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…
Tag: film
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…
Inside, The Valley Sings’: One of the Most Innovative Documentary’s of the Year
In the modest runtime of his animated short Inside, The Valley Sings, director Nathan Fagan achieves something rare: a film that is both aesthetically refined and emotionally unflinching. It begins and largely remains on quiet terms, as we hear the voices of three people who spent extended periods in solitary confinement. There are no aesthetic shocks, no…
Interview with CLOUT’s Jordan Murphy Doidge
We were lucky enough to speak to Jordan Murphy Doidge about his new film CLOUT. 1. CLOUT taps into urgent issues around youth mental health, peer pressure, and online validation. What conversations were you hoping to spark with this film? We wanted to start a conversation about how far young people feel they need to…
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…
An Enchanting Masterpiece: THE BOY WITH WHITE SKIN
Simon Panay‘s The Boy with White Skin is an Oscar-qualified short film and a standout favorite this awards season. Shortlisted for the Best Short Film Award at the César Awards—the French equivalent of the Academy Awards—this film captivates with its powerful narrative and evocative storytelling. In The Boy with White Skin, Panay crafts a narrative…
PLASTIC SURGERY – A Razor-Sharp Eco-Thriller That Cuts to the Core of Our Contaminated Reality
Director Guy Trevellyan unleashes a stunning, BAFTA-qualifying short film that melds high-concept suspense with chilling environmental realism. Bold, cerebral, and cinematically unsettling, this 20-minute thriller doesn’t just raise awareness of microplastics, it forces us to confront the terrifying truth that they’re already inside us. Set in a hospital teetering on the edge of panic, PLASTIC SURGERY follows…
A Cinematic Knockout: BOYFIGHTER Packs a Punch
Boyfighter isn’t just a short film; it’s a visceral experience that grips you from the opening scene and doesn’t let go until the final credits roll. Set against a backdrop of economic struggle and generational violence, this film delves into the raw emotions and deep-seated legacies passed down through a family. Directed by the visionary…
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…
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