Now if you know this website, you know I love short films, and this is probably the favourite couple months of the year for me. With Fantasia, each year they have endless glorious stands of short films for audiences to digest and there is never enough time to catch all of them. So for a little change I thought we would have an additional preview list of short films that caught my attention when having my annual browse through the program.
Like you, I know nothing but the image and the synopsis given of the film, but they caught my eye and I think they will catch yours too. So remember, for as good as the features are, the shorts are where the real fun is with Fantasia, so don’t miss out on catching some! Now I could have just listed the entire shorts program, but sadly I couldn’t. Lets get into the list!
Absous
When Maria witnesses an accidental family tragedy, she’s told it never happened and must decide what to do with the truth.
Atom and Void
A spider awakens to explore her lonely surroundings.
Barlebas
Heylken (Pitou Nicolaes) can sense that her neighbours are turning on her. She soon finds herself accused of witchcraft.
Beauty Sleep
The latest beauty trend for teen girls is mortician-performed living embalmments for Sweet Sixteen celebrations.
Beyond the Trail
In the shadow of a ruinous war, three young women are serving as soldiers in a barren, snow-swept landscape. Their task is to scour the frozen wastes for stragglers of the Iron Army, eerie, formerly human flesh-weapons. Gros and especially the inexperienced Leichte admire Esus, stronger and wiser than they. Esus has her weaknesses, though, and unhealed wounds in her heart. Somewhere out there in the vast, deadly sea of snow lie answers to Esus’ pain, and to the awful secret of this war.
Birds Eye View
A clever parrot becomes the sole witness to a violent murder—and may hold the key to the truth when it starts to mimic the victim’s final words.
Christopher and the Bug
Christopher, a reclusive owl, has his peaceful solitude disrupted when a tiny bug unknowingly moves into his home.
Confession
A priest is praying alone in his church when a mysterious woman sits directly behind him, telling him not to turn around and to listen to her terrifying confession.
Crack
After a cycling accident, Em is left injured and isolated. Still, her recovery takes a dark turn when an eerie presence begins haunting her. Trapped between reality and delusion, she is forced to confront her deepest fears.
Dreaming of a Whale
A girl wanders through a landscape of quiet ruin, alone except for her dog and a mysterious voice on her radio, reciting poems at a precise hour every day.
The Dysphoria
A young transgender woman whose desperation for gender-affirming surgery has her summoning a literal demon.
Familiar
The less revealed about this brilliant queer vampire film, the better.
Les Faux Sapins
A cold December night. After a series of peculiar encounters, two little girls cling to the last remaining glimpses of Christmas magic.
First Sight
Struggling to overcome crippling grief and anxiety, Luna (Ellise Chappell) turns to AI-assisted smart contact lenses to help her re-entrance into the dating scene. Things take a sinister turn when the tech that wraps her retinas is suddenly hacked for ransom.
Grain
A young woman, trapped in the throes of a binge eating disorder, becomes a ravenous creature threatening to devour the town.
Hello, My Name is Beaver
Young art student Alex chose to make their graduate thesis project about a local DIY scene legend named Beaver. What was supposed to be a fun day of filming in the company of their childhood hero turns into an existential crisis, and an alarming wake up call to the world that awaits them after graduation.
Henry
Henry, a lonely wooden, is hypnotized by what he believes to be a friend.
How to Open a Door
Haneul has taken the next step in her life after leaving the orphanage, and moved into her new home. Suddenly, she wakes up, noticing that all her belongings are gone! She now goes on an adventure to reclaim her lost home and learn the true meaning of self-reliance.
Itty Bitty Betty
For fear of rejection, Betty lives in isolation at home, in a reality constructed with miniature figurines—one of whom she has developed a relationship with. After meeting a woman she can’t forget, Betty faces a difficult decision: continue her private life at home with her miniature boyfriend, or venture into the outside world and risk rejection in pursuit of a genuine, vulnerable connection with a stranger.
Katarakt
A woman’s nightly routine is shattered when an obscure presence invades her bathroom, confronting her with a terror she cannot escape.
Lola
With her grandmother, Lola, deteriorating with dementia, a 13-year-old science prodigy uses a self-made experimental machine to journey into her mind, aiming to recreate a special memory with the hopes of saving it.
Long Pork
In a post-Roe USA where oppressive theocracy has fully hijacked government, a legendary butcher (Lena Headey) has opened a high-end restaurant. One day, the mercenary politician (Marc Menchaca) responsible for her daughter’s death comes in to dine…
My Organs Lying on the Ground
A young ascetic confronts the uncertain distinctions between life and death, inside and out, the self and the other.
Nyaight of the Living Cat (series)
Adapting the manga written by Hawkman and drawn by Mecha-Roots, and debuting on Crunchyroll this summer, NYAIGHT OF THE LIVING CAT presents a premise more terrifying than a half-empty food bowl—a virus sweeping the globe, causing anyone who touches a kitty to become one themselves!
Pickled Rabbit
Mid-Autumn Festival is supposed to be the time of reconnecting with family. However, as Sharon tries to be a good daughter and keep her the ailing and distant mother by her side by any means necessary, things instead start to take an unexpected turn…
Platanero
Ti-Frè and Gran-Frè, two brothers of Haitian origin, live in a shantytown in the Dominican Republic. Undocumented, they face relentless violence and the ever-present threat of deportation. Gran-Frè looks after Ti-Frè by working on a banana plantation and resorting to petty theft. One night, under the glow of a full moon, a mysterious beast prowls in the shadows of the banana trees.
Steak Dinner
Taylor (Ruby Cruz) brings home a mysterious, wounded creature, obliterating the surprise dinner night that her girlfriend, Casey (Lucy Idella) has been planning.
Victim of Circumstance
One of the cinema’s greatest experimental artists, Kalil Haddad continues his archival work, an examination of queer love and life told through archival material from gay and trans adult magazines and videos in this haunting and transgressive examination of friendship, longing, and despair.
Whats in Your Bag?
Must not spoil what this is. Cannot spoil what this is. Go in blind.
Winkie
After discovering a young orphaned girl, a caring monster takes it upon himself to raise the child and make sure she stays out of harm’s way by any means necessary.
Y rester
After being sentenced to death, Henri wakes up in a strange prison where no one escapes. Guided by Michel, the enigmatic warden, Henri plays a game of chess, hoping to understand why he is there and if he’ll ever see his son again. As the game unfolds, he learns his fate.
Zar
A kobyz is a sacred bridge to the divine. One such bowed string instrument has tragically fallen into the wrong hands. As night falls, a seemingly respectable music teacher exploits its mystical power, using it not for spiritual connection, but to manipulate a student for his own twisted desires.
