MIFF 2025: International Shorts 2
Melbourne International Film Festival 2025 is ongoing and I went to watch my eight session (of 12!) , International Shorts 2.
This post my short review of the seven short films in the session!
For context: I am a photographer/youtuber that wants to up my cinematography and storytelling, that’s why I’m watching 12 sessions at the film festival PLUS reviewing them here on my blog!
In general, I liked these less than the short films in International Shorts 1. One factor could be my overexposure to watching films for the past few weeks. Or perhaps it’s because my barometer for “good films” is changed now. Maybe both of those things are related. That being said, looking at my notes on International Shorts 1, I think I did “objectively” like those films more. I put “objectively” in quotes because in the end it’s still my subjective opinion, but I’m saying that I feel like I judged them consistently.
All images courtesy of miff.com.au
After watching quite a few of short films, I noticed that there are some that have a compact/short shot list, this is one of them. That’s to say that there aren’t a lot of different shots in the film, most of the story is being told in 2-3 locations. It means that the creators can convey their story and their message in that space. It also means that to be engaging they use different angles — and of course an interesting script. “I’m Glad You’re Dead Now” ticks all of that.
The story follow brothers that are seemingly glad that someone is dead… the title is pretty descriptive haha. Although, you might only infer that when you see the title, which is to say that it is shown to be more of a complex feeling than just “glad”. The thing with these short stories is that I sometimes feel like I want to rewatch it and write a detail analysis essay for them! Because the time is short, and so to tell a story with depth, it relies a lot on the audiences interpretation and imagination.
This was a my favourite out of the bunch! The narrative follow the a women playing an old tape which then travels the film back in time to when those tapes were being recorded: when the women was going to the airport to move from Nigeria to the UK. Being a migrant myself, I like these sort of themes. It tells the story of the hesitation, the hope, and the decision. The life that could’ve been if she never left. And the feelings that it evokes. It didn’t even show the way she was living in the UK. So it’s open for interpretation on whether she just grieving about the life back in Nigeria or that the life in the UK sucks, or probably both.
This was film on analog film which certainly adds to the charm, especially with a story that travels back in time where tape handycams were a thing. The grain all over the film was very distinct. The interwoven shots from the handycam matches so well with the rest of the film.
Minha Mãe é uma Vaca
As far as metaphorical film goes, this one was out there. It reminds me of “Panadrilo” from International Shorts 1 (see my review here). The story follow a girl that is away from her mom. She lives with relatives that don’t seem to be wanting to keep here around. They lived in a farm with lots of cows around and she grows more fond of them everyday. I think it’s also implied that the relatives don’t want her to talk to her mom, and it seems like her mom was the “cash cow” of the family where she works in a big city. I’m not sure, again, this was very poetic and metaphorical. I want to see it again!
This is also one of those metaphorical ones, but in totally different way. It has lots of explicit sensual scenes that is related to… watermelons. The shots taken here were those surreal ones where it feels like “everything is happening at once” — flashes of images, jumping from one scenario to another. I really liked the different angles and composition of the early scenes. And I also like the funkiness of the middle part, which I think the crux of the story is being told. I feel like studying this film would be great for editing nuances and decisions.
Hah, look at the bear costume. This one was a bit more direct in telling the message. The story was nicely compact and I think I got the essence. There are some cool shots in it, I liked the montage of the main character going to her job, commuting and walking to the spot where she then put on the bear costume. This was also filmed on analog film! That made Germany looked a bit like Russia somehow. It might be more on the colour grading…? The low saturated colours gave this monotone third worldly vibe. I also liked the opening audition scene. There were many close ups on just her face and just her talking. Reminiscent of the audition scene from La La Land — I wonder if there’s a name for that kind of shot.
The supernatural aspect of “Vox Humana” really creeps up on you, especially if you don’t remember the synopsis *ehm. It slowly starts with scenes that seem to be set in the normal world. But then slowly reveals unsettling setups. The sound design in this was phenomenal and it was actually integral to the story. I appreciate the theme of listening to mother earth more, nudging the audience to think more more about the environment. The animal-like human character is depicted as the source of the natural disasters, where in fact it’s just delivering the message. The more I write about it, the more I like the story. Storytelling-wise, the shot of the sound engineer pointing her mic at different spots to just listen…. felt really powerful.
Kattu! கத்து!
This again was a surreal one, but with more humour this time haha. The movie is in B&W, and I think it suits it well. It made it seem like an old folklore, together with the opening scene of the main characters going through the woods while the man sung a folk song. The narrative is pretty absurd, a male goat is pregnant. The story follows the humans trying to figure out what to do with the goat, especially because the goat is being raised to be a sacrifice in a ritual. This one didn’t really gripe me from the shots or compositions, at least not in the first viewing. That’s another that I realised while watching all these films, some of them probably needs multiple viewings for me to properly review and learn from them.