Christophe Schaeffer / France / 6 minutes   Synopsis Two girls sit down on a sunny beach for a picnic. But will birds allow it?     No poster, nor trailer, nor any other still to illustrate this (short) review… For this like-no-other object, let’s do an article like no other. After an almost Hitchcock-ish intro, pixels’ digital jumble moves on to pebbles’. The black & white picture is so contrasted and sharpened that everything seems unreal. The unusual frame surprises, then

Joel Canady / USA / 26 minutes   Synopsis "Komorebi is a contemplative documentary that weaves together faith, nature, and culture in modern-day Japan. Spirituality, science, and tradition: the divine may be glimpsed in both the stillness of the forest and the complexity of the mind." The word Komorebi  refers to sunbeams, the sundered light one can see through foliage. It will be depicted throughout the film, first concretely in the pictures, then more and more in the speech

Damien Morel / France / 21 minutes   Synopsis Harold is a thirty-something guitarist completely lacking inspiration. One morning, he discovers in his mailbox 10,000€ in bills. With the caretaker (an overexcited and endearing hypochondriac), he’ll uncover the secret hidden in the very heart of their building.   As we have no idea how to begin this review, let’s just structure it with a list of points… A factors list.   ✉  Title Factor Alright, this is unimportant and maybe a c

Mattia Paone / Italy / 11 minutes   Synopsis "[Martina] comes back to the village where she was born, leaving everything behind. She carries with her a secret that the place of her origins will reveal."     What first strikes in « Bagliori » is its softness, and its deep sincerity. Thrifty with words just like with situations, Mattia Paone’s film chooses to give prominence to an overall sensation, sometimes dreamy sometimes wistful, but always with a comforting warmth. The sc

Pierre Mathiote / France / 1h25   Synopsis The Loire and the poet: a love story.   On our previous editions, proposals like Refugee Poetry , Benjamim Zambraia  or Clownery came and quenched the Croco’s thirst for poetry. For this one, it’s « Le Chant du Fleuve » that turned up. Not a trifling specimen! Wrapped up in its concept, the feature-film’s narrators assemble local authors’ verses to personify the Loire and her human lover, giving them a voice, while a profuse backdro

Mélanie Foucault / France / 16 minutes   Synopsis “A man and a woman in a bar don't get along anymore. Through the man's voice-over, we see flashbacks of his life, in a daily life where humiliation and ordinary violence reign.”     Armed with a rather chilling topic, « Passion Mutilée » stands out by its arty old-fashioned short-film form. A welcome choice, but at the root of qualities as well as faults. The editing effects per se are nice, like the opening and ending of the

Dmitri Frolov / Russia / 18 minutes   Synopsis Adam and Eve: the very first people. Then the apple... then humanity.     After « Dreams of the Past » & « Clownery », sir Frolov comes back to us with another short-film; since he’s the only director who entered each of our three editions, we wanted to integrate him as a special guest— hence this article’s preview-publishing. We find again with « Last Love » this dear old dusty and poetic film-roll imagery. Every shot is a paint

Linzy Attenborough / United Kingdom / 10 minutes   Synopsis Angelique is an actress with the allure of a 50's movie star. Around her, several signs look like a warning. Tonight from her bedroom, as she is ordering dinner at Luigi’s restaurant, things are going to change.     We rewrote the synopsis hereinabove. It is a pity that the one we got with this short-film’s submission straightaway revealed the ending, and maybe it has hurt our appreciation… Because sadly, « Becoming

Salaheddin Noori / Iran / 11 minutes   Synopsis During a pandemic, Navid and Forough live confined and happy in their flat… however something seems to go wrong. What could it be?   This one-location short-film mixes science-fiction and romance, and for both genres it gives satisfactory results. Yet no visual effect and no sentimental demonstration! We enjoy the concept. The approach is sober, as the film relies on its main asset: its good script (Navid Farrokhi), playful and

Marie-Valérie Jeantelot / Ireland / 3 minutes   Synopsis A man, a woman, and the time going by… But does it?   This Broken Angel’s...

Kiarash Dadgar / Iran / 8 minutes   Synopsis "A birthday party preparation is thrown into chaos by an awful event."   We’ll say almost...

Garvit Singh / India / 2h04   Synopsis Sandeep, 28, receives a phone call from his father, requesting him to return home for a few days....

Dmitri Frolov / Russia / 52 minutes   Synopsis "Tragic comedy of the absurd, based on the works of Daniil Kharms (1905-1942). [...] A...

Jean Marimoutou / French Guiana / 1h27   Synopsis Music producer travelling in Cuba, Jean meets an old farmer couple: Choli and...

J. Aldric Gaudet / Canada / 27 minutes   Synopsis A person sentenced to death and imprisoned in the dark becomes the plaything of their...

Francesco Bernardini / Italy / 44 minutes   Synopsis Anna’s brother is a Hikikomori: he never goes out of his room, isolating himself...

Thomas A. Fowler / United States / 20 minutes   Synopsis Doctor Jamie Hyman leads an uncommon group therapy: she helps five notorious...

Jingjing Chen / China / 1h12   Synopsis ‘‘The surrogacy industry has formed a worldwide network thanks to globalization. Meanwhile, the...

Nicolas Maffre / France / 2 minutes   Synopsis A man manages to find the place that haunts him in his nightmares. Built on a dark...

Tony Christian / United Kingdom / 11 minutes   Synopsis A car stops in front of a protected building. A forceful armed fight between the...