Stunning short films, from the surreal to the all too real

 

Advisory: Some films contain disturbing imagery.

 

(for once I dreamed of you)

Dir: Kate Solar · 6 min · Canada

As night settles over a field, this 16mm pastoral drifts through poetry, landscape, and the fragile space where an image seems to breathe, fade, and begin to disappear. Shot at Film Farm in Ontario and re-photographed with flashlight contact-printing, it's a meditative work that treats film itself as a living, decaying thing.

 

The Spectacle

Dir: Bálint Kenyeres, Bálint Kenyeres · 17 min · France/Hungary

A young Roma boy is dressed, handled, and briefly pushed into public view, as the adults around him turn his visibility into something exploitative and fleeting. From a filmmaker whose previous work premiered at Venice, The Spectacle screened in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

 

And I Would Be Beautiful

Dir: Mathilde George · 10 min · France

Convinced an app can transform her body in 30 days, a young woman chases a market-ready version of beauty. This biting French animation takes aim at the cosmetic industry's grip on self-image with wit and a striking visual style.

 

Volcelest

Dir: Eric Briche · 15 min · France

Driven from the winter wilderness by hunger, a young ermine takes refuge at an isolated farm — but her arrival threatens the fragile existence of those who live there. This beautiful and brutal animated fable tells a wordless story of survival, territory, and the uneasy coexistence between creatures fighting to survive.

 

Flickers

Dir: Alexa Jane Jerrett · 6 min · NL

A woman is swept up in her deteriorating mind — but even in her darkest hours, brief flashes of clarity reveal the person still fighting for the light. Featuring a powerful performance by Bernardine Stapleton, this Newfoundland short walks a thin line between horror and tenderness.

 

Black Hole

Dir: Brianna Russell · 12 min · NL

In a town no one has ever left, a restless boy named Max discovers something that might finally offer a way out: a black hole that seems to lead to the outside. A surreal, locally-made drama about the pull between safety and escape.

 

Coyotes

Dir: Said Zagha · 20 min · France/Jordan/Palestine/UK

A Palestinian surgeon drives home after a long night shift, unaware that a routine commute through a deserted West Bank road is about to pull her into a tightening web of coercion, surveillance, and danger. A tense, politically charged thriller with outstanding performances by Maria Zreik and Ali Suliman. Selected for the 2025 Berlinale Shorts competition.