Live Action Category

Documentary, Live Action, Premiere

Lorenz Klapfer Journeys Into the Sacred Gender Fluidity of Naples in Poetic Documentary ‘Figlie di Partenope’

Lorenz Klapfer explores a 13th century Neapolitan legend and the present day realities for the Naples trans community in his stunning poetic docufiction short.

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Live Action

Devotion Curdles Into Something Far Darker in Elliott Louis McKee’s Seductive Berlin-Set Romance ‘Forever Yours’

Elliott Louis McKee unpacks how they seduced audiences with tender romance before dismantling it, turning unreliable memory into moral disorientation.

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Live Action, Premiere

Maya Winkler Explores Boobs, Existential Dread & the Absurdity of Women’s Healthcare in Off-Kilter Comedy ‘Lumps’

A breast lump scare spirals into deadpan chaos as two mid-20s women navigate the absurdities of the medical system with twisted humour and defiant joy.

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Film Festival, Live Action

“It Is an Infectious Product” Designing a 45-Year-Old Masterpiece: Muzaffar Ali on ‘Umrao Jaan’s’ Timeless Appeal

45 years on, Muzaffar Ali unpacks how a painter's eye, a poet's ear and Lucknow's Kathak heritage shaped the timeless femininity of his bio-epic.

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Live Action, Premiere

Ruhi Radke Crushes the Sexy Virginity Myth in Her Cringeworthy but Empowering Short for All the Wallflowers ‘Squash’

Ruhi Radke on making the unsexiest sex story ever and a representation of the first time that's funny, shaming, and ultimately a love story with herself.

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Live Action

Amrou Al-Kadhi’s ‘Original Sin’ Stages a Tragic Mother-Son Bloodbath as Hollywood Melodrama in Short Film Form

A Muslim mother and her drag queen son go to war for cinematic immortality in Amrou Al-Kadhi's WePresent commissioned chamber piece.

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Live Action, Premiere

To Immortalize Their Love a Couple Turn to a Struggling Artist With Dark Intentions in Femke Huurdeman’s ‘Carve’

Inspired by a cute keepsake for couples, director Femke Huurdemen's writing debut is the twisted tale of an artist taking her work a little too seriously.

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Live Action

Navigating the Seas of Film Form with Mark Jenkin

Neil Fox catches up with Mark Jenkin to explore how his shorts have become laboratories for the cinematic language defining his new feature 'Rose of Nevada'.

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Live Action, Premiere

Retro-Futuristic Consumerism Meets Modern Day Existential Dread in Oscar Garth’s Absurdist Sci-Fi Short ‘Benji’

Oscar Garth walks us through using dialogue-free performances, hand built robot bins and retro-futurist whimsy as a Trojan horse for something much darker.

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Live Action

The Meet-Cute You Tell vs. The One That Actually Happened Collide in Leve Kühl’s Grindr Spot ‘Peas’

Leve Kühl unpacks the narrative power of embracing queer specificity while subverting the holiday ad format for his steamy Grindr Christmas spec advert.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Teenage Couple’s Young Love Meets a Harsh and Unsettling Morning After in Liz Rao’s ‘The Truck’

Eschewing traditional car shots, Liz Rao reveals how she mirrored the restrictions of regressive laws by trapping her characters in a tense confined space.

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Live Action, Premiere

A News Anchor’s Viral Gaffe Unmasks Marriage Turmoil in Will Mayo & Ian Scott McGregor’s Comedy ‘The Mountain’

Will Mayo and Ian Scott McGregor explore the imagined melodrama behind a real-life viral video, using sharp visual storytelling to blend humour and pathos.

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