One of the highlights of Grimmfest for me is their shorts programmes. Shorts are often hard to come by as they don’t get a wide release, or get spoken about often yet they are some of the highest quality storytelling imaginable.

This years programme is stacked and I have been lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films showing on the Sunday morning. Here’s my spoiler free thoughts.

SHORTS PROGRAMME – TENSIONS (VARIOUS, 2024, 103 mins) 10.50am 6/10/24

EMBRACE (France 2.5 mins) NORTHWEST PREMIERE

A beautifully shot short with a surreal soundscape. It’s quick, take EVERYTHING in there’s more to this one than a lot of full length features give us. Look forward to seeing what Axel Zeltser brings us in the future.

Dir: Axel Zeltser 

Cast: Natte You, Grégoire Mazars

Mélanie walks past the same alley every day without noticing the strange metal bucket there.

DEAD OF NIGHT (UK, 2 mins) NORTHWEST PREMIERE

Can a film get under your skin in two minutes. With dread inducing lighting a surreal, anxiety pushing soundtrack and simple yet freakish creature design the answer is most definitely yes.

Dir: Mikel Iriarte

Cast: Eryn Tett

A young woman moves into a new house and is awoken to something going bump in the night.

PASCOPALYPSE (Netherlands 6.5 mins) WORLD PREMIERE

Mannequin on the Move! Wendy Ruijfrok is great as the young cleaner, giving a natural response to everything. Finally an answer to the age old question “What if the zombie apocalypse was plastic?”

Dir: Jasper ten Hoor, Ivan Hidayat

Cast: Wendy Ruijfrok

During an evening shift in an empty office building, a young cleaning lady experiences the fright of her life.

PARASOMNIA (Spain, 10 mins) WORLD PREMIERE

The tension ramps up beautifully in this, when the night falls the lighting is stunning and the sound adds to the other worldly feeling. A masterclass in how the seemingly workaday can create edge of your seat tension. The ending had me thinking, “people eh!”.

Dir: Daniel Noblom

Cast: Xavier Batista

As the traffic light turns green, a young man is paralyzed when he’s about to cross the street.

THE INFINITE BREAK ROOM (Germany, 5 mins) WORLD PREMIERE

Employee #294 From Accounting is my spirit animal. The production values of this short are phenomenal, beautifully shot giving a feeling of a worker in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

Dir: Sebastian Ganschow

Cast: Klara Pfieffer

An overworked office worker fights her way through the endless hallways of a surreal office building. 

IZZY (Netherlands, 5mins) UK PREMIERE

Social Anxiety – The Movie 😀 Loved this. Izzy’s wry smile tells it all.

Dir: Yfke van Berckelaer

Cast: Nahéma Ricci

Izzy is constantly stuck in the same cycle: mocked, dismissed, ignored, forgotten. But a touch of red glitter? Now that’s a game-changer! 

THE FEAST (Chile 8.5 mins) REGIONAL PREMIERE

A disturbing, surreal mix of jarring stop motion and live action. Really quite disturbing and sure to put you off your dinner. Took me back to the stop motion animations of the 80’s like Wind in the Willows and the Tufty road safety adverts but with a little more gore. Superb!

Dir: Simón Bucher, Claudia Saldivia, Amanda Rivera

Cast: Raimundo Bucher

In a dystopian world, a creature attends a feast hosted by a magical fridge. Thus begins his downfall in a spiral of unbridled food consumption. 

STRANGE CREATURES (USA, 6 mins) UK PREMIERE

Superbly paced, superbly shot, superbly acted, superbly spooky. This one could very well make you change your ringtone!

Dir: Nicolas Santos

Cast: Quinn Jackson, Sean-Michael Wilkinson

Desperate to see her brother again, a young woman visits the site of his death.

Grimmfest 2024 runs from October 3rd through October 6th.

Get your tickets HERE

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