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From more than 250 entries our festival selection committee has chosen 10 finalists. We will screen each short film and our jury will select the “Best Overall” film at the conclusion of the program. 2025 MVIFF SHORT FILM FINALISTS
DOBRINA (5:00)
Director Hannes Rall (Germany)
Lotte Reiniger meets Sergio Leone in this animated short, where desire burns as bright as the desert sun.
WRONG ADDRESS (10:45)
Director John Simmons (USA)
Ahmadu, a young aspiring artist of African origin, is caught up as a target of dangerous police rage after he retrieves his pizza, delivered to the wrong address.
DEFNE (19:58)
Director Hamdi Furkan Yıldırım (Turkey)
A little girl from an isolated cottage goes to the woods to find the doctor for her ailing grandmother and encounters dangerous men.
PARENTS CONFERENCE (13:00)
Director Inbal Voitiz Sass (Israel)
A mother and daughter spend a long day at school, meeting all teachers. But parenting can’t be taught.
DON’T BE LATE, MYRA (14:58)
Director Afia Serena Nathaniel (Pakistan)
Myra misses her school bus and must find her way back home alone. The short thriller takes a turn as she tries to dodge men harassing her on the streets of Lahore.
A GUEST IN MY COUNTRY (15:26)
Director John Gray (USA)
An immigrant Ubër driver takes an upscale couple across town, and the drama that unfolds among them reveals truths they all would have preferred stayed hidden.
NEGRO LEAGUE NIGHTS (12:52)
Director Kyle Sykes (USA)
Doc Sykes helps his team, the Baltimore Black Sox, advance to the Colored World Series in 1923 by beating the New York Black Yankees at Yankee Stadium. His excitement soon turns to anger and disappointment when he realizes the all-Black showers at the stadium are filthy and disgusting. When he and two of his teammates make the bold choice to use the White showers instead, the racist stadium manager instantly apprehends them. Threatened with arrest, Doc and his teammates are escorted outside while their loyal fans, and two young kids, clamor for their release, prompting the stadium manager to relent and release them.
THE SINGERS (17:00)
Director Sam Davis (USA)
A genre-bending film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden men connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off. With a cast comprised of first-time actors from the unlikeliest corners of TikTok and YouTube, the film is a celebration of diamonds in the rough and a testament to the power of vulnerability through art.
SLEEPING SKY (14:35)
Director Zahra Sadeghi (Iran)
Trapped in an endless cycle, even our deepest wishes repeat themselves, like a story read every night but never finished.
THE WISHING WAND (3:19)
Director Jane Fraser (USA)
If you had a magic wand, what would you wish for? When Jane’s pug Maisy destroys her favorite wand, disaster turns into wonder when a new wand serendipitously arrives at the door. Jane discovers that with one wave, sweet things can happen. “The Wishing Wand” is a short-film by Jane Fraser, a first-time filmmaker with Down Syndrome. The film is dedicated to her late grandmother Claire, Jane’s best friend and personal wand-maker.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
79 Beach Rd, Vineyard Haven, MA, United States, Massachusetts 02568
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