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HollyShorts 2023 – A Brief Recap of the Festival

HollyShorts 2023, the 19th edition of the HollyShorts Film Festival, was the first one I’ve ‘attended’ thanks to its continued dual format – screening both in-person in Hollywood and virtually. The festival offers a huge range of short films from all corners of the globe of all lengths (from a couple minutes to just under the 40 minute Oscar qualifying mark).

The Experience

HollyShorts offers films for every short film fan. However, navigating the huge range of short films on offer is difficult. Unlike other online film festivals, Hollyshorts’ catalogue was separate from the online viewing platform. So, while you could use the catalogue to find films you wanted to watch, there was no way to correlate this with the search function on the Bitpix virtual platform. This was partly because all the shorts were packaged into groups of 5-8 films on the Bitpix platform with no tags as to which films the package contained. So instead of being able to search for and locate a film on the Bitpix site, it forced you to click into each film package to see what films it contained. With over 400 films in the HollyShorts 2023 edition, it took a lot of time to find what you wanted to see. The best solve for this would be to experience HollyShorts ‘blind’ by going into the festival without having anything noted as a must watch.

The Films

Going into the HollyShorts festival without knowing what you’re watching isn’t a bad thing as the quality of the films is strong. Unlike festivals that focus on feature-length films and have a few short films thrown in, HollyShorts focuses on short films, which helps drive the quality of their short film slate. It’s not surprising that this festival is a short-film qualifier for the Academy Award Short prizes (no matter how much credibility you give to the ultimate nominations). Here’s our top 10 from the festival:

Please Hold the Line (Malaysia)
Random Check (Kuwait)
You’re Happy, It’s OK (Malaysia)
Europe by Bidon (France)
Broken (Denmark/Iran)
Ciela (Mexico)
Yellow (Afghanistan)
Every Day After (Philippines)
Iwayo Mi (Nigeria)
The Sons of God (Mexico)

It was great to see two very good shorts from Malaysia, a country that doesn’t always get the film-making recognition it should. Please Hold the Line mixes gangster themes with abortion whilst You’re Happy it’s OK depicts a really heart-warming inter-generational relationship. Random Check, Europe by Bidon, and Broken all depict different immigrant experiences, with the latter two employing some unique animated styles worth checking out. The rest of the top 10 feature a magic octopus (Ciela), delusional colonists (The Sons of God), and waiting for war (Yellow). I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of these on the Oscar shortlists for the 2024 nominations.

Conclusion

HollyShorts is a film festival worth your time for two reasons. Firstly, the quality; even our least favorite films were well produced, setting the festival aside from its feature-film focused competitors. Secondly, you don’t have to be in Los Angeles to enjoy it; HollyShorts is available wherever in the World you are. Look out for it’s 20th edition in August 2024.

Quick Recap of AFI Fest 2023

Whilst we couldn’t attend AFI Fest 2023 in person, we were able to catch a wide range of screeners from the festival representing Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe. Here’s a quick recap of the films we saw, starting with our personal favorites.

Our Top Three Films from AFI Fest 2023

Four Daughters (Tunisia)

Kaouther Ben Hania is back with more drama. Unlike her previous film, The Man Who Sold His Skin, Four Daughters is grounded in reality. Its authenticity and intimacy is granted by Olfa and her two daughters, who tell their family story with the help of actors playing their lost sisters within the confines of their four walls. Ben Hania encourages her cast to re-enact past trauma, like The Act of Killing, but on a more intimate scale, to create one of the most affecting movies of the year.

The Buriti Flower (Brazil)

2022 saw the release of National Geographic’s documentary The Territory, which followed the plight of indigenous people in the Brazilian rainforest. Whilst the documentary won awards for its coverage of deforestation and violence against indigenous people, The Buriti Flower tells it better. The Buriti Flower features the indigenous protagonists instead of processing their language and voices through mediators. In doing so, the Krahô are given a political voice and agency within their community and on the national scale.

Set Lam (La Reunion)

Just like Mami Wata and Faya Dayi, you’ll find dreamy monochromatic images in this short film set on the island of La Reunion. These visuals make the film memorable, especially the star-lit sky, and scenes in a pulsating night-club to contrast with the underwater abyss. It also contains mystical magic along the lines of Madagascar’s When the Stars Meet the Sea including a dance with death.

More Great Films from AFI Fest 2023

Terrestrial Verses (Iran)

Anyone familiar with Iranian film releases over the last few years will find a similar satirical portrayal of Iran’s Kafka-esque bureaucracy. Although the form of the film is nothing unique, the high standards of like-minded films such as There is No Evil and A Hero are also found on Terrestrial Verses. Each of the film’s vignettes are simply shot (one fixed camera for each with speakers off-screen) but highly engrossing.

City of Wind (Mongolia)

City of Wind covers the classic ‘tradition vs. modernity’ trope pretty well through its high-school coming-of-age romance. The setting stands out – Ulaanbaatar – which combines a mass of urban development with its rural, undeveloped outskirts, visualizing the encroaching development on tradition. Tradition is represented in a young shaman, balancing school with his cultural role as a ‘modern’ woman pulls him out of his focused life and into modernity. Will he or won’t he be the end of his cultural lineage?

The Settlers (Chile)

A bread-and-butter macho explorer’s film, The Settlers follows an unlikely trio’s journey across the uncharted tail of South America. Like in Godland, the landscape is portrayed brutally because of the unsavory protagonists that are traversing it – a Texan mercenary and ex-British soldier. The mixed-race Chilean that accompanies them, like the indigenous people of the region, is a victim of different guises of power, as conveyed in the film’s third act jab at the authenticity of Chilean nationhood.

The Rest – Featuring Quirkiness and Intimate Stories

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Estonia)

A documentary that takes place almost entirely in a sauna, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood captures intimate conversations between Estonian women. The focus of the film is on storytelling and not the visuals. Only a few of the storytellers are shown, and most of the shots are close ups of their bodies, rarely revealing a whole person. Whilst the visuals are limited, the stories become more and more dramatic, covering a wide range of the woman’s experience.

Cobweb (South Korea)

With Parasite, Song Kang-ho became the most famous Korean actor in the U.S. Whilst not directed by him, Cobweb is very much his film as his energy propels the heavy, but often funny, plot forward. It’s a chaotic satire of filmmaking, with Song Kang-ho playing a director convinced he just needs to re-shoot the ending of his film to turn it into a masterpiece to revive his stalling career.

Tiger Stripes (Malaysia)

Tiger Stripes is for fans of Carrie, Titane, and TV soaps/melodramas. It’s quirky body-transformation high-school coming-of-age plot just about works for audiences unfamiliar with Malaysian culture. However, this film is more of a blast for those in-tune with crazy Malaysian politics (Fictional Dr Rahim vs. Real King of Shamans), the power of TikTok, and the conservative wave in the country that will likely censor this film because of its sexuality (they almost censored a Coldplay concert).

Primetime Mother (Philippines)

A TV gameshow dream for a band of desperate mothers competing for money. However the dreams become exploitative nightmares as the mums are forced to sell their integrity for the gods of entertainment.

The Echo (Mexico)

This quiet documentary reminded me of Iliana Sosa’s What We Leave Behind and Chloe Zhao’s Songs My Brother Taught Me. It’s fairly bleak and doesn’t have a story that moves us through the melancholy, but is a very well-made portrait of remote Mexico.

As per previous years, the base was high for all the films we saw at AFI Fest 2023, so whilst we had our favorites, all of the above had their plaudits. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here.

Quick Recap of AFI Fest 2024

AFI Fest continues to shine as one of the premiere film festivals in Los Angeles. The programmers do a great job of curating the best films from the 2024 festival circuit whilst introducing international films from first-time filmmakers that run along side the big red carpet premieres. The 2024 edition was no different. Outside of the camera grabbing U.S. features, there was a litany of international gems. Find a recap of our favorites below.

Our Top Three from AFI Fest 2024

1. Sujo (Mexico)

Sujo starts with narco-violence in remote Michoacan, so I was expecting this to become the latest pessimistic and bleak narco-flick that festivals have been gobbling up over the last ten years. However, this film explores an alternative narrative, in which Sujo (the son of a hit-man) is carefully guided away from his father’s fate despite all the temptations. His journey is posed as an allegory for the history of modern Mexico, in a similar way to Innaritu’s Bardo from 2023. It presents a hopeful future, despite a traumatic recent history and the plans of fate, with the help of dreams and magic.

2. La Cocina (Mexico/U.S.)

La Cocina is brimming with energy. It’s present in the editing, the acting, and the dialogue and makes the film captivating despite the small set. The lead dominates the camera with the control of his body, expressions, and voice to create a character you cannot look away from. Everything is captured brilliantly in this one-set recreation of a stage play. The only thing holding it back from being one of the greats is that it feels limited by the restrictions of the stage. It doesn’t quite feel like it has truly transferred from the stage to the cinematic medium (similar to the limited space in Birdman and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). Despite this, La Cocina is still one of the year’s most engrossing dramas.

3. No Other Land (Palestine/Israel)

Israel’s encroachments on Palestinian territory date back to the country’s formation. However, the encroachment is typically overshadowed by developments in the conflict in the international news. No Other Land intimately documents Basel Adra’s lifelong protest against Israeli settler encroachment. In the film, Basel is joined by a sympathetic Israeli that helps to publicize their struggle. The footage places you within their struggle, which is at times shocking and appears increasingly hopeless. However, Basel’s calm words encouraging patience for activists worldwide is the message everyone should take away from this enlightening documentary.

Honorable Mentions

Santosh (India)

Santosh is a gripping thriller that follows the plight of a police widower that takes her dead husbands job to stay afloat and gets caught in a web of sexism and classism. She battles with the prejudices of others as well as her own, as she seeks to re-right the wrongs done to her.

Second Chance (India)

A wonderfully low-key fish-out-of-water story featuring a city girl living in a home-stay in the Indian Himalayas. The humble way of life in the mountains helps to ground her after a tumultuous break-up so she can re-find herself before she returns to reality.

Viet and Nam (Vietnam)

The slowest film I watched at this years AFI Fest, Viet and Nam features a few narrative segments that each touch on the hopelessness of life in contemporary Vietnam. Whilst the message is bleak, the pictures are gorgeous, especially the dark shots deep in the mines which merge the underground with the celestial.

Thank You for Banking with Us! (Palestine)

This Palestinian family drama features a housewife that is pushed into a new lease of life with the help of her sister following the unexpected death of her father. Politics are in the background as the film centers on the awakening of an ordinary housewife overwhelmed by the expectations of her role as a woman and mother.

Another year, another great slate of films from AFI Fest. We strongly encourage everyone to check out next years edition. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here.

The Best Short Films at AFI Fest 2025

Outside of the red carpet film premieres and international film festival circuit darlings, there’s a diverse collection of short films screening at AFI Fest 2025. This is the section where you can find up-and-coming filmmakers aiming to make a name for themselves before they try their luck at a feature length film. It’s also the section where you can see the widest range of film styles. From hand-drawn animation to picturesque documentaries, deeply personal stories paired to dark comedies, there’s something for everyone. Plus as AFI Fest is a qualifying film festival for the short film awards at the Academy Awards, you might just see a future Academy Award winner without expecting it.

Here’s our highlights from the short films at AFI Fest 2025.

The Best Short Films at AFI Fest 2025

Pavilhão (Brazil)

I love short films which take you on a journey into another culture. When you’ve finished watching Pavilhão it feels like you’ve taken a small trip to Brazil and immersed yourself in the world of Samba. The visuals guide you from Samba’s African origins through to the joyous dance and music of the present day carnival culture. Watch to become an honorary part of the movement.

Water Sports (Philippines)

Heat exhausts people mentally and physically. In Manila, a group of high school students go stir crazy in this sexualized social-media-influenced fever dream. Short TikTok style video clips fit the physical context perfectly – who can concentrate in a heat wave – whilst disturbingly colored bottles of water paired with TV hosts telling everyone to stay hydrated convey the city’s inability to confront current and future climate disasters. In Water Sports, all you can do in the face of impending disaster is laugh.

Beneath Which Rivers Flow - AFI Fest 2025

Beneath Which Rivers Flow (Iraq)

Some short films focus completely on the cinematography to craft some truly spectacular shots. Beneath Which Rivers Flow is one of those short films. The look of the film reminded me of Notturno – a beautifully shot documentary feature from AFI Fest 2020 that relied on the visual power of the images to move it’s audience. There’s no dialogue in Beneath Which Rivers Flow as it’s power, like Notturno, comes from the carefully framed shots of the drying marshlands and it’s impact on human life.

My Wonderful Life (Singapore)

If carefully framed shots of natural landscapes is not your thing, and you’re looking for a critique of modern work/life balance and the patriarchal pressure on modern mothers with ever-escalating animated body-horror, My Wonderful Life delivers. The South Park-style animation of an overworked Singaporean mum pushes itself into dark comedy to prove its point.

S The Wolf (Egypt)

Simple, hand-drawn animation can be hugely effective. Just see Don Hertzfeldt’s It’s Such a Beautiful Day. Moving away from the pop-art shock-factor animation of My Wonderful Life, S the Wolf‘s simple hand drawn style is the perfect medium for a stream of consciousness journey through a collection of hair related personal memories. Each short anecdote opens a window into the director’s childhood and explores his relationship with his father accompanied with plenty of deadpan banter.

Once In A Body (Colombia)

Have you ever been to hell!? Like S The Wolf, Once In A Body takes you on a highly personal trip through animation. However, this short swaps humor and hand-drawn style for an exploration of trauma in drawings that dynamically transform from faces and bodies to a literal visit to hell as our narrators journey to hell and back.

Petra and the Sun (Chile)

Stop motion puppets are a unique animation choice. They’re not my favorite style as I find something creepy and deceitful about the uncanny way they look and move. For Petra And The Sun, puppets are the perfect choice to add to the creepy story in which a lonely woman hides her necrophilia as the seasons change and the world gets warmer.

We strongly encourage everyone to check out AFI Fest next year. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here and check the official AFI Fest website for news on next year’s schedule!

Quick Recap of AFI Fest 2025

AFI Fest brought some of the most highly anticipated international films to Hollywood from the 2025 film festival circuit for a long-weekend celebration of film. AFI Fest gives locals a chance to see a experience a wide range of global stories and film critics a chance to catch up on films from Sundance, Berlin, Venice, and Cannes ahead of any general releases. We broadened our viewing habits this time to include a mix of short films – see our short film recap linked here – to look out for some up-and-coming filmmakers. Our feature film recap below spanned 3 continents – highlighting some stand-out films from Colombia, Armenia, and Spain!

Our Top Three from AFI Fest 2025

1. A Poet (Colombia)

Imagine a tragicomic white-savior movie with the energy of Uncut Gems and you’ll find yourself close to A Poet. Oscar Restrepo, a proud poet fails to recapture his former success in the empty bottles that leave him shouting drunken verses at transients in the middle of the night. To try and reconnect with his teenage daughter, he turns to teaching, and finds an unpolished gem in one of his students to live his dreams through. However, not everyone understands his intentions. Class and race collide in this roller-coaster tragicomedy powered by an anxious, always moving camera, sudden cuts, and Oscar’s winning smile.

2. My Armenian Phantoms (Armenia)

When I think of compilation films, I think of Los Angeles Plays Itself, and the diary films of Jonas Mekas. The first uses archival clips from a wide range of films set in Los Angeles to show how the city has changed alongside Hollywood, whilst Jonas Mekas uses raw personal footage to document his experiences in a diary format. My Armenian Phantoms borrows from both of these styles to take you on a journey through Armenian film history – spinning you onto a bunch of Armenian films to watch next – whilst writing a moving love letter to her father and Armenia itself.

3. Romería (Spain)

Carla Simon is establishing herself as one of the top filmmakers in Spain. This is just her third feature, but watching it feels like she has been making movies for decades. Just like in her Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Simon creates a incredibly strong sense of setting and fully fleshed characters in such a short time. In Romería, we swing across Spain, displacing the hot summer of Catalonia’s peach harvest for the grey buildings, overcast skies, and frigid Atlantic seas of Vigo. The setting works to hide family secrets as Marina returns to the city in search of her lost past.

Honorable Mentions

We Believe You (Belgium)

Tensions rise and family secrets unravel over the course of a crucial day in a cleverly crafted court-room drama. The director’s choice to shoot this entire film in tightly framed close-ups keeps the full-picture deliberately hidden from us. Just like the civil court judge, we have to make a leap of faith to believe the words of a strained mother fighting for her children.

Young Mothers (Belgium)

Young Mothers is another authentic drama to add to the already impressive filmography of the Dardenne brothers. The film pieces together 5 unique portraits of 5 different girls at a maternal support home near Liège to paint a picture of the social challenges of teenage motherhood.

Kontinental ’25 (Romania)

Radu Jude always has something to say. Whilst Kontinental ’25 may not as politically powerful as his previous films – such as Do Not Expect too Much from the End of the World and I Do Not Care if we Go Down in History as Barbarians – it still contains his very obvious dark humor. It shifts Europe ’51 by laughing at the main character, a bailiff consumed by guilt from an eviction gone wrong, to show the lack of meaningful action taken to reverse the inhumanity of crony capitalism.

Another year, another great slate of films from AFI Fest. We strongly encourage everyone to check out next years edition. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here.