Held Breath

Between leaving and staying, remembering and letting go, these films explore lives suspended in moments of uncertainty. Across borders, generations and changing landscapes, the world seems to hold its breath.

Sulaimani

Vinnie Ann Bose / France / 2025 / 20 mins One evening in Paris, two strangers – both young women from Kerala, India, find themselves in an Indian restaurant, where the sights, sounds and smells take them on a symbolic journey of bittersweet memories of their uprooting and emancipation.

In 769 km, New York

Sofiia Buhrii / Ukraine / 2025 / 15 mins In one of the few bakeries left in Kyiv, people with mental disabilities make bread. Along with their own challenges, they have to live through the experience of war.

Hidden Face

Lily Dedeye / France / 2026 / 5 mins Every night, as they near the front door, Charly and Ambre hold their breath — not knowing which Stéphane is waiting inside: the father whose promises rarely hold, or the man whose temper fills the house like smoke.

Mother's Influence

Meg Wriggles / United Kingdom / 2025 / 14 mins Growing up with an unconventional single mother – an influencer navigating aging and body dysmorphia – Meg admires her but questions how it shaped her own self-image.

Blue Heart

Samuel Suffren / Haiti / 2025 / 15 mins Their loving son is away. Marianne and Petion are living in Haiti with a telephone, waiting for a call from the USA, where their son has left for the American dream.

Ploo

Jon Frickey / Germany / 2025 / 15 mins "If it keeps starting over, it must be forever", says the white moth. But a gentle whisper breathes in each dawn, "one day, all days will be gone". Ploo blends attributes of vector graphics and screen display technology with the human condition.

Trees and Other Birds

Emma Claire Sardoni / Belgium / 2025 / 8 mins In a grayscale world where nature seems drained of life, two friends debate whether it can still feel anything — while singing horses, dancing flowers, and crying mountains suggest otherwise. An absurdist take on environmental grief.