Fil-Am (2026) Santa Barbara Film Festival

A 16 year old young man is told that his mother and her new husband are going to be moving them from Milpatas to Santa Barbara, and despite the fact that its tough place, he doesn't want to go.

The best thing I can say about this film is that this needs to be a feature. There are so many threads running through the film, from being Filipino, to being a child of divorce, to having a new dad who is of another race and on and on. It needs to be expanded because what here is so good and so on target that I want to see more.

This film rocks. That the film hits as hard as it does is the performances. The cast sell the story perfectly and make us more than willing to go along for the ride.

Recommended.

Brief thoughts on Dear Lara (2026) Santa Barbara 2026

DEAR LARA is the story of classical musician Lara St. John who in 2019 revealed that she was sexually abused by some people in the classical music community. This opened the floodgates and she began to get letters from people who also suffered abuse during their journey through the classical world.

This is a really good film. Its a film that will open your eyes about the darker side od something that has always been viewed as being above board. Its a film that reveals the damage done by some evil people to people who trusted them,

At the same time the film  is portrait of St. John who survived and managed to overcome her demons.

Recommended.

Magnificent Puppets: The films of De Swaef and James Roels at Animation First

Animation First is going to be screening two of the films of Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels in connection with their appearance at the festival.  

THIS MAGNIFICENT CAKE

Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels have made a film that is going to delight and confound you (that last one in both positive and negative ways). If you are like me and want a film that does more than wash over you then you must make an effort to see this film when it plays at Animation First.

Set in Belgium and Africa in 1885 when the Belgian king was doing horrible things to the African populations he had enslaved, the film tells a number of stories that are all connected and all of which do not do anything remotely expected.

The film begins with the Belgian king, shifts to the story of a young African boy who must stand in the hall way with an ashtray on his head, to the story of the son of a pastry maker who took the family fortune and went to Africa, and it keeps going as characters from earlier appear in un expected places. I was flabbergasted at the audacity of it all.

The visuals of the film are stunning. The film looks only like the work of De Swaef and Roels. You will wonder how they animated it all.

The story is a mix of wonderful, WTF and head scratching. There is a very sardonic tone to it all. There is a bleak black nature to some of the turns. There are also some incredible belly laughs that come from turns that are out of left field. The issue with the story is that the central narrative thread is very obtuse. While the film is told in parts that connect, some of the connections are a bit too loose and seem to be there only to drive what is ultimately a shaggy dog story forward.  I was amused about much of it, but some it landed like a sack of cement.

That said there is no film out there that even approaches this level of creative vision. It may not always work but what does shines.  Definitely worth a look.

OH WILLY....
As with many of DeSwaef and Roels reality is bent and things are not as we expect. The film has a man named Willie return home to his parents after a medical incident. It should be noted that the parents live in a nudist colony. This is another weird headscratcher film that like their other films forces you to do more than just take everything at face value. Something is going on- though to be honest I have no idea what that is. If you want a film unlike anything else out there give this film a shot.

The Songbird's Secret (2025) Animation First 2026

This is a sweet little film, perfect for families and non-families about Lucie a young girl who goes on vacation to spend time with her mom who is leading an archeological dig where her family once lived. Having dreams of various events, Lucie begins to investigate her family’s past, as well as making friends with the people working with her mom and the various animals living in the area.

This is the right sort of family film. Not as saccharine or preprocessed as most Hollywood film, this tells us a tactile story about a young girl and her life.

Told with cloth cut out puppets the film looks unlike most films that play here in America, this film instantly creates its own world and own vibe from the first frame. Even if we’ve seen similar films we lean into the story because the world is so unlike anything we are used to seeing. I love the look which is so warm and inviting.

THE SONGBIRD'S SECRET is an absolute delight and highly recommended for anyone wanting to see a good film

Brief thoughts on Strawberries, Snails and Slugs: the Films of Sylwia Szkiłądź Saturday at Animation First

Just a few quick words on the films of Sylwia Szkiłądź.

Szkiłądź’s work is lovely.  The films are delights for the eye and often full of whimsy that delights the adults as well. When you see a film like STRAWBERRY SOUP you instantly think of the child like images and notions. However, there is a much heavier undercurrent as to what is going on.  This isn’t just a film about enjoying soup but about memory and how we view the past. These are notions that the kids who see the film won’t get but that the parents will.

But I’m over selling the films, all of the films are delights and will make you smile.

Go see them.

The Magician of Ostend: The films of Raoul Servais at Animation First on Saturday

 

Watching all of the films in the tribute collection to Raoul Servais one becomes overwhelmed. It’s not just the quality of his work but also by the realization that his work and style were lifted by non-Disney filmmakers across the globe. Granted some of the image’s echo what was done by the Disney artists in Fantasia 2000, but the truth is that filmmakers like the Hubley’s, Ralph Bakshi, ----, and others. You also have to realize that his work was influenced by and an influenced on other European animators who all operated in a society where animation was not just for kids.

Servais’ work is not really for kids. There is more serious edge to it. Yes there are cute characters and plots, say in CHromaphobia which is about people who hate color, but there is a more serious edge about control and division of humanity which comes as a warning some 20 years after the Axis Powers tried to refashion the world in their image. These films hit harder for thinking adults.

Watching the films in the collection I felt like I was dropped into another time and place. While Servais had a great influence on cinema as we know it (both live action and animation) his filkms are also of the time they were made and seeing them in succession you can feel that time leaking in to the theater from the edges of the frame.

This collection is glorious. Its one that must be seen by those who love art and animation and cinema because it will force you to make connections and readjust your notions about the visual arts.

Buy a ticket and go.

Tales From The Magic Garden (2025) Animation First 2026

After their grandmother dies, three kids spend some time with their grandfather. The pass the time as their grandmother did by "pulling" things out of her hat and making up stories. 

This film may look like a family film, but there is a reason this film is running in the evening at Animation First and that is this is an often dark film that isn't for young kids. I mention this up front since after a wonderfully joyous opening the film turns dark as grandma dies, and the stories the kids tell have parents getting run over by a truck, dead loved one and melancholy over tones. It's not bad, but if you want light children's fare this film isn't for you.

Darkish subject matter aside this is a lovely movie. Containing a series of atypical stories TALES is not your typical animated film. We have not been here before even if the film has magical cats, monsters and a loving family. I enjoyed that I didn't know how the tales were going to play out a great deal.

Beautifully animated there are several shots I would love to have hanging on my walls.

Definitely one to bring the older kids to TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN is a delight.

Girl Who Cried Pearls (2025) plays Animation First 2026 on Sunday as part of Animating the Surreal

 

The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a lovely but incredibly bittersweet film. It’s another winner from the National Film Board of Canada that has been Oscar shortlisted.

The film is a memory tale of a grandfather telling the story to his granddaughter of the young girl who lived next door to him. She was abused by her evil stepmother and cry herself to sleep. When she cried, she cried pears which she put into a hole in the wall.

This is a beautifully animated film that is full of melancholy. The lives portrayed are not happy ones. While we know that some of the characters will be okay, there is no guarantee for others. It’s a film that is very much like life or the original dark versions of Grimm’s fairy tales.

That this gem of a film is coming from Canada isn’t surprising. The film board is responsible for some of the best animated shorts of the past five or six decades. They don’t aim for happy, but films that are good and enlightening. Unlike Hollywood, bittersweet doesn’t bother them.

While I don’t think the film will win the Oscar, I’m guessing Snow Bear will probably do so because it looks like Disney, I adore the fact that Oscar got it right and has this marvel in the mix.

Recommended.

The film will also be playing at the New York International Children's Film Festival in March in Shorts Collection 3

President's Cake (2025) opens tomorrow

Set during the reign of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, this is the story of Lamia, a young girl from a poor family, who is told by her teacher that she must make a cake for the President's birthday or there will be dire consequences. She then is forced to go out to get the ingredients she needs.

This film is on the Oscar Short List this year for Best International Feature. It is a film that has been recommended to me by several friends... and now having seen it it is a film I will need to see again away from the Oscars and the word of mouth. I want to revisit because I need to get the distance from the hype and discussion that made me jump into the film too quickly.

I should say straight up that this is a very good film. I like it, hence the desire to revisit, but I didn't find the greatness that some did, and as a result I am dealing with the collision between the words of people I respect and the the film I saw on the screen.

My issues with the film come from two places:

The first is that while the film is very much about the trials of the young girl at the center, the film isn't about Lamia, the girl at the at the center. What I mean by this is that the quest to get the things to make the cake is simply the reason for writer director Hasan Hadi to explore society, particularly the one that existed under Saddam. The trip is designed to bring the girl into places where things can happen that will be reflected in the story. Why do the things happen? Because the director is trying to tell a larger tale.

While this is an issue it could have been solved had there not been a second problem. The second problem is that the Lamia, played by Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, is little more than just a place holder for the audience.  Yes, Nayyef is good, but the script doesn't give her enough to work with to stand out. Yes she is often the focus of events and is at the center of the screen, but there isn't enough to the character for her to be a fully formed person. I apologize for making this point but right around the time I was making my best of 2025 lists I had a couple of conversations about the difficulty of having a central character who is the "main" one but who isn't. What I mean by that is the central character who exists just to move the story or audience to a place where the events can transpire that the director wants to highlight. You have to create a character that stands out from the rest or alternately have an actor who can hold the center.  I don't think there is enough of a character here for that to happen.

While I don't hate THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE I definitely will need to revist.

Heart of Darkness (2025) plays Saturday Night at Animation First 2026

In a Brazil of the near future, where everyone is corrupt and drug gangs battle the police and military for control,  a “boy scout” of a lieutenant is set upriver to find a rogue officer named Kurtz who seems to have set up a cult of personality that is causing everyone problems.

This version of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is one of the best films I’ve seen over the last few years. A staggering piece of filmmaking it is possibly as good a telling of the tale as we have gotten so far (and yes that means this may be better than Apocalypse Now). Neat and compact, it is direct and to the point. The images perfectly set the mood and express all the emotion the that we don’t get from the minimal dialog.  We are in this other place and other time. We are traveling with these characters upriver.

Those who only know Conrad’s story from Coppola’s film and are looking for something similar are going to be disappointed. They will see a few echoes, but most of the cinematic set pieces we think of with that film are inventions for that film.  While it has been years since I read the original novella, this is the first time that I felt I was seeing something close to what Conrad had imagined, with the result that the film better echoes the world be life in.  In setting the film in a city not far from today director Rogerio Nunes has made a film that brings the actual heart of darkness closer to us and not in a jungle far away or in a country at war.

I was staggered by this film from the first few moments. Rarely has any film grabbed me by throat and forced me to go along.  This is particularly true of a film based on a classic novella and which has inspired various retellings. Rogerio Nunes‘s Heart of Darkness is such that made me reconsider every version of the tale all over again.

And this is not just for fans of animation. This is an adult tale that isn’t for kids. The use of animation is simply because this film could not have been made live action and had this effect. I say that because the manipulation of image and sound create a real world that fully connects to out psyches and make the tale something greater

One of the best films I’ve seen in 2026- this is a must see.

Scarlet (2025) opens Friday

SCARLET is Mamoru Hosoda’s riff on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. While it is a starting point with echoes, it takes it into its own universe.

The film is the story of princess Scarlet (Hamlet) whose father is killed by her uncle.  Before she can kill him she is poisoned and sent to a kind of purgatory world that she has to cross to get to the infinite land. However, her uncle has also died, and he is entrenched in a castle guarding the path to the infinite land.

Visually arresting, SCARLET is a film you will want to see on a big screen. Images, such as the giant godlike dragon who floats over the world will blow your mind. This film as some of the most incredible images you will see all year.

Narratively the film is all over the place. Some sections work to the point that you will be reduced to tears, and others are simply intellectually interesting. Characters are unevenly drawn, with some of the uncle’s henchmen seemingly to be little more than a sketch despite having important roles. The rules of the after life also seem thrown together (the timeless nature for example)  for no really good reason except it allows certain things to happen. While never fatal, the film simply isn’t as narratively strong as any of Hosoda’s other films, despite having moments that are among the best things he’s ever done, which means they are high points in cinema history.

While Scarlet is imperfect, it is still a deeply moving film. While a doubt it might get an Oscar I do think it is a must see. This is a film that is going to influence a generation of filmmakers and story tellers.

Luc Besson's Dracula(2025) (aka Dracula A Love Tale) open's Friday

I do not believe in god - Jonathan Harker
Then pray god believes in you -Coachman

Man lives and breathes in his name - why would he want us to kill his creation? Man kills in his own name. Christoph Waltz's unnamed priest

When you see Luc Besson’s retelling of Dracula know a couple of things going in. First it isn’t a horror film. Besson is on record as saying he hates horror films and he turned it into a love story (with blood).  There are no scares in the film, through there are some really cool moments that will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Secondly know that the film, while very serious, is often very funny Christoph Waltz as a priest who acts as a kind of Van Helsing stand in, is often funny. His humor is a way of dealing with the darkness. We learn this because when things turn dark, he turns deeply philosophical in a way that lets us know that he knows there is a cost to everything. Lastly know that in one of the rare times on a decades long career Besson borrows some riffs. Yes, he riffs on Coppola’s version and there are references to a few other films, and it’s okay because he does something unique with each thing he borrows.

If you can take the film on it’s own terms, I think that you will ultimately find it to be a masterpiece. Granted it is flawed in a couple of ways, but it is also a masterpiece in the truest sense. That really is a hill I will die on. I honestly think that down the road, once people can see it or resee it for what it is, that the film will find its audience and its place in the cinema canon of vampire films.

The film is the story of Dracula from his perspective. It is the story of his romance with his wife and her death in the aftermath of war.  He renounces god and is cursed with the inability to die. He then travels the world looking for the reincarnation of his love. It all spirals down to a version of the story we know. Not all the characters we know are there and somethings are changed. This doesn’t flow as we expect because Besson has altered the POV and as such changed the ground rules. Yes, he is a vampire, and yes there are other vampire agents- but they are working for him to find his love across the globe.

I was absolutely floored. Pretty much until the final third of the film this film is near perfect. I didn’t mind the riffs (in addition to Coppola’s films there are references to THE DEVILS, PERFUME, among others) , the oddly shifting tone or even the odd special effects (the gargoyles are Full Moonish). I was more intrigued by what Besson was doing with the story, me managed to blend a new take with nostalgia.  I loved how he was creating this grand love story and reconfiguring the Dracula legend in a way that we really hadn’t seen before. I also loved that we had a parallel thread about god, belief and forgiveness. I don’t think we have ever had this deep a dive into that realm in Dracula tale. It’s a thread that gives deep resonance to Waltz’s priest who clearly has seen horrible things in the world and knows that it shouldn’t be like this and wants to fix it. His final confrontation with Dracula is not what you expect, it is two world weary men who have seen too much talking on a common ground.  It’s note perfect for what this film is but not if you are expecting a huge Hollywood blow up.

I am not going to lie and say the film is perfect, it is not. Waltz’s character can occasionally seem like he is coming from another movie. Some of the effects are uneven. Additionally, the film’s final third is a bit too quick and there isn’t enough development of Mina. The film could have used another 10 or 15 minutes to make her stand out a bit on her own. None of it is fatal, but some of it feels like a momentary speed bump.

Ultimately, I love this film. I think it’s a brilliant rethink of the tale. More so when you realize that the film is digging deeply into the various thematic elements...and that the film should have retained the subtitle A LOVE TALE.

If you can take it on its own terms and go with the reinvention, I think you will love this. Recommended.

The Hole 309 Days To the Bloodiest Tragedy (2026) Rotterdam 2026

In the 1960's a cop and his new bride return home to investigate a series of murders of people every 30th of the month. Victimes are left with a large whole in their back and crime scralled across their forheads. The federal authorities aren't certain what is behind and partly fear there maybe a coup in the works. They want a solution and they want their officer to get his father, an important figure out out of the village.

This is an uneasy mix of supernatural horror and a thriller like SEVEN. It's a film full of jump scares and practical effects. It's a film of great moments a bit of confusion in the plotting.

I think the confusion for me is that the plot is tied into events that happened in Indonesia in the 60's. While I have a vague idea of the history of the country, I was not fully aware of the levels of authority, the police, the military and their battles, nor was I aware of the political situation  and fears of coups and rebellion. I think not fulling understanding took some of the edge off.

At the same time this film has some truly kick ass moments. The demon in the mirrorr is freaky and some of the jump scares got me. The truth of the matter is that while I may not love it, because I didn't fully connect, I trully think this is one of the better horror films I've seen in the last few years because it has a series of great set pieces, any one of which would make this work seeing, but there are several which makes this even more a must see for the horror fan.

You'll forgive for leaving my discussion there, but I don't want to spoil the good stuff here. I do have more to say, but it would reveal somethings, such as scares, that would diminish the fun.

If you like horror films- see this film.

Ariela Rubin on ANTIHEROINE (2026) Sundance 2026

 

I’ve been a Hole fan since junior high, so I was very excited to find out there was a documentary that was made about lead singer of Hole, Courtney Love. I actually bought a ticket to the premiere so I wouldn’t miss out on seeing it. (Premieres are very hard, if not impossible, to get into at Sundance)

Antiheroine was made by James Hall and Edward Lovelace. Courtney Love allowed them into her home in London, where she spoke candidly, shared old journal entries, and invited them into the recording studio. (Yes! She is working on new music!)

The documentary chronicles Courtney’s life. From her childhood (her father gave her LSD when she was just 4), to the making of Hole, to her life with Kurt Cobain, to becoming a movie star, and finally to the present day. 

This film made me laugh, sing along, and cry. I hope this film helps reshape many people’s opinions of her.

The only bummer was that I was really hoping Courtney would be at the premiere, and sadly she wasn’t. 

Brief thoughts on Home (2026) Rotterdam 2026

Director Marijana Janković tells the story, only slighty altered of her family's move from Yugoslavia to Denmark in an effort to find a better life.

This is a solid little film that feels lived in. Even before reading that this was based on the director's own story, I could sense that there was a connection to life that you don't normally get. The clues are in the fact that the film doesn't gloss over all the little things that almost every movie about migration does, things like language, the culture class  and the isolation. Every other film, regardless of the origin breezes over the small details. Here that isn't the case. You can see small details as well as big ones that draw us in and make us know this is real.

I was moved.

This is a wonderful film about the real cost of migrating

Recommended

Teacher's Pet (2025) opens Friday

 

A brilliant student who is heading to Yale must survive the advances of a new teacher.

I am not going to lie; we have been here any number of times previously. However, the film, which is includes Michelle Torian, Luke Barnett as well as the great Barbara Crampton sells this film to the hilt and then some. Seriously this film has one of the best casts of any film (no qualifier) this year.  The cast is so good that I could argue for year end awards, with Crampton shining in a role that in a bigger film might have gotten her an Oscar nom. (She really is that good).

This is a great little film. It’s a perfect thriller for a night at the movies or on the couch.

Recommended.

With SIRAT opening Friday, here is Peter Gutierrez's review from the New York Film Festival

“Is this what the end of the world feels like?”

*  *  *

It’s become something of a cliché to recommend a film by saying, “You’ve got to see this one on the big screen.” Well, maybe not a cliché, but a phrase so common that after you’ve seen SIRĀT and subsequently recommend it—and you’ll want to do both—you’ll probably wish that you could take back a few instances: “No, this time I really mean it. SIRĀT is what cinemas are made for...”

And the funny thing is, in this case the recommendation is not for the sake of visuals, which are consistently stunning, but for the sound.  In fact, at the risk of being cutesy, I’d like to offer that SIRĀT is the most soul-stirring, transporting “musical” I’ve seen in quite long time. Of course, what writer-director Oliver Laxe has created is not a musical, and it’s not a horror movie either—although there are scenes of horror that I guarantee you will never forget. One could term SIRĀT a thriller without too much objection, but more accurately it’s a member of a genre we don’t hear much from—it’s an adventure movie. Once upon a time that meant John Huston-like sagas, but nowadays I’m straining to recall more than a handful of accomplished recent releases whose narratives aren’t significantly encroached upon by other genres (e.g., action, romcom, fantasy & sci-fi). Perhaps Laxe is reinvigorating, if not redeeming, a genre that seems to have been domesticated and rarely offers the truly unpredictable or tragic. 

This is not to say that SIRĀT is wholly original—arguably most great works of popular cinema aren’t. In fact, you’ll see shades of many other filmmakers here, from John Ford to George Miller and Henri-Georges Clouzot. However, this does not detract one ounce from the freshness and grim vitality on display; it just shows that Laxe has good taste.

The only letdown occurs, unfortunately, right around the dramatic climax. The script, which has been careful to keep its allegorical messaging in the background—present for those who care to notice but not directly taking the spotlight from the characters and the immediacy of their situation—removes the matter of survival from of our own dirty human hands and places it in something like fate, or faith. In these moments, SIRĀT ceases to be a harrowing experiential dream from which we can’t escape and instead becomes what’s clearly a mere text, an arena for the play of themes; that is, we’re now watching the screenwriter’s “ideas” come alive rather than an organic and fluid unfolding of action... which has been a key strength of this remarkable film all along. 

New Francophone Shorts 2: Dark after Dark at Animation First 2026

 

This collection oif films offers a wide range of visual styles and subjects, all on the darkside and all with a slightly more adult turn of things

THE MAGICIAN
The longest film in this collection has a painted style. It concerns a magician seemingly on his last legs as he wanders around a seaport town. I really can't say too much about the film's plot because what happens is a long journey and I don't want to clue you in. Odds are you will not know where this goes. The film uses a beautiful painted style that looks at times like some of my more favorite art.

QUAI SISOWATH
This Cambodian horror film is a mix of live action and animation that tells the story of a young woman who goes on a date...and well something happens. This film is a mix of horror and bittersweet drama involving a creature that people who love Thai and some South Asian horror films from the 80's and 90's might recognize. I won't spoil it. I will say that what sets this film apart from many other films with supernatural overtones is that it leaves you feeling not scared but kind of sad.

LIFE WITH AN IDIOT
For not working hard enough a man is sentenced to live with an idiot. Pen and ink rendered animation is a deleriously bizarre tale that traps us in a man who quite possibly be the craziest person in the film. Its a wild ride where the odd tale is given added kick by the frantic sound and images

THE EXPLODING GIRL
A girl  named Candice talks about how she has been exploding several times every day over th last few months. Bizarre computer rendered images (see above) make a weird story somehow believeable. operating in a seemingly different reality (or is it all allegory?) THE EXPLODING GIRL is a mind bending trip into another person's head

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (2025) arrives on Tubi February 5

 

The latest film from Kenneth Frank is a home run. It's a heartfelt and very human story of a 12 year old girl trying to navigate her summer vacation and her family. 

I'be been following the work of Ken and his cohorts at In The Garage Productions for several years now. Over that time I've been enjoying their films and watching them grow as filmmakers.

The last two films from Ken were comedies and I had mentioned in reviews that he should step away from the comedy and just focus on the drama, which has always been his strength.. In December Ken emailed me to say he made a drama and asked me if I wanted to see it.

Yes, yes I did. And yes yes you do.

The film is a beautifully acted, wonderfully told tale that gives us some very real moments in the life of a family that are going to echo moments in your life. Nothing feels false. Everything is dead on target. And while the time frame  feels slightly wonky, nothing that happens in the film feels wrong or off. Nothing feels added for dramatic effect. Events play out as they do in real life. There are no big screaming adult moments, only what Grace would see. There is no effort to wedge in false emotional moments.

The cast is first rate. The reason that the film works is because of them. Raquel Sciacca as Grace gives a starmaking performance and Dawson her real life brother turns in a magnificent physival performance that makes you want to go up and give him a hug.

After the screening Hubert Vigilla and I were discussing he film and comparing it to Annie Baker's JANET PLANET. Everything that Baker's film does wrong, this film does right. Here we have a lead character who is a real person and not a cliche or just an audience surrogate. She exits because she it genuinely the focus of the film.

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION is a genuine coming of age film about real people dealing with real issues. We are getting a real story and not a lecture by a filmmaker to their younger self.

This film is a genuine gem. Its filled with life and love and the confusion that life causes. It is a film full of genuine wisdom including a show stopping moment when Grace's Mom reveals the secret of of life. It's a moment so on target in it's perfection it hits like a bolt of lightning.

This film is glorious. 

I am in love with this film.

Search out this film.

Francophone Shorts One- Animation First 2026

These are  most of the films playing in the FRANCOPHONE SHORTS ONE collection at Animation First.  The collection also include BREAD WILL WALK and HYPERSENSITIVE. I had originally reviewed those films when the premiered last year. I reposted those reviews earlier.

SIGNAL
A musical tale of a scientist looking for life in the universe and finding she isn't connected to the world. An odd mix of reality and musical numbers that  works best in pieces rather than as a whole.

Balconada
On a hot day we watch life in and a round the terraces of several buildings. 
This is a sweet little distraction about people being people.

La mort du poisson (Death of a Fish) (see picture above)
Music and dance combine in the story of a young girl and her mother who has become sad at the death of a fish.
 This is a visually impressive film that contains some glorious moments. I'm not sure it all hangs together but I plan on revisiting this again to see some of the images.

Pantagruel
Wild and crazy film inspired by the first page of a French classic.
Honestly I had to look up what this was all about because I have no idea about Pantagruel. That said this two minute film is a visual trip.

TO THE WOODS
A boy and a girl go into the woods at night.
A lovely film about a sister and her brother