Best of International Shorts 2023


International SHORTS Film Festival is a free festival. These films were shown in DC Public Library for free as public events. The films were judged by public and the festival jury. Congratulations to all official selections!

From Day To Day (Ireland)

DIRECTED BY: Stu Teehan

The creative intention of Ó Lá Go Lá (From Day to Day) is to make a film that resonates with positivity in the seemingly endless contradictory age of Covid. The film is an uplifting look at loneliness and conquering the demons.

From the initial meeting with the lead, Mick, he is gruff and grumpy. In casting Paddy C Courtney as Mick we have a strong actor with a characterful face playing our seemingly dour lead. In contrast Paddy’s face when he breaks into a smile also lights up the screen. That juxtaposition in expression is a huge factor in the turning point of the film, that sea change from troubled to elated will encompass the emotional heart of the story.

The story is a snapshot of a key time in recent history and it is imperative to do it justice, to realistically portray the monotony and loneliness of isolation, mirrored with the joy and freedom and laughter of when there is music and community

Game Interrupted (Turkey)

DIRECTED BY: Ilayda Iseri

1979, Turkey: While the mood on the streets of capital Ankara is charged with tension shortly before the military coup, a young sister and brother find their way out of boredom by switching from one game to another during their winter break. Their mother is at work all day and their grandmother is sleeping on the couch as usual. However, something goes wrong that day. While trying to figure out what happened, they notice a strange intruder at the door, who resembles Khomeini or Darth Vader. They must fix the course of events before their mother returns home.

No no salves (Mexico)

DIRECTED BY: Eduardo Gonzalez Aquino

A young man inhabiting a house submerged among the clouds in the sky seemingly leads a common and tranquil life; however, everything changes when an artificial intelligence invites him to join a mysterious network, ultimately dragging him down to solid ground, where a city and its inhabitants experience radical changes due to a violent technological wave that has done nothing but make people dependent on screens.

Our protagonist will have to undergo a psychological and spiritual introspection in this city seemingly governed by a strange artificial intelligence called "Gran Cámara".

BUBBLES (Italy)

Director: MERI DISHNICA 

A forty-year-old woman named SOL, floats in a long-distance relationship bubble. She starts the day waiting for the wake-up call to accurately perform her morning ritual, which seems to be a video call with her longtime boyfriend FRED. He is so far away that the sunrise at Sol's window marks the sunset at his'. They both look weary and on the verge of frustration as they wait to see each other for Christmas— so the story goes, for some bizarre reason, for the two of them to meet requires the crack of Fred’s bubble, which never occurs.


SINCOPAT (Spain)

DIRECTED BY: Pol Diggler

Ona, a creative executive of a large company, is about to launch the latest technological revolution into the market: a device that allows listening to music directly inside the brai

AT A GLANCE (Netherlands)

DIRECTED BY: Ruud Satijn

During his evening shift, pizza delivery guy Izem suspects domestic violence is taking place behind the doors of a wealthy customer. Do the police believe his warning?

At a Glance is about a quest for connection by people from various social backgrounds, who are challenged to shake off their prejudices. For Izem and his customers, this is not without risk.

TAKBIR (Spain)

DIRECTED BY: Jordi Calvet

After two ISIS attacks eerily resemble passages from his latest book, a TV writer finds himself under thin ice when he realizes that the new TV show he’s been approached to develop by a mysterious Turkish production company might be used as a blueprint for the terrorist group’s new attack.