Reach

World premiere

At the crossroads of intimacy, trails of invisible energy imprint as two wanderers maneuver throughout the landscape, leaving hints of mirrored action yet inverted perspective. Through the shifting shape, current, and conduit of water, Reach follows the journey of two people in search of the other.

directors: Luke Webster Brown & Emily J Mundy, poet: Emily J Mundy, United States, 2026, 6 min, in English with hardcoded English text

Marinating (Marineren)

US premiere

A loving resistance against the fear of the influence we can have on one another. A surrender to the other. A reminder of our interdependence.

directors: Helmie Stil & Sjaan Flikweert, poet: Sjaan Flikweert, Netherlands, 2025, 4 min, in Dutch with English subtitles

Under the Overpass

A colony of cliff swallows oscillates between their nest along the I-5 freeway and the San Dieguito River. The border between the concrete and the estuary becomes blurred between a poem and a scientific research paper.​​​​​​​

director: James DeLisio, poet: Debra Nystrom, United States, 2024, 7 min, non-verbal with hardcoded English text

Pictures of a negative chair

An account of a scientist trying to teach machines how to infer depth from two-dimensional pictures. A parable of a prince trying to resurrect his lover by fashioning a chair out of his lover’s things. A question about the need for human beings, and the things they are in need of.

Magdalena Bermudez, United States, 2025, 9 min, in English

Aloes

Within the living matter of the garden, among the leaves and thorns, prayer-poems emerge. Garden maintenance becomes an ethical dilemma; pruning becomes a question of fragile ecosystems and the site’s memory—where community, cleanliness, and beautification confront vegetal time and its reverberations.

celine reymond, Chile, 2025, 14 min, in Spanish with English subtitles

on the road (onderweg)

A short paper cut-out animation that explores the process of growing up, change, and (in)dependence. Through quiet moments and familiar roads, the film captures the transition from childhood to finding one’s own way.

Melody Sigmond, Netherlands, 2025, 3 min, in Dutch with English subtitles

You Do Not Exist

In the stillness of his yard, Booker watches the sky fill and empty with passing planes. As the world moves around him, he lingers, circling a memory whose edges blur with time.

Dwayne LeBlanc, United States, 2026, 8 min, in English

WE’VE WORKED SO MUCH (ABBIAMO LAVORATO TANTO)

Through a visual poem of words, dance, and matters, the colossal forms of cement mixers in a deserted factory become transformative spaces. The notion of labor and motherhood is redefined through these looming metallic bodies of resonance—concrete mixers treated as reproductive organs, sites of a life’s work.

directors: Teodora Grano, Bruno Leggieri, poet: Teodora Grano, Italy, 2025, 10 min, non-verbal with hardcoded English text

That’s My Heart Right There

World premiere

Poet Willie Perdomo performs his iconic poem “That’s My Heart Right There” against the backdrop of New York City’s East River.

director: Jake Alexander McAfee, poet: Willie Perdomo, United States, 2024, 1 min, in English

I remember (Recuerdo)

A docufiction with magical realism undertones that takes us on a trip through Central America’s intense history as a crew of young hispanic filmmakers meet with a wise old man who is trapped in time.

Orian Dorais, Canada, 2024, 8 min, in Spanish with English subtitles

HAPPY DAY

World premiere

Life may have no meaning, but does that mean a life without meaning isn’t worth celebrating? HAPPY DAY is a film about knowing meaninglessness yet choosing to celebrate it. Through the lens of celebration culture—with cakes and festive decorations as protagonists—the film contemplates existence while documenting growth, loss, and possession.

Boru Zheng, China, 2025, 5 min, in Chinese & English with Chinese & English subtitles

GENESIS

World premiere

In the secluded mountains of the Shōwa era, a young girl accidentally creates a man by mixing discarded everyday objects with fragments of abstract memories.

XU JINGXUAN, France, 2025, 5 min, non-verbal with English intertitles