"Mon Taxi" Keeps the Conversation Going After Loss
At this year's HollyShorts, Meriem Sakrouhi's "Mon Taxi" listens to grief as a living rhythm, tracing eleven voice notes to a late father and the tenderness of a bond that refuses to end.
HollyShorts Film Festival
Reviews and exclusive coverage from the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. Dive into filmmaker interviews, red carpet highlights, and behind-the-scenes stories that celebrate short-form cinema at its best.
"Echoes Beneath The Hill" Reframes Rwanda Through a Child's Eyes
At this year's HollyShorts, Aime Octave's "Echoes Beneath The Hill" follows a girl searching for her lost goat in the days before the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, holding childhood and catastrophe in the same frame.
"Get Her Back!" Unmasks the Romcom Hero
At this year's HollyShorts, Leah Nanako Winkler's "Get Her Back!" takes the persistence we've been taught to read as devotion and follows it to its logical, unsettling end, asking why we keep mistaking entitlement for love.
"Them That's Not" Reimagines Family as the Community We Choose
At this year's HollyShorts, Mekhai Lee's "Them That's Not" turns a grandmother's repass into a fragile reunion between an estranged father and his daughter, asking who counts as "our own" when isolation runs deepest.
"Night Feeds" Turns Postpartum Into a Body You Cannot Leave
At this year's HollyShorts, Rana Roy's "Night Feeds" collapses the wall between a new mother's private paranoia and the violence flooding her screens, asking whether the madness lives in her mind or the world around her.
"Why Do You Hate Me?" Turns Anxious Ambition Into Dark Comedy
At this year's HollyShorts, Chelsea Collazo Garcia's "Why Do You Hate Me?" mines the manic search for validation for its funniest and most honest material, following a young woman whose reckless ambition turns every opportunity into self-inflicted catastrophe.
"Bleeder" Turns Physical Pain into a Study of Grief
At this year's HollyShorts, Jeremy Max's "Bleeder" follows a man who earns a living by taking beatings, using brutal violence to trace the emotional wounds he can no longer outrun.
"Birth is For P*ssies" Reclaims the Delivery Room
At this year's HollyShorts, Hannah Shealy's "Birth is For P*ssies" follows a rookie doula through her first chaotic night on the job, upending Hollywood's clichés about labor and the people who quietly carry others through it.
"Beyond the Mind" Gives Voice to a Silent Companion
At this year's HollyShorts, Lanya Nooralddin's "Beyond the Mind" makes its US Premiere with the story of an abandoned donkey's loyal return home, using silence and landscape to reflect on empathy, survival, and a land scarred by war.
"Beshert" Finds Fate, Faith, and Friendship in a Leeds Care Home
At this year's HollyShorts, Lewis Rose's "Beshert" — produced by Jason Solomons and Naomi Gryn — follows a grumpy old man and a reluctant Bar Mitzvah boy whose chance meeting sparks an unlikely friendship that changes both their lives.
"Chi Mangia Solo" Simmers Grief in a Family Recipe
At this year's HollyShorts, Francesco Zenati's "Chi Mangia Solo" turns a mother's handwritten recipe into a reckoning with memory, as an estranged brother and sister cook their way back to each other on the eve of losing their childhood home.
"Creators" Turns a Viral Rescue Into a Study in Empathy
At this year's HollyShorts, Nik Sysuev's "Creators" follows a struggling content creator who turns a stranger's darkest moment into clickbait, probing how social media distorts the way we recognize each other's humanity.
"If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me" Turns a Honky-Tonk Love Story into a Meditation on Freedom
At this year's HollyShorts, Alejandro Ruax and Saskia d'Altena's "If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me" traces honky-tonk hero Dale Watson and his wife Celine Lee across Texas dancehalls and Memphis landmarks, finding in their unapologetic love story a portrait of what makes life worth living.
"Toy Gun" Throws a Birthday Party at the End of the World
At this year's HollyShorts, Keenan Gray's "Toy Gun" turns a divorced family's awkward reunion into a darkly funny reckoning with pressure, as the apocalypse rages just beyond a dusty Brooklyn window.
"A Scent" Finds Love in the Unraveling of Illness
At this year's HollyShorts, Johnny Russell's "A Scent" follows a Scottish scrub nurse who detects disease through smell, turning a true story into a meditation on credibility, care, and the quiet miracles of NHS nurses.
"The Second Life of Freddie Nole" Finds Grace at the Prison Gate
At this year's HollyShorts, Dana Nachman's "The Second Life of Freddie Nole" follows a man who spends his days welcoming strangers home from prison, revealing why his compassion runs deeper than anyone riding beside him first realizes.