Premiere 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, 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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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, 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, 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, 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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Live Action, Premiere

Randa Ali Traverses a Delicate Exploration of Memory and a Daughter’s Mourning of Her Estranged Father in ‘Mango’

Randa Ali’s 'Mango' depicts the delicate bonds between memory, loss, and the spaces that hold them, as a woman returns to her family house for the last time.

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Live Action, Premiere

Nicholas Finegan Cracks the Brittle Shell of Masculine Stoicism in His Intimate Neo-Western ‘Some Kind of Paradise’

British filmmaker Nicholas Finegan explores masculine vulnerabilities in American cowboy and Grindr hook-up culture in his neo-Western drama short.

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Live Action, Premiere

One Room, Two People and Everything Left Unsaid in Iris Breward’s Fly in the Ointment Short ‘Afterplay’

Iris Breward digs into her method for crafting a comedy of avoidance where a couple in a bed, post-coital, deploy every weapon except honesty, and both lose.

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Animation, Premiere

Inside Mine! – How Louis Morton’s Short Film Explores Capitalism and its Environmental Impacts

Louis Morton on befriending rats underground, adapting a great-grandpa's tale and the hand-drawn process of unearthing a climate parable in his SXSW animation.

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Live Action, Premiere

Rhubarb’s Vivid Pink Bleeds Into the Murky Darkness of Dementia in Steven Boyle’s Stirring Surreal Short ‘Tusky’

Steven Boyle takes us inside crafting a candlelit portrait of dementia that is both unflinching and strangely beautiful as a farmer loses his grip on reality.

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