Short films about human connection in surprising places

 

Sulaimani

Dir: Vinnie Ann Bose · 20 min · France

Over a meal at an Indian restaurant in Paris, two women from Kerala find a fragile sense of home in food, language, and each other's company. This animated short weaves together two different stories of migration and nostalgia — one fleeing tradition, and one providing for a family left behind — with warmth, colour, and emotional depth.

 

Balconada

Dir: Iva Tokmakchieva · 8 min · Bulgaria

On a sweltering day, a row of neighbours drift through balcony life in a shared lull — until a sudden rainstorm briefly pulls them back into one another's orbit. A surreal and wordless animation about isolation, routine, and the small moments that reconnect us.

 

Sydney

Dir: Grant Earl MacIntosh · 17 min · NL

Sydney is a drifting 32-year-old living with his overworked mother in a rental home marked for demolition. After a string of small humiliations, he stumbles upon a broken TV left on the curb and decides to sell it online. A locally-made dramedy about dead-end hustles, unstable ground, and the struggle to find direction.

The Muse

Dir: Wanda Nolan · 18 min · NL

On a road trip across Newfoundland, photographer Ting Ting Chen makes surreal portraits of 74-year-old Robert Tilley, demonstrating a unique cross-generational friendship. A touching documentary about aging, identity, and the power of creative connection.

 

We Were The Scenery

Dir: Christopher Radcliff · 15 min · Canada/USA

In 1975, after fleeing the Vietnam War by boat and arriving in the Philippines, Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che were utilized as background extras in the filming of Apocalypse Now. This documentary revisits that strange, painful history through the voices of the people who lived it. Winner of the Short Film Jury Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

 

Pique-nique

Dir: Jérémy Gagnon, Jérémy Gagnon · 9 min · Canada

Two welders on their lunch break stop to watch something impossible appear in the sky overhead. Faced with the sublime, they do the only thing that makes sense — they lower their masks. A gorgeous experimental short about how wonder can disrupt routine.