Spoilers will stay silent and listen in.

This is one of Fantasia’s best anthologies. This curated selection of genre films by female filmmakers tackles gendered violence, childhood trauma, modern dating, social taboos, folklore horror, ghost stories and more from a fresh perspective. If you haven’t discovered these gems you’re really missing out. Definitely something to check out and the selection couldn’t have been better this year.

Although the entire selection deserves a recommendation, I’ve highlighted a few that felt like must see short features.

  • LILY’S MIRROR: Linnea Frye, Adam Pinney. The ridiculous is used to underline the reality of gendered violence.
  • EVERYBODY GOES TO THE HOSPITAL: Tiffany Kimmel. Animation is used to depict childhood trauma.
  • WILD CARD: Tipper Newton. 80’s style black comedy thriller about a couple matched via a video dating service.
  • PUNCH DRUNK: Emily Lerer. A female bartender goes back to work after pre-cancerous surgery, but her trauma is far from over.
  • STAINED SKIN: Adam Graf, Mandy Peterat. In a future time, two factory workers that must work for life envision a future depicted via animation.
  • THE ANTEROOM: Elisa Puerto Aubel. Prepared to risk everything, a refugee mother with a baby must cross a border to escape certain death by convincing an AI to let them through. Recommended.
  • DAUGHTERS OF WITCHES: Faride Schroeder. Following a female folklore tradition in a close knit Mexican family, a woman (Yalitza Aparicio) must present her newborn baby in a magic ritual. Recommended.
  • DON’T GO WHERE I CAN’T FIND YOU: Ni Ghrioghair Rioghnach. A composer finds she can create a musical piece that could bring her in contact with her deceased lover, but she’s in love with the woman that must play the critical notes. Recommended.
  • KIN: Sarah Gross. In this gothic horror story set in the west, the older sister must reveal to the young one the macabre sacrifice that must be performed every month to assure their bloodline’s survival. Recommended.

That will do for now.