Latest Short Film Reviews

There are some things that money can not buy, much to the chagrin of the mega-wealthy. They, like us, remain bound by the same mortal constraints — all life must end, right? Enter Cassie Wezniak’s heady sci-fi Cryonic, named after the pseudoscientific Hail Mary of freezing body parts (most importantly, the head) in hopes that future scientists will find a way to bring them back. This morbid aspiration has become increasingly popular in recent years, with hundreds of frozen heads now stored in facilities across the world. But how will these people return? What will the disembodied heads be attached to? Well, Wezniak may have an answer, one that does not bode well for the future of bodily autonomy.

The Black Mirror-esque short opens with Lilah (Emma Parks) telling a group of young women, all dressed in black tracksuits and enclosed in a minimalist, prison-like cell, that ‘the new trainee uniforms are blue’. Her comrade Rory (Sophie Rossman) notes the unfairness of their uniform’s lack of colour, and the irony of the colourway changing just as the group is about to leave. Today, after all, is their Choosing Ceremony, in which three graduates will be selected by a Woken (I’ll let you guess what this means) to become the next Vessels of Greatness. The Ceremony’s precise purpose remains unclear, as does the fate of those chosen to be Vessels and those who aren’t. Whatever the outcome, it hardly sounds promising.

Lilah and Rory have markedly different reactions to being Chosen. For Lilah it is an honour: the culmination of a lifetime of training and expectation finally realised. She doesn't know what it means, but she trusts the system enough to accept whatever it needs of her. Rory feels a little less convinced, releasing a guttural wail into a soundproof locker room to relieve the tension. For her, the unknowing is not a pleasurable anticipation; it is a deep dread. What do ‘these people’ want from her, and why did she have to unzip her jacket before she was selected? Parks and Rossman each embody these perspectives well — when Rossman later shares her trepidation, smiling stress ball in hand and fear in her eyes, Parks responds with all the right words but a far-off gaze, already imagining what the future may hold.

As with all great sci-fi conceits, the technology is merely a vessel for examining what humanity is willing to sacrifice in the name of progress, and wealth. In other words, what is lost to gain something ‘great’. Cryonic’s nimble script explores this question through Rory, who intuits that something is wrong but can’t quite put her finger on how that foreboding feeling will materialise. Yet the film is not without its thrills. Its brisk pace gives the story enough momentum to strike that careful balance between thematic introspection and sci-fi suspense. That balance occasionally falters, however, due to some unnatural editing, at times disrupting the action's spatial continuity and momentarily pulling the viewer out of the film's carefully constructed world.

The world itself is well realised, thanks to stark, convincing set design full of furniture equally at home in an apocalyptic future society as a high-end concept store. The soundscape is similarly immersive, if typical for the genre, although occasional mixing issues renders some of the dialogue almost Nolan-esque in its indecipherability. Nonetheless, Cryonic is an exciting debut from Wezniak, who demonstrates a clear knack for thoughtful storytelling and instinct for the unsettling.

Crease is an incisive and hard-hitting Russian short film about power, empathy and the human urge to navigate social structures.

Written and directed by Demitri Zujew, the story centres on two boys, Petya and Maxim.

Petya, a student with special educational needs who has won a national maths competition, is fiercely bullied at school, on the day that his Principal, who has also won a national award, is being interviewed about this and her school.

The film narrates deception and hypocrisy in an inspired way. As the two scenes unfold and we cut from one to the other.

While Petya is horrifically bullied, Maxim at first refuses to join in, but he gives into fierce peer pressure, a key aspect of Russian social culture according to the film's director.

Crease is brilliant in the way it illuminates the school, in the director's words, 'as a microcosm and metaphor of the entire society'. It looks at the deeply uncomfortable truth that children are as capable of cruelty (and envy) as adults. The root cause of why 'child's play' without true socialisation becomes international conflict. This in particular has never been more evident, just one look at current geopolitics will leave you without question in this regard.

Visually the film is deeply compelling, with a 4:30 aspect ratio, expressive points of view and a blue-grey colour palette.

The performance meanwhile are flawless- with particular credit to the child actors whose skill in accessing emotions and the story is superb.

Crease, whose title refers to the 'creases' that life impresses on every human being, even contains a fairly stunning plot twist at the end, which heightens the emotionality of the film. A great piece of cinema.

Going Up follows a group of ambitious go-getters: Mark (Jake Beauvais), Graham (Max McKune), Celeste (MacKenzie Mollison) and Audrey (Heidi Musec), who get caught up in a financial investigation that reveals the line between valued employee and expendable drone. The film is a corporate comedic thriller set entirely in an elevator that challenges the four central characters' ideologies.

The film immediately thrusts the audience into the lives of four rising corporate stars over the course of a week. The single-set location works brilliantly, driven by tight framing and propulsive dialogue. Despite its rising tension, it never takes itself too seriously and balances drama and comedy without ever feeling jarring. The film’s opening, in particular, rarely lets up, as each character's distinct moral code keeps the tension high, and it's compelling to watch them defend their principles. Todd Wells’ script introduces each character charmingly, and despite its rapid pace, the concept is distinctive and ambitious. While each character is profoundly unlikable, their self-centred personalities make it hard not to feel invested in their ruthless hunt to get to the top of the corporate ladder.

Going Up is a competently shot film with some wonderful editing choices that make the experience flow seamlessly through its brisk runtime. Molly Torres serves as the film's director of photography and primarily frames the film through a medium fixed wide shot of the four characters at the centre of the frame. The camera also shifts to extreme close-ups of each character’s clothing, drawing attention to their individual fashion choices. It's an apt choice as it never loses focus on its tightly managed concept.

All four central performances from Jake Beauvais, Max McKune, MacKenzie Mollison and Heidi Musec in their portrayals of Mark, Graham, Celeste and Audrey, respectively, are fantastic. Each performance offers something singular in their greed and comedic charm, and they take an already well-written screenplay and elevate it with their fun and despicable presence.

Despite its technical prowess, the film’s narrative falters in a rushed and anticlimactic conclusion that feels unearned, largely due to the increasingly monotonous and repetitive nature of the story. The audience is ultimately not given enough time to feel invested in any of the four characters despite how engaging the opening feels. While the dialogue is propulsive thanks to each character's distinct personality, it becomes grating by the end because the central mystery is so underdeveloped. Perhaps this is because everything is set up in a single location; however, its tight runtime works against its ambitious concept by quickly resolving the financial investigation with an underwhelming payoff.

The film sadly amounts to fairly minor in its conclusion, despite its competent filmmaking and engaging performances. It starts promisingly; however, the film slowly meanders to a grinding halt and an anticlimactic revelation that may leave viewers frustrated.

Going Up is a well-written, tightly edited experience that suffers from a plethora of issues that hold it back from being a home run. While its visual storytelling is deftly executed, the conclusion ultimately feels underwhelming and unearned, owing to a rushed and repetitive narrative.

Written by and starring Emmanuel JD Simon and directed by Lee J Ramirez, short film Backflip is a positive story of personal triumph over familial tragedy. 

Jerome (Emmanuel JD Simon) is a young man haunted by the ghost of his father, who was a professional gymnast. The movie opens with Jerome psyching himself up to perform a backflip while his childish “friends” (Michael Lee and Sam “Lanks” Thompson) look on and film his attempt. After spectacularly failing and twisting his ankle, his friends leave him on the floor in agony until Jerome’s mother (Sonia Audrey Ferreira) comes to his rescue. We are then immersed in Jerome’s journey as he determinedly practices his skills to achieve his dream of performing a backflip. 

The story is an uplifting if familiar one, giving the audience a classic cinema trope of one character’s struggle to overcome a physical challenge (see any sports movie). Jerome is a likeable character for the viewer to connect with, and his penchant for breaking into rap segments keeps the movie feeling fresh and urban. 

The themes of chasing your dreams, choosing whether to follow in your father’s footsteps, and focusing on your own growth rather than the viewpoint of your critics are all admirable and worth exploring. It’s a shame they get undermined somewhat during the film by the far-fetched happenings; such as two fathers laughing and leaving Jerome on the floor in pain because they have the school run, or Jermone childishly remonstrating with himself on a trampoline for very nearly, but not quite, completing a backflip. 

Whilst the film has its heart in the right place, it’s tonally messy. The stakes are pretty low, and yet the sound design would have you believe this is a crime thriller. Likewise, the melodramatic performances are at odds with the fairly simple plot. Whilst the music scenes are good, they can also feel a little crowbarred in, and the part where his mum joins in is mortifying to watch. Jerome spends a lot of the short film talking to the audience and telling us everything that’s going on in his head, which helps with connection but renders the experience redundant. 

Many of Backflip’s frustrating elements were well within their control (i.e. not budget-related). A stronger story was required, the performances needed to be toned down, and the dialogue should have been far less contrived. It’s a good start for the indie filmmakers and shows some promise in certain areas, but there are a lot of aspects that need fine-tuning. A less-is-more approach to the dialogue would be a start, and a more compelling story is definitely needed. 

A short dark comedy crime drama written and directed by Brick and starring Elliot Warren and Charlie Rix.

Two men, Cammy (Warren) and Coops (Rix), are at the countryside, but they are now there for a nice walk. They are carrying a dead body wrapped in a carpet and they are taking it in the woods with the intention of burying it. The two of them are criminals and Coops is claiming that he committed the crime. So they proceed to carry out their plan, only for contradicting opinions between them to complicate the situation.

The concept that this story revolves around is two outlaws having a few...well perhaps epiphanies would be the correct word, under rather unconventional circumstances. Although two guys are at an isolated location for gruesome deeds, the atmosphere turns comical (darkly comical that is) due to arguments that involve who will dig the grave, if Coops is truthful regarding his actions and why he brought a sandwich with him. Minor arguments escalate, things get out of hand and both men reevaluate their lives.

Adam Paolo Pelosi makes a great contribution with tense music that occasionally contains what sounds like hymns, resulting in dramatic scenes. Maximilian McKay is also to be commended for the high-quality cinematography.

Both Warren and Rix portray seasoned criminals who are also naive. Rix's characters differentiates mainly because he is dishonest regarding his alleged illegal actions, giving the impression that he is not as tough as he claims to be.

As this is a crime story, it is unsurprising that it is about living a life of crime, taking a life, honesty and regrets. Additionally, the film addresses themes involving self-reflection, having contradicting opinions, being proud of oneself and having aspirations.

A humorous, dramatic and moving crime short that seems to be more keen on pushing the illegitimate stuff aside in favor of acknowledging the idea that people should be happy with themselves.

Citroen, written by Rick Vosse and directed by Bastiaan Rook, is a humorous mockumentary short-film following a charismatic cult leader. The twist? He doesn’t want to be a cult leader. But, with his disciples dead set on following him no matter what, he finds himself in a desperate position.

Rook and Vosse employ a documentary style to great effect, utilising quick zoom ins/ outs and dirtying the frame with bushes and other obstacles to give the impression that there is a camera operator improvising every movement behind the scenes. Which, of course, there is. But the ability to make something meticulously planned feel improvised is a feat that director of photography Stijn Jonkhart rises to with (what looks like) ease. Jonkhart also utilises natural light in exterior scenes to great effect, elevating this piece beyond the visuals you would expect from a “documentary”. The interior scenes are also lit beautifully by Kenny Nagelkerke to emulate natural light to the point where one cannot be sure how much is real and how much is artificial. Spectacular work from the cinematography and lighting team!

The first character the audience is introduced to is Danny, who produces a bottle of poisonous fluid from his bag. Immediately viewers will clock on to this as an example of "Chekhov's gun” (Anton Chekhov’s principle that “one must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off”.) This creates a humorous tension, giving the story a ticking clock feeling – a bomb under the table that could go off at any moment.

The central concept of the piece is a brilliant idea, depicting something as absurd as a cult and flipping it on its head. We follow Jonah who, to little success, continually attempts to convince his followers to abandon him in increasingly obvious and comical ways.

The story drags in the middle somewhat as the structure becomes glaringly obvious: Jonah tries something in an attempt to scare the cultists off, it doesn’t work, then he heads back to the drawing board. However, the conclusion of all this hooks the viewer right back in as the aforementioned Chekhov's bottle comes back into play, in an ironic twist of fate that is equally funny as it is deeply tragic.

Overall Citroen is an amusing short that, while predictable, is sure to entertain its audience and anyone else who comes across it.

Sheep is a compelling short film illustrative of uncertainty and chaos.

The key to this piece is mystery- we never get to see what the threat is. Without dialogue and with visually compelling composition and cinematography, it portrays a complete state of emergency, and the chaotic nature of being human. This is reflected in the extreme close-up framing and moving shots which are adeptly showcased.

The woodland setting and the fact the story unfolds at night-time heightens the sense of quite extreme vulnerability- and the characters don't seem fully conscious of the situation until an urgent escape is the only option. We only hear their heavy breathing and witness their expressions, but turns of panic, effort and sheer shock.

In particular, it poses the question faced by all humans in a crisis or conflict- whether to make our own way or come together to survive. Is there any trust left?

The choice of name here is also interesting. A sheep evokes helplessness and need for guidance, but also groupthink and crowd behaviour- a brilliantly nuanced proposition of a title.

The graphics used for the title are in the curvy and colour saturated style of the 1980s- the decade from which stem many of the films where humanity is portrayed facing or about to face chaos and breakdown, so they are a well- thought-out creative choice.

Is there any trust left? Who is leading and who is threatening? Powerful question posed in a 3-minute piece which is skilful story-telling.

During Kat’s and Anwar's romantic getaway, Kat anticipates her nightmarish period. What is supposed to be an intimate holiday turns into a spiral of discomfort, dread, and ultimately tests their bond.

We follow a young couple looking to take a breather in the countryside. Kat (Holly Freeman) wakes up in a groggy state after experiencing a vivid nightmare only to realise her period has abruptly ruined her time for relaxing. Feeling ashamed, Kat tries to conceal this fact at first and suffers through the pain. Anwar (Antonio Aakeel) comes across as an unhelpful boyfriend who isn’t having his needs met, which puts Kat under pressure in mind and body.

The constant use of symbolism is interesting in this short, especially as Kat’s perspective evolves. We go from terrifying imagery, borderline folklore, as she experiences excruciating pain and humiliation. To eventually acceptance with the use of Mother Nature being at the forefront. It plays on her self-esteem and overall, it’s great to help inform young girls that this is part of life and it’s not something that is disgraceful. The same can be said towards a male audience, getting to grips with what women have to suffer with every month.

The cinematography and editing capture Kat’s point of view well. Different points in her cycle are referenced through her thoughts and feelings as she tries a variety of methods to help ease the process. A process which is all too relatable for a female audience, the horror of leaking, the unbearable cramps, the mood swings, and fluctuating hormones. All while trying to remain composed and happy to all those around. Even her experience with Anwar, the oblivious bystander who will never truly understand, makes unnecessary remarks.

‘Let it Flow’ is the perfect title for use in a physical but also metaphorical sense. It’s a natural state, just like Mother Nature and her roots. Kat begins to accept and nurture her body, letting her embarrassment dissipate and the stigma behind it. This helps her relationships bloom as she accepts support and reassurance. Freeman is convincing in her role and speaks for all women during this distressing time of the month. Both actors help to portray the ups and downs of a relationship; it’s harder to gel with Aakeel as Anwar, but that seems purposeful given the focal point is Kat.

Overall, this film could have been longer and potentially darker; however, it establishes and executes the topic effectively. It hits home the fragility of a woman’s body while trying to remain a strong foundation in society as a proactive human being.

Among many other nominations and wins, as of 2026 it has been shortlisted for Best Supporting Actor and longlisted for Best English Short, Best Sound Design at The British Short Film Awards.

This short film offers a snapshot of the lives of two French poets living in very poor conditions in London. The two poets are Arthur Rimbaud (James Craven) and Paul Verlaine (Jordan Luke Gage), two well-known French poets. They are lovers in a volatile relationship, often under the influence of alcohol and hashish. The year is 1793, a very important year, as Arthur Rimbaud created A Season in Hell, for which he is best known. It's a collection of prose poems, including Alchemy of the Word.

I wasn't aware of these poets before watching this film. Although audiences will enjoy this without knowing the poets involved, I still recommend reading up on their lives and watching again to make the most of it. They both lived extraordinary lives and achieved a great deal at such a young age.

The setting is well chosen and really represents the squalor in which the two men live. This is a small space, although they do have the luxury of a bath. The lack of space makes everything feel claustrophobic, which brings the volatility and sexual tension right up close and personal. The director has described the film as a “lockdown film”. This is a very good description, and the audience will appreciate the struggle of being trapped at home. If you add alcohol and drugs into the mix, you have what is clearly a very difficult situation. The two men are also trying to be creative, and it is clear that one is struggling more than the other.

A lot is packed into the 14 minutes, and the director successfully conveys both men's personalities and a relationship full of excess. The best scenes are those where you see the poet’s descent into madness. The scenes are very trippy, and the use of colour is very effective. The camera work creates a strong visual effect and feels disorienting at times, which helps to convey the mental state of both men. This is powerful cinema, thanks to the direction and the lead actors' performances. Historians may argue that the set and costumes aren’t historically accurate for the period, and the director addresses this by explaining that she believes these are the kind of men who would dress dandy, even indoors. The costumes certainly reflect their creativity and their larger-than-life characters. It is staggering to see a young man who is only 19 achieving and experiencing more than most would at that age, particularly by modern standards.

The musical score is chaotic, mixing slow drum beats with orchestral strings. The music builds tension, especially when the characters show aggression. The score effectively represents the poet’s mental confusion. The audience cannot relax as the sounds build throughout the scenes. The musical score is crucial for conveying emotion, and in this case, the choice of music is perfect.

The actors skillfully move between scenes, which can change from pure sexual pleasure to physical aggression and then move into peace and tranquillity. The chemistry between the two leads is clear, and they bring realism to what appears to be an intense relationship. At times, it feels like the two poets are engaging in a dance as they move around the room. I thought this was very effective direction and added a great deal to the trippy scenes. The script was well written and delivered perfectly. I could certainly see this film developed into a successful stage play.

This is a very enjoyable film and educates the audience about two poets they may not have known before. The director clearly has a passion for the works of Arthur Rimbaud and successfully brings the poet to life. The leads achieve high standards and really bring the audience up close and personal. The audience will be fully immersed and will want to learn more about the men being portrayed. This is an intense love story which takes place in what appears to be a prison created by themselves.

A short Icelandic documentary directed by Freyja Kristinsdottir. This twenty-minute-long film won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

The subject is Kristinn, an ageing Icelander who decided to travel solo and on foot through the Santiago de Compostela in March 2016 and, while doing so, to write a postcard to his wife, Stella everyday, for each year that they shared together, totalling forty-six postcards.

Via family footage, photographs, animation, gentle music and Kristinn's voice-over, this documentary covers his loving relationship with his partner, beginning with how they first met in the early nineteen-seventies, married, travelled and raised a family, Stella's time living in a care home with Alzheimer's and Kristinn meeting someone special. The main focus is the life that Kristinn and Stella created together, all the wonderful memories that they developed and it is quite heart-warming.

The creativity is high standards, with particular attention towards the editing and the constant appearance of years in numbers made out of postcards.

Kristinn himself comes across as a likeable person and his words make it very clear how much he cherishes his happy experiences with his loved ones and the content also presents Stella as a wonderful person.

During its short duration, this documentary manages to cover very deep subjects. To a degree, it explores some of the hardships of life, including grief and Alzheimer's, however, it mainly concentraters on good things, such as being in love, having children, cherishing loved ones and meeting someone special late in life. And it places a great deal of significance on reminiscing the past and making good memories.

A moving story about a man's wonderful relationship with his wife. A beautiful viewing that encourages people to appreciate life and those around them.