Murmurs of the Jungle
Director: Sohil Vaidya
Origin: India (2021)
Language: Marathi with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary , Experimental , Fantasy , Mystery
Featured Subjects: Baby Bhoir, Nitin Bhoir, Pradeep Bhoir, Rahul Bhoir, Sonabai Bhoir, Sunil Bhoir, Vijay Bhoir
A grandmother teaches her grandson about the origins of their remote Indigenous village in this stunning, ethereal short. In India’s Western Ghats, a tale older than time itself is unfolding as a grandmother imparts the ancient ways of their village to her young grandson. Sohil Vaidya’s mystical short film summons the ancient, wandering spirits of the forest and evokes the infinite cycle of life, death and rebirth.
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
Director: Lachlan Pendragon
Origin: Australia (2022)
Language: English
Genre: Animation , Comedy
Key Cast: Jamie Trotter, John Cavanagh, Lachlan Pendragon, Michael Richard
A young man working a dead-end job encounters a mysterious ostrich who pulls back the curtain. A charmingly droll and oddball short from Brisbane-based filmmaker Lachlan Pendragon, this Aardman-esque animation dives into the dreary existence of a young telemarketer who’s about to experience a very disconcerting revelation – thanks to a talking ostrich, no less! Clever and inventive, the short brims with a cheerfully lo-fi sense of life’s absurdity.
Tremor
Director: Rudolf Fitzgerald-Leonard
Origin: Germany (2022)
Language: German with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Key Cast: Gisela Aderhold, Lilian Mazbouh, Luis Brandt
Fresh from Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, this provocative short follows a young disabled man whose life is disrupted after an incident during water therapy for his spasms. German-based Australian filmmaker and MIFF Accelerator Lab alumnus Rudolf Fitzgerald-Leonard (Coral, MIFF 2015; Kin, MIFF 2012) directs this raw, unsettling and singular piece about Leon, a young disabled man who nearly drowns when he experiences a seizure during his water therapy. Uncomfortably real and exquisitely crafted, Tremor is a challenging work sure to start conversations.
Will You Look At Me
Director: Shuli Huang
Origin: China (2022)
Language: Wu Chinese with English subtitles
Genre: Coming of Age , Documentary , Drama , Experimental , LGBTQIA+
Winner of Cannes’ Short Film Queer Palm, this tender, ethereal essay follows a young Chinese filmmaker returning home in search of love and acceptance. Shot with evocative detail on super-8 film, this intimate, autobiographical docu-fiction hybrid follows filmmaker Shuli Huang, who also narrates, as he returns to his hometown in search of himself. Will You Look at Me is a reckoning with his past as a queer youth in China and explores his complex relationship with his mother.
Ice Merchants
Director: João Gonzalez
Origin: France, Portugal, UK (2022)
Language: No Dialogue
Genre: Action , Animation
The 2022 winner of Cannes Critics’ Week’s Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for short film is a dizzying tale of a parachuting father and son from Portuguese director João Gonzalez (Nestor, MIFF 2021). Every day, a father and his son parachute from their clifftop house and into the local village, where they sell the ice they produce to local customers. Gonzalez’s wonderful short uses impressively vertiginous angles, a striking colour palette and immersive sound design to tell a story that will make your heart skip a beat – and send you soaring.
Nazarbazi
Director: Maryam Tafakory
Origin: Iran, UK (2022)
Language: English, Farsi with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary , Experimental , Historical
In this film about love and desire in Iranian cinema, which won an Ammodo Tiger Short Award at Rotterdam, depictions of intimacy and touch are prohibited. An affecting history of glances and hidden intimacies, this acclaimed short from talented British-Iranian filmmaker Maryam Tafakory (I Have Sinned a Rapturous Sin, MIFF 2018) deftly stitches together archival movie footage to create an experience that is emotional, sensory and intellectually rapturous.
