REVIEWS
Post-film thoughts.
Lucy Lost: The Journey to Belonging
Lucy and Milly care for each other with an affection and understanding of the other’s struggles that can only make you invested in their bond from the very first scene they share.
We Are Aliens: Friendship and the Scars It Leaves
Who hasn’t stared at the ceiling for hours, late at night, replaying an embarrassing memory from middle school over and over again? We Are Aliens (2026) takes this feeling and pushes it to its limit, and, as someone who tends to get stuck in the past, I immediately felt like the film was made for me.
Tana: Music as Heritage
The film allows us to admire the Mongolian landscapes, rendered in all their majestic vastness. The steppes, mountains, and fields surrounding Tana become powerful presences which are more than beautiful backgrounds—places that resonate with the stories of her ancestors.
The Violinist: On War and The Sound of Music
Marking the first time that a Singaporean production not only won the award but took part in the Festival, The Violinist won the hearts of the Annecy jury through its blending of intense orchestration and a tense love story across the backdrop of the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
Iron Boy: A Charming Portrait of Childhood
Every step of the process reflects the director’s loyalty to his hometown. Voice recordings were done with non-professional actors—including Clichy’s son—in a farm in Beauce, location scouting was conducted in the same place, and one of the only songs used in the film was chosen in honor of his sisters. As a result, Iron Boy feels like an immersion into Clichy's childhood, comforting in the nostalgia it brings but also disarming in its complexity.
BAGGAGE: Airports, Anxieties, and Affirmative Friendships
The film’s charm lies in its ability to be incredibly poignant over the course of its very short 5-minute runtime. As a nod to human emotion, the film is an important reminder of the fact that we might all be heavy because of the things we carry inside us, but to those who truly care about us, these things will be just another part of us to embrace and love.
Como Si La Tierra Se Las Hubiera Tragado: Being a Woman
The short opens to Olivia sitting in a bus surrounded by the ambient sounds of traffic. The greyscale switches to a warm palette with a flashback of a memory from her childhood—her mom braiding her hair and telling her, “A pretty girl like you, they’ll eat you up.”
Beautiful Men: You Must Have Hair
Themes of healthy versus toxic masculinity, aging, emotional and physical insecurity, and how they all relate to one another percolate consistently in the back of this charming family dramedy, occasionally flowing into the foreground along with surprising but welcome elements of surrealism.
Au 8ème Jour: A Threaded World Undone
Agathe Sénéchal and Alicia Massez’s ‘Au 8ème Jour’ finds root in the symbolism of threads as mediums of connection and life, using a truly unique animation style that stitches this story together.
Wander to Wonder: Manifestations of Grief
Even with a short runtime, Wander to Wonder uncovers what layers of grief could look like.
The Bleacher: A Dark Display of Guilt
The Bleacher is a gruesome and upsetting display that while at first feels like senseless surrealism, presents a thought-provoking consideration of reactionary violence and guilt.
La Perra: Mother Knows Best?
La Perra is a captivating, clever, and erotic film that lets the audience come to their own conclusions, providing an open debate on womanhood and relationships.