Adelaide Film Festival
World Shorts
2026

World Shorts

Film Credits

Type

Shorts

Program Strand

World Cinema

Screens With

Nervous Energy

Nervous Energy

On the cusp of success/failure, two unhinged female filmmakers decide to break up with their boyfriends, and for once, make a bold decision with their lives.

Director

Eve Liu

Country

United States

Runtime

15 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Norheimsund

Norheimsund

A girl’s long- distance romance with an older Norwegian man promises to pull her and her mother from their austere life in Cuba, but her dreams are shaken when she realises he isn’t as idyllic as he seems.

Director

Ana A. Alpizar

Country

Cuba

Runtime

12 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts

Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts

He was born with the peculiar ability to move and remove his body parts. Throughout his life, he shares his body parts to people he loves. Until the day he died, all left from him is a torso with a faceless head. His mother is trying to recollect his body parts.

Director

Rein Maychaelson

Country

Indonesia

Runtime

19 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Silvesterchlausen

Silvesterchlausen

Silvesterchlausen is a mysterious tradition that takes place every New Year’s Eve in Switzerland’s Appenzell, the most conservative part of the country. Groups of six men dress in ornate costumes and engage in wordless, polyphonic yodeling and rhythmic bell clanging. The ritual has been performed for at least 500 years, but nobody knows how or why it began.

Director

Andrew Norman Wilson

Country

United States

Runtime

12 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 15+

The Gods (الالهة)

The Gods (الالهة)

Under a burning sun, Adel and Moïse try to come to terms with the loss of their father. But as their grief turns into an obsession, a rift grows between the two teenage brothers and threatens to separate them.

Director

Anas Sareen

Country

Switzerland

Runtime

15 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 15+

The Men's Land

The Men's Land

In Georgia, Ushguli mountain customs dictate that in the absence of a son, a family’s land must be handed down to the next male relative who will perpetuate the family name. The Men’s Land follows the journey of an aspiring singer as she fights for her property in the face of dated local rules and traditions, her song becoming a bulwark against humiliation.

Director

Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani

Country

Georgia

Runtime

15 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Silent Voices

Silent Voices

After migrating to New York City, a Korean family face moments of survival and disconnection in each of their private lives.

Director

Nadine Misong Jin

Country

South Korea

Runtime

18 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Statues Also Die?

Statues Also Die?

In a Hungarian tourist park scattered with communist-era statues, four children become an interviewing team, trying to discern the line between memory and myth.

Director

Thais Fernandes

Country

Belgium

Runtime

11 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Lost in the Water

Lost in the Water

Fragments of recreated archival footage reflect on daily life along the Mekong River in the countryside of Cambodia.

Director

Allison Chhorn

Country

Australia

Runtime

12 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Morana

Morana

In a traditional Czech village, a nihilistic teenager is cursed to be delivered into the hands of Morana, the Pagan goddess of death.

Director

Michal Vojtech & Ariel de la Garza Davidoff

Country

Czech Republic

Runtime

20 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Shirt Story

Shirt Story

When a dying man turns into a shirt, his daughter must find a way to keep him warm.

Director

Krupali Patel

Country

Czech Republic

Runtime

7 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

For the Opponents

For the Opponents

A young Mexican boy battles ambition and expectation to become a boxing champion.

Director

Federico Luis

Country

Chile

Runtime

15 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

Stud

Stud

Frédérique, in her fifties, has dressed up to go for a walk with her dog Pauline. She hopes to meet someone on the forest trail... and it doesn't take long: Philippe and his dog Magic. The dogs get closer. Will their owners do the same? Is this what Frédérique came to the forest for?

Director

Aude Thuries

Country

France

Runtime

9 minutes

Rating

Unclassified 18+

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More to see...

Australian Shorts

Australian Shorts

Twelve Moons

Twelve Moons

Distressed by her inability to have a child, Mexico City architect Sofía descends into a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction. Filled with precisely composed architectural images presented in striking black and white, writer-director Victoria Franco’s feature debut is a memorable and unflinching descent towards rock bottom.
Vanilla

Vanilla

In late-1980s Mexico, Vanilla is a textured family drama told through the eyes of a young girl raised by seven formidable women. As debt threatens their home, she witnesses resilience, tenderness and struggle that reshape her sense of belonging and the meaning of family.
Cactus Pears

Cactus Pears

When Anand’s father dies, he returns to his family’s village to complete his filial duties. The village is another world, where homosexuality is not acknowledged. But it is also the home of Balya, with whom intimacy blossoms for Anand. A film of great simplicity and tenderness.