new soundtrack composed by Pwyll ap Sion.

3. Grand Slam (1978)
Directed by then-head of drama for BBC Wales, John Hefin, Grand Slam is a sports comedy, originally written as a play for television by Gwenlyn Parry. It stars Oscar-winning actor Hugh Griffith, Windsor Davies, Dewi “Pws” Morris, Sharon Morgan and Sion Probert. It follows four members of a Welsh rugby union club, who fly to Paris as part of a weekend outing to see Wales play France in the Five Nations Championship match that will decide the Grand Slam title. Caradog Lloyd-Evans, who served in World War II goes on a ‘pilgrimage’ to find his ‘little butterfly’ who he spent a short romantic period with during the war.

4. Rhosyn a Rhith / Coming up Roses (1986)
This Welsh language comedy, produced by Red Rooster Films for S4C is directed by Stephen Bayly and starred Dafydd Hywel, Gillian Elisa and Mari Emlyn. It was the first Welsh language film to receive a UK theatrical release (in 1987). Set in the aftermath of the 1984-85 miners’ strikes, following the closure of the last small-town cinema in South Wales, the janitor, and former projectionist Trevor, and the usher, Mona, raise funds by growing mushrooms in the dark, to pay off the cinema’s debts.

5. Mam (1988)
From Welsh production company Red Flannel Films, this feature doc follows Rachel Thomas and Sharon Morgan as they embody the archetypal Welsh ‘Mam’ who has played a central role in the social, cultural and economic life of the South Wales valleys for generations. In literature and film, she has been portrayed as a powerful matriarch within the confines of the miner’s home and family. Through interviews, drama and archive films, the film looks behind these myths to examine the reality, and oppression of Welsh women both past and present.

6. Submarine (2011)
Based on the 2008 novel by Welsh writer Joe Dunthorne, Submarine is a coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Richard Ayoade, with cast including Craig Roberts from Maesycwmmer, who has gone on to make numerous films including Eternal Beauty and The Scurry, which is set to release in 2026. Set and filmed in the seaside town of Swansea, the film follows an eccentric 15-year-old boy (Roberts) who pursues a relationship with a classmate while attempting to repair his parents’ marriage, suspecting that his mother is having an affair with an ex-lover.

7. Dark Horse (2015)
Set in Cefn Forest, a former mining village in Wales, against the backdrop of recession, Dark Horse is the inspirational true story from Welsh producer Paul Higgins. The doc follows of a group of friends from a working men’s club who decide to take on the elite ‘sport of kings’ and breed a racehorse. Raised on a slagheap allotment, their foal grows into an unlikely champion, beating the finest thoroughbreds in the land, before suffering a near fatal accident. Nursed back to health by the love of his owners – for whom he’s become a source of inspiration and hope – he makes a remarkable recovery, returning to the track for a heart-stopping comeback.

8. I Am Not a Witch (2017)
Zambian-born Welsh director Rungano Nyoni’s fresh and fearless first feature, I Am Not a Witch is a sharply satirical and boldly provocative, garnering praise at the Cannes 2017 Directors’ Fortnight. When eight-year-old Shula turns up alone and unannounced in a rural Zambian village, the locals are suspicious. A minor incident escalates to a full-blown witch trial, where she is sentenced to life on a state-run witch camp. There, she is tethered to a long white ribbon and told that if she ever tries to run away, she will be transformed into a goat. As the days pass, Shula begins to settle into her new community, but soon she is forced to make a difficult decision – whether to resign herself to life on the camp, or take a risk for freedom.

9. Gwledd  / The Feast (2022)
From Director and Lee Haven Jones and Producer / Writer Roger Williams (Y Sŵn), Gwledd is a Welsh language horror, filmed in Mid-Wales, which follows a wealthy family and their guests who gather for a dinner party in the remote Welsh countryside. The arrival of a mysterious young woman who has been hired as a waitress (Annes Elwy) soon begins to challenge the family’s beliefs, unravelling the illusion they’ve created with slow, deliberate, and terrifying consequences…

10. Effi o Blaenau (2026) – Premiering at Cellb  on the 17th June 2026.
Based on Gary Owen’s much lauded and widely performed monodrama, Iphigenia in Splott, ‘Effi o Blaenau’ is director Marc Evans’ cinematic interpretation set against the wide-open landscapes of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The film follows Effi, a young woman desperate to escape a town where the pubs are closed, the jobs have vanished and her grandmother works night shifts in the local chip shop just to get by. A chance encounter in a Llandudno nightclub with injured soldier Lee, played by Tom Rhys Harries, briefly offers Effi glimpses of a life she never imagined. The reality that follows is far tougher. Leisa Gwenllian gives a searing performance as Effi, evoking condemnation and sympathy in equal measures.

Photo credits: I Am Not A Witch © Curzon, Mam © National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive, Rhosyn a Rhith (Coming Up Roses) © S4C, Jerry The Troublesome Tyke © NLWSSA & Pathe, Dark Horse © Trafalgar releasing, Grand Slam © BBC, Gwledd © Picturehouse, Effi o Blaenau © MetFilm, Submarine © StudioCanal, Y Chwarelwr © National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive.