Over the past week, DN have been immersing ourselves in the 47th edition of the mighty Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and I instantly fell in love. Queues of thousands of people, not only filmmakers and industry professionals, but actual passionate filmgoers more than willing to wait for over an hour to fill every seat in the festival’s dauntingly huge venues. These eager individuals flock to see films and masterclasses from distributors and buyers alongside ‘meet and greet’ events put on in Clermont-Ferrand’s Short Film Market where stations of internationally acclaimed festivals buzz with excitement. Among the films selected for their filmmaking prowess regardless of premiere status, it was a joy to see so many DN alum films in the programme including Bunnyhood, Milk, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, Yuck!, A Move, and our recent Best of Fest picks from Sundance and Annecy A Round of Applause for Death and Hurikán. The city is alive and the whole festival crackles with energy as troops attendees with matching bags and lanyards bounce through their packed schedules. It was my first glorious experience of watching short films in a cinema with 1,377 filled seats where the audience isn’t afraid to loudly exclaim their praise or displeasure and now after a lot of reflection and debate, we bring you our 10 favourite films from Clermont-Ferrand 2025.
Sauna Day – Anna Hints & Tushar Prakash
Sauna Day from Anna Hints and partner and collaborator Tushar Prakash premiered at Cannes, is from the same director and editor of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (a film I felt reverberate through my soul) and was just as impressive. These UNESCO protected saunas are not only home to women able to share their secrets and embrace the warmth of community but are also places where men can shed their hard exteriors, hyper-masculine disguises and just be. Sauna Day is tinged with eroticism yet completely intimate and innocent and the powerful outpourings can be read in both what is and is not said, all stunningly captured by Hints and Prakash’s intuitive filmmaking.
Percebes – Alexandra Ramires & Laura Gonçalves
There is a delightful guerilla style adopted by filmmakers at the festival who put up their posters, stickers and badges all over the venues and social areas, a DIY marketing approach which brought me to Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves’ Percebes. A film also found in our 2024 Annecy Best of Fest, the goose barnacle is the star of this truly evocative animation set in the Algarve where its salty delights hold court for the voices of natives, whose region is known for being overtaken by tourism, to recount their story. It treads lightly but packs a punch with colours, movement and a truly gorgeous style.
Domingo Familiar (Family Sunday) – Gerardo Del Razo
Unlike anything I have seen, Gerardo Del Razo fixes a camera which looks out over a buzzing local Mexican housing unit. Beyond the basketball players and residents milling around, we are drawn to a duo of blackmailing bullying local thugs. Their mission to extort the already struggling business owners and residents starts almost out of sight as you strain to focus on where we are supposed to be looking. There are no close ups or intricate focus directing camera moves, the audience’s job is to pay witness to the unfolding drama – not to judge but merely to observe.
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We Beg to Differ – Ruairi Bradley
I caught a clip of this Irish short at Bolton International Film Festival 2024 and I was delighted to see it was a clear contender for James’ Best of Fest selection from the festival that year. Don’t let the bravado, noise and cacophony of the underground world in Ruairi Bradley’s We Beg to Differ distract you from the true narrative. A community in the grips of a mental health crisis, misunderstood and misaligned find understanding in each other and share their pain and loss with clarity. In all honesty, I was not expecting what unravelled in front of me and wholeheartedly embraced this portraiture of a world I knew nothing of.
Immaculata – Kim Lêa Sakkal
I heard rumours of Immaculata by German writer/director Kim Lêa Sakkal from those who caught it earlier in the festival so made sure to add it to my list and was not disappointed. A privileged and overbearing family’s young assistant inexplicably finds herself pregnant, and we journey through a hunting questioning of faith, intention and a look at female reproductive rights. The film immediately got under my skin, accompanied by a haunting sound design which immerses you in an equally unsettling vintage aesthetic.
Une Tentative D’évasion – Sébastien Betbeder
Director Sébastien Betbeder places a well-intentioned but slightly clueless actor, Sébastien Chassagne, in with a group of inmates to lead a workshop at the Saint-Martin penitentiary centre on the Île de Ré. A true example of a deeply compelling film crafted from basic core elements, if you allow for the shifting AI refacing used to protect the inmates’ identity, Chassagne is able to draw out stories, tamped down emotions and surprising talents from this group, through not only his admirable acting skills as he brings their stories alive, but by forging connection on a simple yet often negated human level.
Lanawaru – Angello Faccini
Whoops and shrieks of animals pierce the almost poetry-like dialogue of Angello Faccini’s Lanawaru. Set in Puerto Caimán, Colombia in the Amazon, we are offered a glimpse into the history, traditions, and sacred rituals of an Indigenous group as they search for a community member and a young boy faces early, haunting memories. The cinematography, lush and divine visuals, frame an insight into a largely unknown world and group of people under constant threat, placing this documentary in a realm of its own.
Pirateland – Stavros Petropoulos
A Greek film which secured its world premiere at Clermont-Ferrand this year made me laugh out loud more than any of the other films on this list. Pirateland by Stavros Petropoulos is bizarre, awkward yet entirely genuine. A Norwegian family visit a perhaps less traditional part of Crete and demand an authentic experience of Greek history, which the host family, struggling in the winter months are willing to offer. Pirateland painfully and accurately critiques a modern obsessive tourist industry but more importantly, offers a father and son the chance to understand each other and brings a family together.
Are You Scared to Be Yourself Because You Think That You Might Fail? – Bec Pecaut
As an oddly coloured world leader continues to wreak havoc well beyond his country’s borders, this affecting Canadian drama short had me immediately choked up with emotion. Written and directed by Bec Pecaut, spotlighted in our Short Films You Can’t Miss at Sundance, and starring Lío Mehiel, the first ever trans actor to win the Sundance Jury Prize, Are You Scared to Be Yourself Because You Think That You Might Fail? is an honest and painful example of the realisation that there is no quick magic fix. We see Mad, immediately after their top surgery struggling with the immediate pain, both physical and emotional that follows this monumental change. This short felt both immediately refreshing and meditative and had me reflecting on parts of the discourse I never considered and the bravery of the trans community.
Upshot – Maha Haj
I am strangely always drawn to films exploring grief and the fragility of the human condition. Upshot from Palestinian filmmaker Maha Haj lulls you into the daily routine of a couple living a solitary rural life until a stranger comes to their door. Their often animated daily discussions, undertaken as they sit together to eat, are focused on their children and the paths they have chosen. However, the appearance of a journalist, who brings with him the atrocities of occupied Palestinian territory forces them to face up to hidden truths. There are no bombs, no bodies but the reality of their existence and this ongoing, life-shattering conflict is undeniable.
You can find more unmissable films, like the ones featured at Clermont-Ferrand, in our Best of Fest collections.
