Category: Director Focus
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Unearthing Sacred Ground: THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS Is a Quiet Epic of Faith, Grief, and Climate Defiance
Read More: Unearthing Sacred Ground: THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS Is a Quiet Epic of Faith, Grief, and Climate DefianceIt is almost unheard of for a short film to carry the weight of prophecy. But There Will Come Soft Rains does just that. This is a prophecy whispered through sacred soil and spoken with a daughter’s grief. Director Elham Ehsas has crafted a work that is as much an elegy as it is an act of…
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THREE KEENINGS: A Haunting Elegy of Loss and Performance
Read More: THREE KEENINGS: A Haunting Elegy of Loss and PerformanceIn Three Keenings, Oliver McGoldrick delivers a debut short film of rare poetic power a haunting meditation on grief, performance, and the rituals we leave behind. With an eye trained as much on cultural memory as on cinematic form, McGoldrick crafts a work that is at once elegiac and strikingly contemporary. Set against the misty, melancholic…
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TRAPPED is a Gripping Confrontation on Power and Privilege
Read More: TRAPPED is a Gripping Confrontation on Power and PrivilegeTrapped transforms the empty halls of a high school into a pressure cooker of class tension and moral peril. The story follows Joaquin (Javier Molina), a school janitor on the late shift, accompanied by his young son, while navigating the precarious demands of his job, but his routine takes a sharp turn when he stumbles upon…
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A BEAR REMEMBERS is a Haunting Folk Mystery
Read More: A BEAR REMEMBERS is a Haunting Folk MysteryIn A Bear Remembers, directing duo Zhang & Knight craft a lyrical meditation on myth and memory, transforming a quiet English village into a landscape haunted by echoes of the past. Fresh from wins at Clermont-Ferrand and Aspen Shortsfest, the film reframes folklore not as distant fantasy but as a living, breathing presence woven into generational…
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The Boy with White Skin – A Lyrical Descent into the Mythic Heart of West Africa’s Gold Mines
Read More: The Boy with White Skin – A Lyrical Descent into the Mythic Heart of West Africa’s Gold MinesIn The Boy with White Skin, Simon Panay delivers an arresting and deeply human portrait of life in the gold mines of West Africa, where myth, survival, and sacrifice converge in haunting harmony. This OSCAR-qualified live-action short is not just a film, it’s a cinematic rite of passage that echoes long after the final frame. This…
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Alexander Saul’s Snipped: An Absurdly Poignant Contender in the Oscar Short Film Race
Read More: Alexander Saul’s Snipped: An Absurdly Poignant Contender in the Oscar Short Film RaceWith Oscar-nominated producer Rebecca Pruzan and multiple Oscar-winning producer Kim Magnusson behind it, Alexander Saul’s Snipped enters awards season with serious pedigree. Already Oscar-qualified through its festival run, including screenings at HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles, the short arrives not just as a personal story, but as a bold contender in the Academy’s increasingly competitive live-action…
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Idris Elba’s DUST TO DREAMS brings soul and legacy to TIFF
Read More: Idris Elba’s DUST TO DREAMS brings soul and legacy to TIFFIn his latest artistic pivot, Idris Elba steps behind the camera to deliver Dust to Dreams, a short film that had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as part of the prestigious Short Cuts program. Co-created with Nigerian media powerhouse Mo Abudu and produced under EbonyLife Films, the project is a testament…
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Lesley Ann Warren Shines in Oscar-Qualified Short OLIVE, A Poignant Story of Love and Alzheimer’s
Read More: Lesley Ann Warren Shines in Oscar-Qualified Short OLIVE, A Poignant Story of Love and Alzheimer’sTom Koch’s Oscar-qualified short film OLIVE is a quietly devastating yet deeply tender meditation on love, memory, and the cruel distortions of Alzheimer’s. Fronted by Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Lesley Ann Warren, the film is elevated by her haunting, lived-in performance, a reminder of why she remains one of cinema’s most compelling actresses. OLIVE is…
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When Compassion Becomes Dangerous: AfTER DARK Positions Iain Forbes as a Rising Oscar Voice
Read More: When Compassion Becomes Dangerous: AfTER DARK Positions Iain Forbes as a Rising Oscar VoiceWith his Oscar-qualified short After Dark, Scottish-Norwegian filmmaker Iain Forbes delivers a taut, unsettling study of human behavior in moments of crisis. The film’s premise is deceptively simple: a man, Kristian (Simen Bostad), encounters a distressed young woman, Mia (Billie Barker), late at night and agrees to walk her to the train station. What begins as…
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Oscar-Qualifying Short Butterfly on a Wheel Marks a Powerful New Chapter for Trevor Morris
Read More: Oscar-Qualifying Short Butterfly on a Wheel Marks a Powerful New Chapter for Trevor MorrisIn Butterfly on a Wheel, two-time Emmy-winning composer Trevor Morris makes a striking transition from scoring Hollywood blockbusters to directing a deeply personal, Oscar-qualifying short film. Set against Toronto’s vibrant cultural backdrop, the film is a tender, resonant exploration of mental health, artistry, and the universal human yearning to be truly seen. In Butterfly on a Wheel,…
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