Lightning | Christina Isoli, 2018

A feel-good romance story about a quirky musician named Sean, who moves to London and crosses paths with Summer at a traffic light. Summer, a deaf girl who works in a café, is dreaming of becoming a pilot. Later on, she discovers that Sean has a secret as their friendship evolves.

Dela | Bernard Attal, 2018

Bernard Attal’s short centres around Dela, a young girl who lives with her father on the magical island of Itaparica in Brazil’s Bay of All Saints. She does not understand why all the other kids at school keep on making fun of her name and her hair, but she is on a journey to sort it out. Dela screened at Aesthetica 2020.

Steve | Rupert Friend, 2010

British actor Rupert Friend’s short, Steve is an award-winning drama starring Colin Firth and Keira Knightley We witness a couple’s strained relationship getting interrupted by their neighbour. Soon we find out that his amiable demeanor hides his true intentions.

Bear Story | Gabriel Osorio Vargas, 2014

A humble fable for all generations, Gabriel Osorio Vargas’ Bear Story is an Academy Award-winning animation, inspired by the director’s own grandfather. The short centres around a lonesome bear who tells about his life with the help of a mechanical diorama. It is the first Chilean animation to be nominated for or win an Oscar.

Colonies Under The Sea | Armel Ruy, 2019

Colonies Under The Sea is a visually stunning and fascinating documentary. A group of divers explores shipwrecks in the heart of the Bahamas archipelago. They are on a mission to discover unknown species. The film reveals how forgotten shipwrecks have been colonised by sea creatures, transforming debris into an oasis teeming with life.

Icebox | Daniel Sawka, 2016

Fleeing gang violence, a young boy from Honduras gets arrested crossing the US border and is sent to an immigrant detention facility. The poignant story finds its relevance today, giving an insight into a rarely-seen system. Daniel Sawka’s drama screened at Aesthetica 2018 and was adapted into a feature-length film in the same year.

Tomorrow Island | Gwenn Joyaux, 2018

Argentinian director Gwenn Joyaux’s short drama is set at the dawn of the Cold War, on the Russian side of the Bering Strait. We follow a young Soviet telegraphist who makes a desperate attempt to save her American lover from being stranded on the island after receiving a border closure message. Tomorrow Island is a queer story about love that doesn’t know borders or sides.

Negative Space | Ru Kuwahata, Max Porter, 2017

Even though Sam’s father is hardly ever home because he is often away on business trips, he is able to connect with his son by teaching him how to pack a suitcase. Over the years, this becomes a bonding ritual between the two. Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter’s stop-motion animation was nominated for an Oscar in 2017.

Last Of The Wild | Christoffer Von Reis, 2020

We follow adventurer Fredrik Sträng and Game Of Thrones actor Kristofer Hivju as they explore how the Whanganui River in New Zealand became the first in the world to be granted legal personhood status. The news was met with tears – it reflected over 160 years of fighting for recognition of environmental rights.

Fauve | Jeremy Comte, 2018

Fauve premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize in the short films category. Set in a surface mine, two boys enter into a power game, thinking that it will be completely innocent. But, with only Mother Nature watching, perhaps this isn’t the case. Fauve screened at Aesthetica 2018.