Repeat Event: Become a Movie Critic of 10 short films

Last week 4 of us attended a unique event: We watched 10 short films from 1 minute long to 15 minutes long on various topics all meant to pull at your heartstrings. They were brilliant films. They are part of an international short film contest: over a 6-day period they are being viewed all over the world. The viewers become movie critics and then pick 1 film they found they thought was best and turn in their vote. They will be internationally tabulated, and a winner will be chosen. I cannot stop thinking about these films. It is a special event. I am offering it a 2nd time. You become the movie critic.

Film synopsis are as follows:


SMALL TALK (USA): In a neon-drenched future where AI has consumed nearly every profession, a weary cab driver preserves the last traces of humanity the only way he can … through small talk.


HAI DAVAI (Moldova): On the cusp of leaving her rural Moldovan village for a new life abroad, Nina is stopped, quite literally, by an old superstition.


MARY IS MISSING (Ireland): When care worker Mary vanishes without a trace, Detective Foley arrives at the Yellow Tree Day Service, and investigations begin.


NORHEIMSUND (Cuba): A girl’s long-distance romance with an older Norwegian man promises to pull her from her austere life in Cuba, but is he as idyllic as he seems?


WHEN THE SEA WAS CALM (Georgia): A hand-crafted animation that transforms the memory of Sokhumi before the war into a poetic story of childhood, first love, exile, and the dream of return.


PICKUP (Russia): At a pickup workshop, every girl gets a mission — flirt, charm, and win. For Di, the shyest one in the room, the task is simple: ask a guy to buy her coffee.


CANDY BAR (Australia): A young girl thinks a man in the candy bar line looks like her dad.


VULTURES (South Africa): In the volatile moments after a car crash, before the authorities arrive, a hot-headed yet desperate tow truck driver fiercely protects his tow.


LIFE GOES ON (United Kindom): Bill is ready for the end. The end isn’t ready for him. At 83, he finds himself caught in an absurd glitch: every time he dies, the day begins again.


NEVER GIVE UP (Mexico): An unexpected source of hope guides a boy as he attempts to cross the US-Mexico border.