A collection of Short Films for the Zeitgeist | Sweet and Short
Sleep demons, sandy beaches, liminal spaces and so much more! Anika valiantly trawls through the archive of Shorts in our inbox, and brings us her favourites!
Fiend (2025, Barnaby Boulton)
Holy, sleep demon. Fiend is a masterclass in tension building - its editing, sound design, and cinematography keep you on the absolute edge of your seat the whole film. As we follow our lead character and their struggles with insomnia we slowly become just as disoriented as our lead. Suddenly reality and dream begin to blur, time loops, a shadowy figure is seen in the distance and then is not so distant at all. If this is what writer/director Boulton can do with 11 minutes, I only wonder what they could do with a feature length film.
Sand Mama (2023, Dir. Catherine Loerke)
With the shortest run time of the bunch, at a quick 5-minutes, Sand Mama makes such a moving statement on motherhood and identity in a short period of time. It is best to go into the film without knowing too much - all you need to know is that the film follows a mother experiencing identity crisis who goes to the beach with her family and makes a surprising choice. With stunning cinematography, the always brilliant Miriam Silverman, and a closing scene that will shock and move you, this film surprised me in the best of ways.
Transfer (2020, Dir. Sage Mears)
An unexpected journey into a liminal space where a job interview for a coveted role is not all that it seems. From the beginning you know something is off beneath surface, but it doesn't all click until the end. While some emotional beats fell flat for me, I appreciated the humour, the creative swings, and the deeper meaning of the piece.
Corner Man (2025, Dir. Sam Findlay)
This film follows the boxing coach Tony, who instead of calling the police on Brendan, a troubled teen trying to break into his car, offers him another path instead. Corner Man speaks to the power of non-punitive approaches to support people in crisis and the deep importance of community care. It could use more runtime to get us more invested in the characters, but I was definitely intrigued about where Tony and Brendan go from here.
