Shorts: Bloodlines and Faultlines
Family as refuge, anchor and fault line - fragile bonds that comfort and confine us, quietly shaping us across generations.
Families here (or anywhere) are anything but simple. Across places and generations, these films trace bonds that comfort, confine, protect and wound, sometimes all at once. Childhood summers sit beside inherited violence, grief reshapes responsibility, and devotion is tested by expectation and deception. Mothers and daughters navigate systems that deny them agency; siblings hold each other when no one else will; grown children return to places that still define and reshape them. In each story, family is both anchor and fault line; messy, fragile, and yet
(im)possible to outgrow.
Total Running Time: 86 min
Films (list in running order):
Norheimsund
Director: Ana Alpizar
Country: Cuba / USA
Running Time: 12 min
A young woman’s hope for escape falters as a troubling long-distance “romance”, encouraged by her mother, begins to unravel.
My Brother Lyosha And I
Director:Lena Tronina
Country: Kazakhstan
Running Time: 15 min
In 90s Kazakhstan Lyosha and Lena must rely on each other to endure quiet cycles of violence at home.
Flowers
Director:Ademola Falomo
Country: Nigeria
Running Time: 11 min
In this meditative exploration of grief, Bolaji must plan his father’s burial while barely beginning to understand his loss.
I'm Glad You're Dead Now
Director: Tawfeek Barhom
Country: State of Palestine, France
Running Time: 13 min
Two brothers return to their childhood island, where buried secrets and unresolved tensions bind them in a long-delayed reckoning.
These Voices are Real (In Sedaha Vagheist)
Director: Baran Nikrah
Country: Iran
Running Time: 11 min
A woman moves through the day with her young daughter, whose observations register what her mother cannot shield her from.\
Agapito
Director:Arvin Belarmino, Kyla Romero
Country:Philippines
Running Time: 15 min
Bowling alley manager Mira closes up early, as she waits for a special visitor that stirs memories and family ties.
The Kankurang
Director: Imran Ciesay
Country: Gambia / France
Running Time: 10 min
After a family rupture, rebellious Omar must confront adulthood by facing the Kankurang and its demands of manhood.
Content Warnings: Death