Life on Mercury (Ireland, Romania) by Mathieu Constantin

An intertwined comedy-drama about the influence of money on our lives, seen through the eyes of a lottery-winning priest, a lawyer working for the corrupt elites and a hustling juvenile delinquent. Their stories are all connected through the help of a traveling 20 euro bill.

Running time: 01:48:45

Charlotte Salomon’s Letter (United States) by Dana Plays

Charlotte Salomon’s Letter is a non-fiction film about the German Jewish Artist Charlotte Salomon who created her magnum opus 'Life? or Theater?' as a catharsis experience to prevent herself from suicide after finding out she was the sole survivor in her maternal family line of suicides while living in exile and under duress  in the Côte d'Azur, France during WWII. Censored for more than 60 years was Salomon's 35-page painted letter confessing to fatally poisoning her grandfather with an omelet laced with opium and veronal, in 1943, during the German occupation in the Côte d'Azur and her appreciation of her benefactor and protector, the filmmaker's great aunt, heiress Ottilie Moore, on the estate where she was sheltered and created a large part of Life or Theater, and to whom 'Life? or Theater?' is dedicated. The film interweaves the visual paintings and written narratives by Salomon from her Life? or Theater series, with her censored letter read on screen by the late Austrian actor Birgit Doll  (1956-2015) in German and filmmaker Dana Plays echoing from Life? or Theater? and expository narration in English, with personal archive of photographs, paintings and movies. Salomon was arrested and murdered at Auschwitz five months pregnant by her husband refugee Alexander, Ottilie Moore’s former lover also sheltered by Moore. 

Running time: 00:60:16

Performance No.19190301 by Mingu Kang

Teenage boy Seong-hyun sets out on a journey with his grandmother Byeong-hee, who suggests leaving without revealing a destination. However, their car breaks down, preventing them from starting their trip. At that moment, the TV installed in the car broadcasts a mysterious performance titled "Performance No. 19190301." As the show begins, Seong-hyun and Byeong-hee embark on a journey through the history of Korea's past.

Running time: 00:41:00

Anchor Points (Canada) by Victor Quijada, Samuel Greffe

Anchor Points is a 25-minute documentary-style art film by RUBBERBAND that retraces the trajectory of Victor Quijada from street dancer to contemporary choreographer. Through archival footage and visual effects, it examines his personal and artistic evolution and introduces the foundational RUBBERBAND Method as described by company members. The film blends documentary elements with experimental visuals to offer insight into Quijada’s creative journey and the development of his influential choreographic practice.

Running time: 00:25:13

Natal Kick, Cosmo Ground (South Korea) by Jaeik Kim

Under the occupied shadows, floating cosmo ground, xenoliths, and the breaths perceived from all beings are increasingly coarsened by humanity’s collective experiments. This work considers all existing entities as pioneers of a sentient cosmos, thinking not only from Earth but from the universe at large, and positions both human and non-human elements as agents jointly adventuring through this unknown space, while exploring the ecological emergencies of the present.

Starting from the current moment, when space development has once again surfaced as the foremost political theme worldwide, the work engages with the pioneering momentum of the new space age. From initiatives like SpaceX’s multi-planetary civilization program, which extends fascistic projects on Earth into the cosmos, Natal Kick Cosmo Ground seeks to chart new relationships. Natal Kick articulates asymmetric finitude as the release of uneven energy during a supernova explosion, marking the death of a star once considered infinite. In contrast, humanity projects its Earth-bound modes of dominance and thought beyond the planet, spreading terrestrial conflicts and unjust hierarchies into the stars and cosmos under the infinite nominality of the commons, while actively reinforcing extractivist practices.

Contemporary society extends into a new space age through scientific production and experimentation that reach beyond the bounds of Earth. Private corporations and state governments attempting to exploit space treat its territory as an inexhaustible resource, deploying the finitude of the cosmos as a propaganda device for political ideologies that transcend national and anthropological borders. In this world, finite from the start, all agents of action may, as Latour suggests, be political agents, encompassing humans and non-humans alike. Here, cosmopolitics gestures toward a cooperative approach for addressing global crises. The work aspires to recreate our relationship with the cosmos and dreams of new political imaginaries. In doing so, it acknowledges all actors, including humans, non-humans, objects, and environments, as political agents and situates them within a shared discourse on planetary conditions.

Running time: 00:12:37

The Perfect Palm (Türkiye, United States) by Ayse Altinok

A young man on the autism spectrum, who possesses a remarkable gift as a visual artist, encounters the corporate world at his first job interview.

Running time: 00:11:15

Stuck (United States) by Josephine Harrison

A short film covering ideas around mental health on the campus of a competitive university. Inspired by real-life conversations around the campus of competitive US university.

Running time: 00:07:08

To Us (Australia) by Jeno Kim

Part mid-life crisis, part mundane wallowing, a woman finds solace from her neighbour after a bad date night.

Running time: 00:07:30