Spoilers want to go to space but they’ll wait for the 2.0 version.

I have a soft spot for Fantasia’s well known anthology of short films known as the International Science-Fiction Short Film Showcase. The 2024 version didn’t fall short, pardon the pun, bringing us larger than life features from Colombia, Sweden, Canada, the US, Spain, Poland and Australia.

  • ZZZ by Felipe Vargas. A lonely widow is willing use the underground services of a sleep dealer to relive past. Full of nostalgia and bittersweet moments, this one was heartwarming to watch.
  • HEADACHE by Björn Schagerström. In a dystopian future where employees live prisoners of pharmaceutical corporation a man is demoted from producing pills to consuming them. It’s well executed, but the concept has been overdone so much that it doesn’t feel new.
  • A LITTLE LONGER by Connor Kujawinski. A device allows a dying man to relive his most cherished moments, but limited by what he can afford before his passing. Short but sweet.
  • THE MOVE by Eric Kissack. A couple moves in together, finding the new place seems to have come with the ability to portal them. This exposes one of them as a carefree spirit while the other one is repressed by anxiety. The comedic aspect of their dynamic was a breath of fresh air, so I enjoyed it very much.
  • SINCOPAT by Pol Diggler. New technology becomes so intrusive that it can play music directly into our brains, but what happens when it malfunctions? This one’s very on the nose and rather poignant about how close should we allow technology into our lives – and our heads. Extremely recommended.
  • KATELE by John Harvey. A Torres Strait Islander runs a boring laundromat in urban Australia. One day, the world she left behind is offered back to her when a visitor shows up through a portal inside a laundry machine. It’s nice and charming, but it’s the old story of tradition over progress without reconciling the two.
  • ESCAPE ATTEMPT by Daniel Shapiro and Alex Topaller. This one is a visual triumph, with amazing production and special effects, telling a story about a man wishing to escape the ugliest facets of humanity and running straight into them once again. However, the dialog was very hard to understand at times. Either some lines were garbled or the volume of the voices was too low compared to the environment.

This one remains one of the best short film selection at Fantasia and it’s one that I rarely miss. Another great selection for this year.

That will do for now.