Films for 2021

Festival years: 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

Based on a true story that happened during the last Argentine military dictatorship, a local commissioner must investigate a children’s book that was confiscated from a 7-year-old girl at school.

Through the lens of healthcare professionals, researchers, patients, and their families, the deadly disparity between male and female heart disease is explored in this compelling documentary.

The tensions between a recently separated couple increase when they are called to their children’s school to discuss their four-year-old son’s skirt.

A balding man tries a hair growth liquid that he hopes will restore his youthful appearance, but the mysterious potion leads to bodily changes that he could not begin to imagine. Won Best Short at 2019 Screamfest Horror Film Festival.

On the night of the open stage competition in their small village, 17-year-old Léo plans to perform in drag despite his brother’s fierce disapproval. Won Audience Award for Best French Short Film at the 2020 Champs-Élysées Film Festival.

When a judge in France orders the re-enactment of a crime scene in order to shed some light on inconsistencies in a murder case, a Quebec woman and her daughters are forced to relive what they had hoped to forget. Won Best Screenplay at the 2019 Bašta Fest in Serbia.

Boje and his father live in a remote cottage by the sea – a boy longing for answers and a father struggling for words. When his father looks to the sea for help, answers magically find their way to Boje.

A young helpline operator takes her first call. Won Best Narrative Short at the 2019 Austin Film Festival.

In the aftermath of an apocalyptic catastrophe, Celeste and her rabbit Moulee must figure out how to survive.

In 1938 Germany, a cinema projectionist is forced to screen Nazi propaganda films before the main features, but there have been technical problems with these films. The projectionist blames the rats, but the SS give him a final warning. No more disruptions, but the rats have other ideas. Won Best Animated Short at the 2019…

A woman watches her favorite YouTuber as he answers questions from his fans during a live chat. Can she find the right words to join the conversation? Won Audience Award for Best Short Film at the 2019 Merlinka Festival among other awards.

Offended by his kidnappers’ low demands, a college professor uses basic economics to increase his ransom and get in on the action. Won Best of the Fest at the 2019 San Francisco Independent Short Film Festival among other awards.

The Grolls, victimized minions of a dungeon, are relentlessly attacked by knights in search of adventure. Exhausted, they go on strike to demand better working conditions.

Elko lives in an abandoned house with only a potted plant for company until the day a young man arrives with his tools to begin renovations. A war of wills begins as the little creature tries to undo everything the young man does.

A magical adventure in pursuit of a red balloon leads a little girl to an important decision.

A little fox has a happy family although it’s an unusual one. His parents are geese. One day, he observes a grown fox attacking a goose. Confused about who he really is, he runs into the forest. Alone and frightened, he finds the answer just as his parents find him. Won 1st Prize 2D Animation…

When his beloved wife dies at home, an elderly DIY enthusiast deals with his grief by channeling his inner Dr. Frankenstein to bring his wife back to life … in the garden shed.

A young girl’s grandad was a romantic. He once saw a picture of her granny and realized that she was the love of his life. Won a 2020 BAFTA Award for Best British Short Animation. Won Honorable Mention, Best Animated Short at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film Festival.

A desperate couple turns to grave robbing to escape a mountain of debt, only to dig themselves into a hole much worse than they could have imagined.

When Emillie returns home after renting her house to strangers, she finds everything in order and a thoughtfully written letter they left for her, but what really happened during her absence?

A window cleaner falls from the top floor of a high-rise building, but manages to catch himself outside a woman’s window. While he tries to get her attention so she can call for help, she gets ready for a date.

Two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a man searches the no-go zone for his son’s baseball. Won Special Jury Prize at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film Festival.

An ordinary schoolgirl’s life unravels after an evil creature takes over her body. Only her mother, with the help of a strange doctor, will be able to save her. Won Best Super-Short at the 2019 Horror Movie Freaks Film Festival.

A capsule romance is tested against the backdrop of the pandemic as two filmmakers are forced to move in together after two weeks of knowing each other. Won Best Short Documentary at the 2020 Kerry Film Festival among other awards. Screened with the kind permission of Network Ireland Television and Michael-David McKernan.

Yacine doesn’t have enough money to see “Fast and Furious 8” at the multiplex so he and his friends try to sneak in. When that doesn’t work, he comes up with another plan that has unexpected consequences.

In an abandoned attic, a dictaphone robot tries to record the song of a little bird.

A teenage girl battling obsessive compulsive disorder has to run the gamut of school bullies every day, until a traumatic event leads her to think she might have supernatural powers. Won the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay – Short Film at the 2019 Molins Film Festival.

When Grace and her older brother spend the night at their grandmother’s house, Grace sees something in the closet. Her brother laughs at her. Her grandmother scolds her for misbehaving. Grace has to deal with it alone.

When a kid starts spending time in the real world, it’s up to his smartphone to bring his attention back to where it belongs. Won Best Animation at the 2019 Open World Toronto Film Festival among other awards.

Autumn is here and the birds are flying south. Wolfy and his friends want to fly too. Lacking wings, they must use their imagination to fly high in the sky, but can they escape from winter like the birds?

Tom’s meeting with his elderly grandfather’s two caregivers takes an unexpected turn when he discovers a mysterious object in the kitchen.

The full moon inspires a bird to sing and a group of forest animals to join in. Won the Audience Award for Best Animation Short Film at the 2019 San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival.

When a pelican starts snatching his fish, an old fisherman will do anything to stop it.

A businessman hires an ex-convict to murder the man who cheated him out of a lot of money, but is it really about the money?

A guide dog’s retriever instincts take over as he chases a tennis ball while his blind master searches for him through a dangerous construction site.

A young boy’s fear of the dark prompts his father to take him on an adventure hike through the forest, but as they make their way back in the fading light, his fear grows even stronger.

A factory worker, tired of his dead-end job, assembles an enigmatic machine that produces liquid drops from moonlight. The bottled drops are a hard sell at the town market, but all that changes when their surprising effect is revealed. Won Judges’ Choice & Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy at the 2019 Comic-Con San Diego among other awards.

A man is so busy leading a double life that he can only spare a few moments to phone his worried grandparents before he returns to what he was doing.

The profound presence of plastic in our lives and in our natural environment is explored in this documentary set in the sweeping landscapes and ocean depths of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

The lure of a street artist and a pair of red shoes carry a young woman into a magical world of art illusions where their steps turn into dancing taps, gestures into splashes of paint, actions into art, and art into the creation of its own reality. Won Best Short at the 2019 Open World…

Everything always seems to work out perfectly for Peggy, but her social graces are put to the test when she throws a birthday party for her eight-year-old son. Won Best Short Film at the 2019 Fort Myers Film Festival among other awards.

A ride-sharing driver with a friendly manner and meticulously clean car learns that providing great customer service can have unforeseen consequences.

Peter is a housekeeper with a crippling fear of cats. When a pig-lizard monster threatens the safety of his town, Peter enlists the help of his friends to face his fears and stop the Pizard. Won Best Director and Best Dark Comedy at the 2019 Austin Comedy Short Film Festival among other awards.

The development of a mixed martial arts community in Grande Prairie, Alberta is explored in this documentary about the athletes, coaches, promoters, and commission members who have grown the sport in a small northern city.

A weary slasher villain puts in the hours and planning necessary to pull off perfect kills until he encounters victims that don’t behave like they should, dammit. Screened with the kind permission of Network Ireland Television and Jumper Productions.

After winning her first international title, an 11-year-old gymnast experiences both new pressures and a new degree of self-awareness. The more recognition she gets, the more she realizes that the game has only begun. Won Best Live Action Short 15+ Minutes at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film Festival.

Three aliens land on Earth for a routine scientific expedition, but their plans did not include potentially hostile inhabitants.

A gifted cellist, who once vowed that she would never perform at weddings, has been doing so on a regular basis. Worse still, today’s groom is her ex-boyfriend. Memories of their time together begin to intrude on the day’s festivities.

Within the mysterious depths of the ocean, bizarre creatures and eerily beautiful landscapes can be encountered, but how does this imaginary world compare to the real one? Won the Gold Medal for Animation (International Film Schools) at the 2020 Student Academy Awards among other awards. Won Best Animated Short at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film…

Two Irish drug dealers drag a captured cockney rival into an abandoned shed in the depths of rural Ireland. A stash of cocaine has gone missing, supplies are running low, and things don’t look good for the prisoner from London. Won Best Short Film at the 2019 Greenwich Village Film Festival.

In 1879, a chemical spill from the local tannery contaminated Silvertown’s drinking water, turning those who drink it into drooling ravenous monsters. With help from the town’s sheriff, a young woman tries to escape. Made by the Métiers du Multimédia et de l’Internet students of the IUT de Béziers in France.

While the Space Race, the Arms Race, and a myriad of other Cold War competitions are common knowledge, few know that the United States and Soviet Union faced off to see which country could dig the deepest hole. This obscure historical event took a bizarre twist that still impacts people today, decades after the Cold…

A bullied teenage girl leads an a cappella club on a trail of destruction against her high school enemies. Won the Short Film Jury Prize (International Fiction) at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival among other awards. Won Best Live Action Short Under 15 Minutes at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film Festival.

When a green, noisy, and caring bird lays its first egg, it faces many challenges as it tries to help the egg to hatch. Won the 2018 Student Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

When a trapper arrives in a small town to accept the job of Sheriff, the current Sheriff has something to say about it. Won Best Short Film at the 2019 Almeria Western Film Festival among other awards.

A man promises his wife that he’ll get a photo of their son and his date before they go to their first high school dance, but his son tries to leave before his dad can keep his promise. Won Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Short at the 2019 Sidewalk Film Festival among other awards.

On his wedding anniversary, a man and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift, but soldiers, segregated roads, and checkpoints create delays. How difficult can it be to go shopping? Nominated for an Oscar in 2021 for Best Live Action Short and winner of multiple awards. Won…

While making his rounds on the morning of May 24, 1920, a railway crossing keeper encounters a man in his pajamas, alone in the forest, claiming to be the President of the Republic. Based on a true story. Won the Audience Award at the 2019 Austin Film Festival.

A daughter gets her wish and switches places with her dad for a day.

A clinic offers a couple a guaranteed cure for the husband’s condition and they are eager to sign the consent form until the doctor explains the side effects. Won Best Screenplay at the 2020 Festival Alto Vicentino.

Once upon a time in a forgotten kingdom, a humble King lived alone with his housekeeper. One day, while walking in his vast garden, he discovers a red tulip and decides that he must have more of them.

After graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dr. Andrew Rynne interned in Canada where he was introduced to vasectomy after starting a general practice in Mitchell, Ontario. Upon his return in 1974, he challenged laws imposed by the Church and State by becoming the first doctor to perform vasectomies in Ireland. In…

An elderly man lives as a recluse until an unexpected visitor arrives and disrupts his lonely routine. Won Best Foreign Film at the 2019 LA Shorts Fest among other awards.

Hoping to overcome his fear of water, a young man tries out a breakthrough treatment that enables doctors to cure phobias, but the process reveals the truth behind his trauma.

In a small town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, four athletes join hundreds of other racers to compete in the Canadian Death Race in Grande Cache, Alberta. What drives them to endure a grueling 125-kilometer ultramarathon that spans three mountain summits and 17,000 feet of elevation change?

A German voice actor has been hired to dub an English actor’s voice in a film noir set in 1944 Berlin. It’s work as usual until the English actor in the film looks at the camera and revolts against the dubbing process.

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A teacher begins his daily lecture in the classroom, but there is something missing from today’s usual lesson. Won Best Short Shorts Award at the 2020 Harlem International Film Festival among other awards. Won Honorable Mention, Best Live Action Short Under 15 Minutes at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film Festival.

When a middle-aged man loses his job, he desperately wants the new job he’s heard about. There is only one thing standing in his way – a rival who is better qualified. Won Best Short Film at the 2019 Short to the Point International Film Festival.

An elite high school football star known as “The Machine” is challenged by an outsider in a series of races. Against the backdrop of wintertime Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, this opportunity for friendship is a chance to humanize “The Machine”.

Kristeva Dowling strives to have a close relationship with the land and a degree of food sovereignty few of us can imagine – especially when living in the unforgiving landscape outside of Grande Prairie, Alberta. Won Best Peace Region Short at the 2021 Reel Shorts Film Festival.

A family on their way to a reunion take a slight detour to check out a yard sale on a remote farm. Who has a yard sale in the dead of winter? Won Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the 2019 Festival of Fear International Film Festival.

In a world ravaged by a zombie apocalypse, two men stand watch at the barricades surrounding the Rez. Won the 2020 Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association’s Rosie Award for Best Dramatic Short Production and the Rosie Award for Best Screenwriter (Drama Under 30 Minutes). Won Honorable Mention, Best Peace Region Short at the 2021 Reel…

One hundred years after the guns fell silent, the people of northeastern France are still feeling the lasting effects of war. Guy Momper and his team of minesweepers risk their lives daily by entering highly concentrated areas with buried explosives that are polluting the water system and poisoning farm land. Won the Audience Choice Award…

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