Palm Springs International Shortfest 2024: A Top 20!

Palm Springs International Shortfest is a festival to keep on your radar if you are looking into the shorts races. Because it is so large, you never know what kind of film you are settling into, and for my first year of exploring what the festival has to offer, I went into as many films as blind as possible. This year, Palm Springs boasted over 300 films over its seven days, but I saw a slate of films full of diverse voices. As I was looking through my completed list, I noticed a lot of films that explore connection: whether it’s on a date, spouse, coworkers, or by looking inward.

I saw almost 90 films, and it was honestly difficult to pare it down to a top 20.

Honorable Mentions
I noticed that some of these films that almost made my list feature a certain degree of stress.

• Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy shows us how we never know what other members of our family truly want when it comes to family planning. A married couple works together as carnival workers surrounded by loud children and even louder colors and sounds. Their relatives continue to meddle and tease about why they haven’t had kids yet, and director Khozy Rizal effortlessly juggles a lot of emotions under the surface.
• Angel & Perla showcases how we still struggle with our inner demons and voices even if mental health is given more consideration. Paula thinks that breaking up with her boyfriend is inevitable, so she hatches a plan to get her therapist together with his therapist, and, somehow, that will fix all their problems without having the tough conversations themselves. There is a pulled-back manic energy of it all that allows the pathos of the fears come through.
• Make Me a Pizza bridged the gap between ’80s porn and television pizza ads that…no one asked for? It’s audacious, stupid, and magically gross all at the same time.
• Favourites is Sophie’s Choice meets Force Majeure as parents are forced with making an impossible decision after both of their children are bitten by a poisonous snake while on vacation. Would you know who to save? It’s direct and hilarious.
• Agonist impresses with how it packs so many horror elements into under twenty minutes. Tristan, a young man still reeling from the death of his mother, attends a retreat with his girlfriend, but he thinks it resembles too much like a cult. Throw in some ayahuasca, dark lighting, and a creepy house, and you have the recipe for a bloody sinister time.
• Apt Mgr is probably one of the creepiest docs I have ever seen. Ian MacInnes details his troubles with an inappropriate landlord after he professes his love to Ian through correspondence. We hear his growing agitation as the filmmaker doesn’t reciprocate, but he keeps the camera trained on seeing the landlord through cracked curtains and windows from a considerable distance.

20. Bibi’s Dog Is Dead
Going through the loss of a pet is one of the most troubling things anyone can experience. Couple that with residual heartbreak from a breakup, and you get this over-the-top comedy from Shervin Kermani.

When Bibi’s bulldog, Chopper, passes, she cancels her birthday party before realizing that she’s totally alone. The only person who would know exactly what she is going through is her ex, Adam, who spends most of his days finding peace and meditating. Bibi doesn’t seem like she is the type who meditates as she intensely goes through the stages of grief while trying to get Adam to answer any of her voicemails. Kermani shoves the camera in Bryn McAuley’s face without abandon and we see every…single…ounce…of dramatic, hilarious emotion. McAuley and Ilana Glazer need to play sisters immediately.

19. Wrong Bathroom
There has been a lot of news coverage of transgender individuals using public restrooms, but it takes a different turn in Ragini Bhasin’s film.

In this short, no one questions whether Benny Zielke’s Gabe should be in the restroom, but he hears a conversation between two self-proclaimed alphas, played by Ta’Imua and Nate Britton, that is troubling for different reasons. Gabe first overhears the two jocks talking about girls as he hides away in a stall, but once he is discovered, he is unwillingly brought into their conversation. Bhasin uses the space wisely and Ziekle’s performance strikes the right balance of wanting to fit in and wanting to stand up for himself.

18. Two Women Make a Lunch Plan
You know that feeling when you run into someone and you know you aren’t going to make real plans with them? We go through the motions of telling each other that “we really should do this!” or “it really has been so long, hasn’t it?” but everyone knows that the plans will never come to fruition. Why do we do that? After Two Women Make a Lunch Plan, I might be compelled to be more honest. That going-through-the-motions feeling takes a comedically dark turn in this swift, pointed film Elizabeth Archer.

17. Great Canyon
Social media has truly enhanced our level of anxiety, hasn’t it? Ella May Sahlman’s sweet comedy shows how we are our own worst enemies when it comes to our own perceptions as we dip our ties in the dating pool.

Mike and Zane (Mike Leibenson and Johnny Sibilly) are enjoying each other’s company at their first date at a casual, stylish diner. The banter is solid, and they take turns drawing blind portraits of each other. When Zane gets up to use the restroom after Mike makes a cute gaffe on what the Grand Canyon is called, Mike spirals when he’s alone at the table. Is Zane going to crawl out the window? Did he lose all attraction to him for saying the wrong thing? Even the portraits on the tables weigh in.

The voices in our heads can overwhelm us (Sahlman’s film would be a great companion piece for Muy Gay Too Mexicano), but we never know what the other person is thinking. Why stress ourselves?

16. Sadness
I imagine that a lot of people will respond to Henry Jinings’ film for how it approaches a connection between two strangers as they talk over the phone line on a radio show in the late ’60s. We can recognize the pain in others even if we don’t know their names or their circumstances.

A woman calls into a radio show to tell its host that she has taken sleeping pills. He tries to keep his composure as he attempts to keep her on the line, but she refuses to open herself up as to not give her identity away. Is this a prank? Kentucker Audley’s host even acknowledges that they have received similar calls before, but this one noticeably shakes him.

Jinings’ film is simple in concept but powerful and thoughtful in its execution.

15. Deep Tish
A lot of us have anxieties about getting a massage from a new place. but even the most frequent massage client would think the events in Deep Tish are…odd.

Zack Fox’s A.J. seems nervous when he steps into the new massage parlor for the first time, and his therapist, played by Corey Podell, isn’t shy about making sure he knows that she’s in charge. She chats endlessly, scolds him not taking his shoes off her in space, and there is a lot of eye imagery everywhere. As A.J. tries to settle in on the table something so silly and peculiar happens that it’s worth not spoiling here.

Dave Paige’s film percolates with an off-kilter energy, and you don’t know if you should be concerned of if your giggles are justified. Maybe both? It’s about how we accept the strange and odd and let them fold into our every day lives.

14. Loser
“My sister said whoever had a good time in high school grows up to be a loser,” is a line spoken early on in Colleen McGuinness’ thoughtful film about not knowing where to go as you feel like you are lagging behind.

Angourie Rice’s Alice is stuck. She’s working at a fro-yo joint after her mom’s death, and she spends a lot of time considering the tiny details of the people who waft in an out of her life. Why does the redhead regular only order vanilla yogurt with gummi bears? Why does her coworker, Arthur, never wash his dirty bracelet? When you are in high school and it feels like the outside world is full of possibilities, why do we not capitalize on those chances? What’s stopping Alice?

McGuinness’ film has an underlying acknowledgement of relatable adult fears, and you will not see that ending coming.

13. Jane Austen’s Period Drama
Full disclosure, I have watched this comedy a few times since I caught it as part of my coverage from Tribeca. If you vibe with literature or you still swoon over Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy, you will love this pointed, smart take on how some men (…a lot of men…) refuse to learn about how a woman’s body works.

Julia Aks (who co-wrote and co-directed this film with Steve Pinder) stars as Estrogenia, a woman elated to discover that her beloved Mr. Dickley (welcome back, Ta’Imua!) drops to one knee to propose. Well, he is about to until he notices the blood on the front of her dress and assumes that she’s been injured.

It’s clever without shaming anyone and briskly directed. Listen up, gents–we all have a lot to learn!

12. Tea
Putting yourself out there is never easy. Telling someone that you like them or want to spend more time with them can feel like the end of the world. What if they don’t reciprocate? What if they laugh in your face? For some of us, rehearsal is the way to go to help with our confidence. In Blake Rice’s Tea, however, no amount of preparation will help one guy hoping for love.

Michael Gandolfini plays a young man who practices what he is going to say by recording himself on camera. He is taking into consideration his phrasing and his tone, and he seems like a nice guy. What he doesn’t expect, though, is a hornet to sting him right as the girl of his dreams catches his eye, and the welt begins to swell as his eyes water and puff up. It doesn’t matter how much you practice your speech when your throat begins to clog up…

Rice’s film taps into something universal and true when it comes to telling someone you like them. There is a quality of innocence present right before the real world kicks in.

11. Auganic
There is something beautifully absurd at the center of Krit Komkrichwarakool’s fable about money, love, sex, and marriage. He tows the line between romance and comedy so gently that you forget which tone you find yourself in as we watch a married couple examine one of the biggest moments of their lives.

Nick and Kai are considering selling their farm when an intimate moment reveals something extraordinary–Kai ejaculates pure gold. At first, he is worried and consults a doctor (because, hello…), but he is told that he is perfectly healthy. It’s one of those things when you see a movie and you let science and sense go and you accept something magical. But what do Nick and Kai do now? The possibility of what they could use the gold for doesn’t lead to celebration as much as it opens up cracks in their marriage.

Komkrichwarakool threads his film with a tender needle and the performances from Kenny Brain and Matt Dejanovic are solid and handled with care–their chemistry is palpable.

10. First Night
A lot of Americans will never known the courage and willpower an immigrant faces when it comes to folding themselves into society. Haneol (John) Lee’s film is honest and deeply felt.

A tired Korean father is trying to feed his wife and their young son before they turn in for the night. Not a lot of places are open, and he walks into a sandwich shop hoping to find some soup at his wife’s request. The young man behind the counter doesn’t know how to communicate with him, and, thankfully, he avoids being cruel. The father repeatedly becomes frustrated and returns to the car several times, but that won’t change what he needs to do for his family. Chris S. Ahn’s eyes convey so much emotion even in the interactions where he doesn’t say anything.

In a world obsessed with how we say things to one another, First Night centers on how we overcomes the barriers to not just get the things we want, but the things we need.

9. Lemon Tree
If your father stole a magician’s rabbit, would you know, as a child, how that might signal trouble?

In Rachel Walden’s wily film, a young boy doesn’t have the words to talk to his father as they bounce around from one seemingly acceptable location to the other: carnivals, diners, etc. It’s obvious that something is going on at home, but the father uses these excursions, too, as a means to get away from the real world. This young boy finds friendship and solace in a rabbit that his father snatches from an aggressive carnival worker, but other instances raise a flag for this young boy.

Lemon Tree is filmed at times with a grainy authenticity like a home movie you are not sure you want to be reminded of. There are moments of unexpected glee but a creeping sadness permeates through.

8. Fishbowl
After we turn a certain age, some of us hold onto remaining young to keep our hooks in the prospects that everyone thought they had for us. After watching Isabel Perry and Adam Yates’ film, I found my old yearbooks to see if I could remember from tenuous bonds I had with people I went to school with.

“RuPaul” flipped a house here in the mid-aughts,” Jamie is told as he is given a tour of the Hamptons house he will be watching for the weekend. It turns out that Jamie’s ex is getting married in Puerto Vallerta, so some peace and quiet is what he expects until Eleanor shows up. Since they went to school together, they know enough about one another for it to be tolerable to be near each other, but they view the weekend as an escape for both of them. Why bore themselves in solitude when they can take some gummies and head to the beach? They can be each other’s unexpected sounding boards.

If Daniel Liu and Allie Levitan want to do buddy comedies for the rest of their lives, I would be seated. It’s sunny and loose but has just the right amount of melancholy.

7. ILY, BYE
I know that this isn’t Meg Stalter’s character from Max’s Hacks, but she has honed in on lovable loose canons who are desperate to prove themselves.

Here she plays Siobhan, a down-on-her-luck girl who can’t seem to get out of her own way. When a dear friend offers to introduce her to his boss, Siobhan is grateful before she leaves the most inappropriate introductory voicemail and ends it with, “I love you, bye!” She storms into the office, desperate to erase the message so she doesn’t lose the prospects of losing her unemployment status.

When Siobhan goes into defensive mode, it’s almost as if Stalter gives her another personality or like she’s going into a trance. The higher tones of her voice remind you how approachable and lovable she is even if the most aggressive phrases are being hurled from her mouth. What could’ve felt like sitcom tropes is elevated by a game cast and quick direction.

6. Bogotá Story
It’s easy to see how Esteban Pedraza’s film walked away from Shortfest with the Best in Show prize. This is personal, emotional filmmaking at its best about a family torn between two countries and one huge, almost impossible decision.

Set in 1992 in Bogotá, Columbia, a young mother, Pilar, receives word that she has been accepted for an internship in New York City, and the news comes as a surprise to her husband, Alejandro. With only a few days to respond, the couple clash over whether Pilar can keep up with the other people accepted into the program, and Alejandro accuses his wife of abandoning their family. They fight bitterly in the way that people do whenever something they really want is just out of reach and they fear of losing it. He never imagined being a single father, and she is desperate to make a name for herself in a time when men rule everything.

Even with drug violence right outside their door, the volatility inside their home is unexpected and just as dangerous. This is a shot to keep your eye on.

5. After Dark
Would you help a stranger if they seemed like they were in trouble? Would you instinctively be wary if someone wanted to use your phone or ask you to escort them somewhere?

On a dark, snowy evening, Kristian is approached on the busy street by a young woman, Mia, who is visibly upset. She speaks urgently but vaguely and says, “I’m just really scared that he might come” as she looks over her shoulder. Kristian cannot see anyone coming, but he ushers her down the street and agrees to escort her through the park before she makes her way to the train station. He begins to question her story when Mia needs to stop in a convenience store to charge her phone, and her mother is too drunk to come pick her up. Is Mia telling the truth or do we throw up our defenses too easily?

By using the chilly setting to its advantage, After Dark thrusts a moral question onto us. Would the cold get the better of you?

4. Complications
A cam session takes an unbelievably dark turn when a young dominatrix, Lotte, witnesses a recurring client have a heart attack through the Zoom window. Their relationship has been, up to this point, purely transactional, and the pair have never met in person before. It’s another instance that shows how our expectations can be thrown for a loop, and I imagine that Lotte surprises herself with how she reacts.

After Lotte locates her client for the paramedics, the chat window stays open. It’s a brief moment to consider, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how this young woman can see a little further into this man’s life. They have been intimate with each other, but she has never touched him or shouted in his face in person.

The camera is tight on these characters’ faces that echoes that they normally see each other, and Complications is one of the best of Palm Springs for how it surprises us with feelings that we might not realize we have in the first place.

3. Speed Queen 51
Are we more comfortable around those we don’t know? Would you tell a stranger one of your most dangerous secrets because you might never see someone again?

Sarah Nocquet’s thriller starts with what could be mistaken for a meet-cute. Alone in a laundromat, Cory and June (Rory Culkin and Ella Purnell) decide to reveal truths about themselves because they know that this night will never happen again. The dryers tumble clothes, and I could smell the fabric softener. So many films have scenes set in these public spaces, and, normally, characters keep to themselves. They view doing their laundry in public as a nuisance or a pit stop as part of their day. It’s curious how much connection Culkin and Purnell have as their conversation turns more serious.

Nocquet uses her space well. June is organizing her clothes in a suitcase on the floor and he crouches down to meet her on that physical level. There is something purposeful in how he moves. Do we search for people to reveal our truths? Once we hear those truths, do we take ownership of the lives they take on?

2. Azi
Tensions unexpectedly run high between adults and teens in Montana Mann’s alluring drama.

Azi accompanies her friend Morgan on a trip to the lake with Morgan’s father, and his new girlfriend, Elizabeth. Maybe Morgan needs an ally for moral support since this trip was something that they did when her mother was around, and Elizabeth seems to be adjusted to the new space as well. After a dip in the lake, Azi asks Elizabeth to hand her her towel, but Elizabeth teases her and doesn’t give it to her. It’s a difficult interaction to read. As Elizabeth is making herself more comfortable, she swings for the fences but she falls flat on her face. She later apologizes but Azi then turns the tables on her later but hiding something that belongs to her.

Both women are on foreign turf, but the energy between is abuzz with something indescribable. You will want to study how they stare at one another, and it begs the question if every interaction is a negotiation. Are these battles playful or are they charged with something more serious and respectful. Azi will linger with you long after it ends for how it doesn’t provide you clear or easy answers. You might even take sides.

1. Oyu
Sometimes there are films that spell everything out for your or they reach through to show you the mechanics of the plots or relationships between the characters. Atsushi Hirai’s Oyu is reflective and meditative, and it just might make you reach for some relaxation of your own.

On the last day before the Japanese New Year, a man visits a spa to retrieve some lost items when he discovers one remaining, valid ticket. Is it a sign that he should take some time for himself? He seizes the chance, and amongst the rising steam and the bubbles of the jacuzzi, he listens to conversations and observes the other men around him.

What could be seen as too simple is sharp and incisive. This spa contains the entire world, and we must take the opportunity to embrace them whenever we can. The New Year must be entered with a clean slate and new eyes.

Palms Springs International Shortfest will return in the summer of 2025!