USA Tag Archive

Live Action, Premiere

Steph Barkley Wrestles With the Volatile, Physical Language of Sibling Rivalry in Murderous Short ‘Sisters’

Steph Barkley explores how a literal messy fight became a narratively rich metaphorical expression of the oft unspoken love and violence of sisterhood.

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Animation

Cassie Shao Transforms Repetitive Explosive Moments into Narrative Inspiration in ‘This is a Story Without a Plan’

How the repetitive feeling of "watching an explosion slowly unfolding" led animator Cassie Shao to create her experimental mixed media relationship short film.

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Live Action

Riley Donigan Manifests Mental Anguish Through Grotesque Body Horror in His Profoundly Human Short ‘Shithead’

Riley Donigan explains how he utilised slow zooms, frenetic editing and prosthetics to express a struggling young man's accelerating descent into madness.

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Live Action, Premiere

Desire’s Unstoppable Pulse Thrums Through Julia Ponce Díaz & Nico Blanco’s Raucous ‘Cowboy, Choker, Harness & Heart’

Julia Ponce Díaz & Nico Blanco pull back the curtain on their racy queer short, where a bathroom stall takes centre stage at a neon-drenched rave.

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Live Action

Games Night Unravels Into a Brutal Tribunal of Guilt in Alex Sovoda’s ‘Circumstantial Forgiveness’

Alex Sovoda breaks down tension building in a single location, using static wide shots and chaotic close-ups to turn a games night into a pressure cooker.

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Film Festival

Grief, Thrills & Everything In Between: 10 Unforgettable Short Films at HollyShorts 2025

From 427 films at HollyShorts 2025, Directors Notes spotlights 10 essential shorts in this year's dynamic Oscar-qualifying programme.

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Live Action, Premiere

Ira Groza Builds a Fragmented Portal Between Performance, Memory and Truth in Surreal Webcam Short ‘Goosecam’

Ira Groza discusses directing remotely via Zoom to craft her surreal meditation on post-Soviet identity, cultural heritage and a doomed goose.

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Live Action

Danny Jelinek Ships a Gamified Nightmare of Technocapitalism in Saturated Satire ‘Word of Mouth’

From sunny visuals to surreal decay, Danny Jelinek breaks down the dystopian world of his comedy about an AI-driven mobile app that commodifies conversations.

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Live Action, Premiere

Ethan Edwards Crafts a Biting Literary Duel of Confided Secrets Revealed in Razor-Sharp Two-Hander ‘Goose’

Edwards reveals how he discovered the perfect psychologically damning secret and why he avoided traditional rehearsals to craft an authentic battle of wills.

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Live Action, Premiere

Callie Carpinteri Derails Female Sex Shaming in Her Empowering Comedic Drama ‘Dirty Towel’

Callie Carpinteri recounts the motivation that led her and Emma Parks to provide a fresh take on sex, shame and self-worth in their coming-of-age short film.

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Live Action, Premiere

Dexter Demme & Jack Depp Pit Pride Against Absurdity in Their Tense Couples’ Mexican Standoff Comedy ‘Tug of War’

Dexter Demme & Jack Depp unpack the seemingly absurd marital standoff in their comedy short where a beloved forgotten item exposes relationship fragility.

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Live Action, Premiere

tao/s Present a Raw Portrait of Family Turmoil Born of Mental Illness in Personal Short ‘Very Still, Very Quiet’

tao/s explain why the one-shot was the most authentic way to capture the emotional chaos of a family trying to cope with their mom's mental health disorder.

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