In a season marked by daring, deeply personal storytelling, two Oscar®-qualified live-action shorts — Before You by Lauren Melinda and Beyond Silence by Marnie Blok — are rising to the top of the awards conversation. Each film, grounded in a female filmmaker’s lived experience, cuts through the cultural noise to deliver an intimate portrait of grief, trauma, and resilience. Together, they represent a…
Category: Awards Season
Key of Genius and Butterfly on a Wheel: Two Breakout Oscar-Qualified Films Transforming Music, Neurodiversity & Mental Health on Screen
In a film season buzzing with prestige contenders, two remarkable short films are striking a particularly powerful chord. Both centered around music and the inner workings of the mind, Daniel Persitz’s Key of Genius and Trevor Morris’s Butterfly on a Wheel have emerged as standout Oscar-qualifying projects, stories of brilliance, neurodiversity, mental health, and the transformative relationships that shape extraordinary talent….
Iain Forbes’ After Dark Explores the Contradictions of Empathy and Fear
In his Oscar-qualified short film After Dark, Scottish/Norwegian director Iain Forbes once again proves why he is rapidly becoming one of the most compelling new voices in Scandinavian cinema. With an eye for tension, emotional nuance, and a striking sense of realism, Forbes crafts a story that lingers long after the credits fade, one that reminds…
CAFUNÈ: A Tour de Force of Animation and Humanity
There are films that entertain, and then there are films that change you. CAFUNÈ is one of those rare cinematic experiences that does both, capturing the heart and soul of its audience in ways that are both emotionally profound and visually spectacular. Directed by Carlos F. de Vigo and Lorena Ares, CAFUNÈ is a masterclass in animation, one that…
Breaking the Silence: HOLY CURSE and the Sacred Rage
Snigdha Kapoor’s HOLY CURSE is a cinematic cry, furious, fragile, and luminous. It’s the kind of short film that grips you by the throat from its first frame and doesn’t let go until long after the credits fade. Here is a filmmaker unafraid to confront the invisible violence of conformity, and in doing so, she delivers a…
Grief, Ritual, and Revelation in THREE KEENINGS
It’s not often a short film comes along that feels both classically grounded and urgently modern, but Three Keenings, from Northern Irish filmmaker Oliver McGoldrick, manages to be exactly that. From its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival to its Oscar®-qualifying win at the Galway Film Fleadh, the film has quietly and…
THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS: A Radical Act of Love in a Drowning World
What would you do to protect your loved ones in the face of climate collapse? Would you defy your family? Your faith? Would you dig up the dead? There Will Come Soft Rains asks these questions with an intimacy and urgency that sets it apart from any other climate film in recent memory. Elham Ehsas presents…
Jasmin Mozaffari – Winner of multiple prestigious awards, OSCAR -qualifies with MOTHERLAND
Jasmin Mozaffari known as a bold and empathetic storyteller, including her critically acclaimed debut feature Firecrackers. She is unflinchingly exploring themes of identity, resilience, and the complexities of self-empowerment – qualities that seamlessly carry over into her new short film Motherland, where she expands her cinematic voice to examine the immigrant experience and the personal…
Zineb Oukach’s OSCAR qualifying INTERRUPTION – A female activist in a patriarchal society seeks an abortion until her plans are interrupted by Roe vs Wade
Zineb Oukach’s OSCAR® qualifying INTERRUPTION is a deeply emotional film; we follow Sarah, a topical female activist and journalist, who is on the radar of the police authorities in her country as she plans on having an abortion. Her plans are interrupted when the US government overturns Roe vs Wade. This incredibly thought provoking film…
Director Elham Ehsas’s OSCAR® and BAFTA qualifying short YELLOW shares a story of a young Afghan woman forced to wear the blue full body veil in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan
YELLOW is set to captivate audiences in 500 theatres across the United States, Europe, and around the world from September to October, courtesy of its selection by the prestigious Manhattan Film Festival. Director Elham Ehsas, known for his compelling storytelling, brings his latest cinematic film, YELLOW to audiences worldwide. This BAFTA and OSCAR® qualifying short…
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