A horse’s skull, Penzance’s Montol and the folk horror Pen Mari

Somewhere in the far west, a man needs a horse’s skull. Not a replica, and not a borrowed one. A real one, in time for the procession.

That search sits at the heart of Pen Mari (Mare’s Head), a darkly comic Cornish-Welsh folk horror short that has now been released online worldwide on WePresent, Short of the Week and Vimeo Staff Picks.

Based on a true story, the 13-minute film follows a man who is drawn into the black market for animal body parts as he tries to honour a Celtic folk tradition.

📷A still from Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

Montol meets the Mari Lwyd

Pen Mari blends the Welsh folk tradition of the Mari Lwyd with elements of Montol, Penzance’s midwinter celebration, which has its own ‘Obby ‘Oss horse-skull figure, Penglaz.

It was directed by Welsh filmmaker Siôn Marshall-Waters, written by Cornish writer Callum Mitchell and produced by Denzil Monk, founder of Cornish ecosophical production house Bosena. Rhodri Evan, Jowan Jacobs and Robert Pugh star.

The film plays the banal against the surreal, setting an old folkloric ritual on the social fringes of present-day rural Britain to explore life, death, rebirth and small towns.

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

From Austin to Bristol and London

Pen Mari had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and its UK premiere at Bristol’s Encounters Film Festival in 2025. It went on to screen at London Short Film Festival 2026.

It was made with the support of BFI NETWORK, awarding National Lottery funding, and in collaboration with WePresent, the arts platform of WeTransfer.

The online release landed in the days leading up to Samhain, or Halloween, which marks the start of the dark half of the year in Celtic tradition.

A Green Man ordering a kebab

Pen Mari is the first fiction film from Siôn, whose work spans documentary, fiction and moving image. His Super 8 documentary short Forest Coal Pit screened at festivals including BFI London Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival, and was shortlisted for a Grierson Award in 2022.

“I have a deep fascination with rural Britain, and I’m drawn to places, people and different worlds, so bringing this alive was my main motivation in making Pen Mari,” he said.

“Through the protagonist’s increasingly desperate hunt for an actual horse’s skull, we journey into the connection between the banal and the absurd in these folklore traditions. Having been to many similar processions, I’ve always been struck by the intersection between the historic and the everyday, like watching a cloaked horse’s skull parade around a pub while people try to eat their Sunday dinner, or a man dressed as the Green Man ordering a kebab.

“For me, Pen Mari is an extension of that meeting point between superstition, history and potential magic, but also the vital determination to keep something alive through these ancient rituals.”

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

What the platforms said

WePresent reaches a monthly audience of around 3 million people in 190 countries. Holly Fraser, its Editor-in-Chief, said: “By using the folk horror genre to highlight the idiosyncrasies in rural British life, Pen Mari is at once both unnerving but also eerily familiar, and completely original.”

Short of the Week is a qualifying channel for both the British Independent Film Awards and the Canadian Screen Awards. Rob Munday, its Managing Editor, called Pen Mari “as unsettling as it is insightful”.

Vimeo Staff Picks, the platform’s curated showcase of short films, is followed closely by the industry for new directing talent. Vimeo’s curation team said: “This is memorable and risky filmmaking. The haunting tone and imagery are very striking.”

📷The poster for Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

A Cornish production house with a rural eye

Bosena is the B Corp-certified company behind Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada and the BIFA-winning Enys Men, as well as Christopher Morris’s A Year in a Field. In 2025 it was named a “Cornish powerhouse” in Screen International’s Brit 50 ‘ones to watch’ list of UK production companies on the rise.

“With Bosena we are drawn to rural or coastal contexts as rich material and perspectives, rather than limitations,” Denzil said.

“Joining together with Siôn Marshall-Waters to make this Welsh/Cornish Celtic storytelling ‘cocktail’ has been a creative pleasure and joy. We’re honoured to have BFI NETWORK, WePresent, Vimeo and Short of the Week working with us to give this purposefully unsettling rural short its global outing, following the strong reactions at film festivals.”

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena

📷Behind the scenes on Pen Mari. Credit: Bosena