Short and Green 2025

Each year, more works are made in response to environmental concerns, even as the definition of what constitutes an “environmental” film continues to expand. As the understanding deepens that the environment is not just another subject or genre we can casually reference in our work, but the very ground of existence—something that surrounds, sustains, and implicates us all—artists respond by approaching environmental themes with greater nuance, breadth, and urgency. The films in these two programmes approach nature through social and political lenses, offering sharp critiques of neo-capitalist systems, our increasingly estranged relationship with the natural world, and the devastating impact of machines and extractive infrastructures on both people and the planet.

The first programme, “What We See is What We Want, What We Want is That We See”, is a meditation on perception—its limits, its constructs, and its consequences. The selected films invite us to question the boundary between seeing and believing, and how socially constructed systems of meaning shape our understanding of the world. In Animal Eye, mechanisms of control are revealed through the scientific analysis of animal vision. Darwin’s Darlings playfully critiques human perception as people parade before their long-lost relatives, scrutinising their appearance. In Green, forest workers reclaim their role as stewards of the land, challenging mainstream narratives. Fish River Anthology brings us into a nocturnal world where fish awaken to sing. In Common Pear, a new generation of humans is brainwashed with images from the past, as scientists observe their reactions to a world that no longer exists. In We Used to Be Friends, pigeons reminisce about their former days of glory, while Water Sports offers a vision of love as resistance in the face of collapse.        

The second programme, “The Eye of the Capital”, explores the clash between humanity and the mechanised systems we have built—systems that now threaten to consume us. These films dissect the anatomy of a world where industrial extraction, petro-capitalism, and environmental degradation are not just side effects, but defining forces. We encounter factories that never sleep, concrete architectures that displace life, and machines that echo the violence of our own making. Through experimental and observational lenses, the works examine not only the damage inflicted on the planet, but also the spiritual and bodily alienation of the human subject caught in this machinery. Green Grey Black Brown is a visual poem reflecting on the destruction caused by petroleum extraction practices. In Beneath Which Rivers Flow, a man’s tranquil routine and connection to nature are violently disrupted by otherworldly floating spaceships. In Niederurnen, GL, the white, ominous dust left by asbestos factories still lingers over an idyllic Italian village. In Don’t Try This in the Woods, a woman is led to her own demise by her unprecedented greed. The surreal outcomes of late capitalism are explored with biting humour in Free the Chickens, while in Three Nights Until Tomorrow, a voice collects memories along a beach of white sand and turquoise water, only to realise that the paradise she remembers is poisoned by the toxic legacy of a nearby chemical plant.

Maya Sfakianaki
Head Programmer, Short & Green Competition Section