Short Film Reviews

Sina Sultani’s Refuge is fast-moving and immediate. At only 4 minutes long, it is made in one continuous shot, following a couple on the run during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan that ultimately resulted in the deaths of nearly 1 million civilians. The single-take gives it the feeling of immediacy and lyrical flow. The film opens…

Mark Owen’s Rueful Warrior is almost all action. An action-drama about an alien soldier’s quest for water tells its entire story with an ongoing fight…

It’s his birthday. After 40 years of military service, John is returned to his village and from the looks of it, will be spending his birthday alone. Dan…

New Year’s Eve is brimming with unspoken turmoil. Hao Zheng’s (co-written with Leqi Vanessa Kong) drama sees a son desperately searching for approval from his mother, who, amidst chronic poverty and low status on the familial hierarchy of importance, clearly wanted something else for her son instead of the Kung Fu school he decided to go to. …

Cinematographer Rita Noriega’s lens offers the stillness of what can only be an idyllic village. The moth playfully settling down before its next flight, the…

Ashley George’s Spanish drama Diabla is an expression of rage and revenge, distilled to its barest forms. At the centre of the story is Nayeli, and through…

There is something very compelling about Ron Dias’ Mariposa. At the heart of it are two young girls, still in their teens, who struggle every day in their stiflingly oppressive Cuban life. Based on a true story, the film derives its title from the protagonist, Mia ‘Mariposa’ (Yana Gold) named so by her mother, meaning butterfly. There is…

Ignorance would have proved blissful in this instance. David Coussins’ Secret Men’s Business, a film that is basically an 8-minute long dick appendage…

Displacement is a heavy word. As millions find themselves uprooted from the familiar and forced, by their circumstances, to find a home elsewhere,…

Ron Kanecke & Matt Johanning’s Last Rites comes with an intriguing plot: a priest -- a disgraced one at that -- on a quest to find a definitive answer on the existence of an afterlife. The priest, Jon, played by Joe Bearer is certain of where he’s headed in his quest, so much so that when offered the chance of absolution, he firmly rejects it…