SXSW: 2025 Narrative Shorts Competition
24 Hours After Reading Tuesdays with Morrie
Director: Scott Tinkham
Grappling with one’s mortality can feel like being punched in the face. A bit disjointed but I appreciated how it embodied an existential panic attack.
Baba I’m Fine
Director: Karina Dandashi
Sweet story about a dad cheering up his teenage daughter after her breakup. Fun emo musical framing.
Ben’s Sister
Director: Emma Weinswig
Set in 2015 before a massive cultural shift took hold in America, this drama focuses on bored teens manipulating each other for the sake of a “scav hunt”. Not for everyone but intriguing time capsule nonetheless.
Brief Somebodies
Director: Andy Reid
Imaginative short examines the awkwardness of acting out intimate scenes. I enjoyed how this film examined how the two actors compartmentalize their characters and their real attraction to each other.
Entre Tormentas
Director: Fran Zayas
Quiet but powerful drama about a man on a mission to bring back the body of his brother who recently committed suicide. Drives home the message that we need to care for one another even someone dies.
Grandma’s Four Color Cards
Director: Sally Tran
Beautifully evokes the privilege of living a long life but also the daily struggle to keep going. Lovely performance by the 101 year old actress. Note to self: “a talking frog will bring good luck to your life.”
How Was Your Weekend?
Director: Cam Banfield
Corporate culture turns sinister when a worker dares to go off script when asked the question “how was your weekend?” Great concept and execution. Anyone with experience in the corporate world will relate to the pressure of maintaining office pleasantries especially when you don’t feel like it.
I’m The Most Racist Person I Know
Director: Leela Varghese
A sweet lesbian romance between two POC women. This honest exploration of internalized racism framed within a beautiful love story is quite restorative.
Max Distance
Director: Marissa Goldman
A quirky comedy about isolation in the Zoom age and the awkwardness of dating. A bit aimless but nonetheless enjoyable.
Nervous Energy
Director: Eve Liu
“Let’s make beautiful films.” Sometimes as a woman you need to get rid of negative energy to focus on your creative life. Cathartic. Intense.
One Day This Kid
Director: Alexander Farah
A young Arab Muslim’s life as a gay man comes in direct conflict with his conservative upbringing. Stunning film about breaking and mending familial ties. Powerful performance by the lead actor who plays the adult Hamed.
Out for Delivery
Director: Chelsea Christer
A dying woman arranges the delivery of her death with dignity medication and the pickup of her remains but mishaps get in the way. This dark comedy handles a delicate subject through an absurdist lens and demonstrates how automation removes the humanity from our collective experiences.
The Sentry
Director: Jake Wachtel
A murdered guard in Cambodia haunts the spy who killed him. I always appreciate when a short film can take one small trope and expand upon it. This film morphs from action thriller to buddy comedy to tenderhearted drama in the most satisfying way.
The Singers
Director: Sam Davis
A regular night at the dive bar turns into an impromptu singing competition. Evokes the idea that we never really know what talents lie within others. It has a beautiful slow build and will make you tear up by the end.
Strangers in the Same Shirt
Director: Anthon Chase Johnson
Common enemies (their dad, high school teacher Mrs. Abbott, tiresome wedding guests) unite estranged half-siblings at their dad’s third wedding. Seemingly simple story but with unexpected layers and a rather satisfying buildup.
Synthesize Me
Director: Bear Damen
A daughter dealing with the aftermath of her mother’s death reconnects with her memory by playing with her synthesizers much to her father’s dismay. Aptly depicts the danger of taking unregulated emotions out on the vulnerable.
Unholy
Director: Daisy Friedman
A young woman struggles at a family Passover Seder now that she can only eat through a feeding tube. The situation is particularly tenuous because food is such an integral part of the Jewish culture and makes the protagonist feel “unholy”. Superb little film. Audiences will find the painful awkwardness of family gatherings is so relatable.
WassupKaylee
Director: Pepi Ginsberg
The emotionally distant Kaylee @WassupKaylee joins a content house and forms a tenuous connection with another creator. The film depicts the content creators’ startling disconnect with reality and gives us a glimpse into a space where constant performance is expected and vulnerability is not.
Yú Cì (Fish Bones)
Director: Kevin Xian Ming Yu
A non-binary Asian-American reconnects with their closeted father after a fishing incident. This quiet slice-of-life movie says a lot with a little.
Call Me By Your Name (2017) – To say this film changed my life is an understatement. It awakened something in me that’s been dormant in my life. It led to an identity crisis that took me a few months to sort through. I’m a card carrying CMBYN fanatic. I have the Blu-Ray, the Andre Aciman’s original novel, James Ivory’s screenplay (and yes I’ve read both) and the Mania tee inspired by Ivory’s shirt he wore for the Oscars. I talk about this film all the time to anyone who will listen. I introduced it to my friend Vanessa who fell in love with it even more than I did (
Maurice (1987) – Think CMBYN but released three decades earlier and set in the beginning of the century and you have Maurice. Directed and co-written by James Ivory, the story is based on E.M. Forester’s posthumous novel by the same name. It explores the story of Maurice (James Wilby), a young man at university who falls for fellow student Clive (Hugh Grant). When a fellow classmate goes to jail for indecency, homosexuality was illegal back then, Clive tries to go straight. Maurice then finds love with Clive’s groundsman Alec (Rupert Graves). You can see the parallels between Maurice and CMBYN down to the picnic scenes and train station farewells. Maurice has a much more satisfying ending though and lifted me up when CMBYN got me down.
Below Her Mouth (2016) – When I first watched this movie I wrote it off as an overly erotic lesbian drama. I’m glad I gave it a second shot because it quickly became one of my favorite LGBT movies and it rivals CMBYN for the #1 spot. Below Her Mouth is about a roofer Dallas (Erika Linder) and a fashion editor Jasmine (Natalie Krill) who develop an intense physical attraction for each other. The problem is Jasmine is engaged to a man. Linder and Krill have the best on screen chemistry I have ever witness in a movie EVER. It’s so palpable. They’re a perfect match. This film is nothing if not erotic. There are several graphic sex scenes and one could say not enough relationship building. But the sex comes from a female gaze and is more real than anything I’ve ever seen. The production team consisted of an all-female crew (a true rarity!) led by director April Mullen and producer Melissa Coghlan.
Carol (2015) – Set in the 1950s, Carol is based on Patricia Highsmith’s story The Price of Salt. I was worried because of the period that this would break me but lucky for me it didn’t. It stars Cate Blanchett as the title character Carol. On the outside she seems like the perfect rich housewife, but wipe off the veneer and you see a struggling woman in the middle of a divorce and dealing with a society that won’t accept her sexuality. One day Carol meets and falls in love with shop clerk (Rooney Mara) and the two set off on a road trip together. The story is so good at building up the sexual tension that when the two finally have their love scene it was such a welcome relief. The costumes and set design are fantastic. While the film holds the viewer at a distance emotionally, I still felt that this was a sweet love story and depicted the reality of being a lesbian in mid-Century New York City.
Moonlight (2016) – This coming-of-age film is beautiful and stark and relentless in its portrayal of the principal character Chiron in three different stages of his life. All three actors who played Chiron, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders and Alex Hibbert brought so much to the role. I’m fascinated that although they didn’t work with each other their own interpretations of Chiron were consistent with each other. Moonlight is haunting and raw and its a story that needed to be told. It’s an example of why representation matters. The final scene when adult Chiron has a tender moment with the only man who ever touched him, Kevin (Andre Holland), is powerful. When I watched this for the first time it was at home and I replayed that final scene over and over and over again until I finally convinced myself to let it go. I also loved the scene when Mahershala Ali’s Juan explains the word f***** to child Chiron. It’s what earned Ali his Oscar that’s for sure.
Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) – This is a long film, told in two parts and clocks in at 3 hours. The story follows a teenager named Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) as she blossoms into womanhood and falls in love with the older Emma (Lea Seydoux), a sensual woman with a shock of blue hair. The story is about finding yourself and losing yourself and it is so relatable in many ways. It’s a problematic film, caught in the male gaze of director/producer Abdellatif Kechiche, who was said to have treated his cast and crew poorly. I question the lighting for the sex scenes between two women. If it wasn’t for Adele and Emma, two fascinating and dynamic characters, this film might have been a wash for me. Watch it for those two and the talented actresses who play them.
Princess Cyd (2017) – While the lesbian love story between Cyd (Jessie Pinnick) and Katie (Malic White) is just a sub-plot, it’s also the only interesting part of the whole movie. Cyd is a teenager whose family suffered a traumatic loss and when her father can’t deal with the aftermath she spends a summer at her aunt Miranda’s house. The two initially butt heads, Cyd an opinionated and free-spirited teen and Miranda, a famous author who needs to live a little, but soon come to learn from each other. Miranda’s story is depressing and hard to watch and on repeat views I found myself fast forwarding just to get to Cyd and Katie’s beautiful little love story. Malic White is a punk rock star turned actress and I love the on screen chemistry she has with Pinnick. Watch it once for the whole story and again just for Cyd and Katie. In fact I wouldn’t mind a sequel where these two are reunited.