Observations

"Lost in the Black Hole" is Bangladesh's first-ever symbolic cult horror short film, where the director/artist has experimented on the five metaphoric characters to represent the various meanings of things through expression, symbolism, and numerology.

A man tries to escape a never-ending dream.

A teenage boy is forced into making a decision within 60 seconds between a possible death, or being pulled into an unknown reality.

A slab of food descends down a vertical facility. The residents above eat heartily, leaving those below starving and desperate. A rebellion is imminent.

A diary-cum-thriller-cum comedy-cum-horror film shot on an iPhone (RIP BlackBerry!) for zero dollars with friends, IN SEARCH OF GLADYS GLOVER was born in the darkness of winter in a post-pandemic 2022 after a fateful 35mm screening of George Cukor’s NYC classic IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU (1954). Indebted to the spirits of Larry Cohen, Anne Charlotte Robertson, and New York City herself, IN SEARCH OF GLADYS GLOVER is a time-shifting journey about the disorienting feeling of being in the city the past few years. It’s a movie for everyone who wakes up each day and continues to put one foot in front of other—laughing often, crying often, watching as many beautiful films and sports games as possible, aimlessly walking the city streets alone, making art, hanging with good friends—but ultimately doesn’t understand what the fuck is going on anymore.

Trapped and alone, a young man must confront the pain he's ignored when he finds himself face-to-face with consequence.

Host Scott Forrest presents a curated compilation of eight independent short films in this rapid-fire science-fiction feature. Genres collide, narratives twist, aesthetics clash, and even humor, both campy and dystopian, showcase the vast creative possibilities of each story's individual world, offering the viewer a brief glimpse into the lives of every character's attempt to survive the otherworldly chaos around them. Released in 2001, the selected shorts span original creation dates of 1997 to 2001; most of the featured filmmakers also appear as themselves in short video interviews to talk about their inspirations, creative process and motivations while working on their individual shorts.

Two brothers come into contact after a very long time due to the discovery that the world is going to end. Together, they find themselves face-to-face with the inevitable dilemma to either save the reality of their relationship or the world's existence.

Dealing with his pill addiction, Jinn suffers from vivid nightmares, featuring a monster that plagues his everyday life.

PUTREFIXION: A Video of Nina Temich is the first feature to be entirely filmed on a 360 camera. Director David Torres utilizes the disorienting nature of a 360 lens to transform Mexico City, accentuate the ritual of dance, and open a new chapter of in-world-camera narratives. As Nina, model and dancer Dalia Xiuhcoatl controls the space and movement of the camera, giving this portrait of a young woman's brush with the supernatural a mesmerizing feminine energy.

Khalid and Shady, two medical students and best friends, apply as volunteers in a social experiment only to find themselves held captive.

A young woman is forced to look at herself through a camera.

After a mysterious leader imposes his law in a brutal system of vertical cells, a new arrival battles against a dubious food distribution method.

In a dimly lit room, two boys engage in an intense chess match. As tension rises and strategies unfold, the game becomes a battleground of wits and wills, leading to an unexpected climax that goes beyond the boundaries of the board.

Marcos, an independent film and video editor, works editing late into the night. On a typical night at work, he has a seizure that causes him to lose consciousness. Upon waking up, he discovers that his way of perceiving life has changed in such a way that he now lives everything and sees it in the same way as a cinematographic montage.

At a peculiar dinner party, an actress tries to survive amidst visions of her darkest nightmares. Without the slightest notion of space-time, the bewildered actress faces her fears and addictions, lost between what could be real or a figment of her imagination, dinner takes on a life of its own.

Trapped between the frames of time.

Innocent nature walk leads to a discovery of the morbid nature of humans.

Amidst the realm of her parents' upscale nightclub, a young woman embarks on a surreal odyssey to confront her identity, only to find herself inescapably mirroring her father.

El Retiro