DiMore shorts? Yes!

Bloody Marian (2025): A bartender with a bit of an attitude faces a significant challenge when a customer arrives whose taste for drink can’t be stopped. Directed and written by Sommar Ashleigh Boulware, this film has a great visual look, reminiscent of Sin City, and a fun premise.

Dead Pet Shark (2025): Directed and written by Misha Gankin, this was inspired by a real-life incident. The filmmaker said, “When I was a child, I found a dead reef shark. I took it home and played with it until my mother made me throw it back into the sea. It wasn’t a particularly profound day then, but 15 years later, I’ve found the story to be a prime source of inspiration for this short film. I made this comedy to highlight the power of curiosity, the price of wisdom, and our responsibility to care for the planet.” In the film version, young Arthur finds the shark and keeps trying to bring it back to life, even feeding it on the blood of his bully friend. We all learn about the environment in different ways.

Deadly Duels XII (2025): Directed by Justine Bead and written by Nick Grant, this is all about a super religious kid — what we used to call Jesus Crispy in my hometown — who starts to think that his sister is possessed and goes to extreme lengths to save her. Between video games, heavy metal and corpse paint, this kid thinks that Satan is honest and in his living room. I loved this and feel like I lived it, because back in 1989, I was investigated by my high school under the suspicion that I worshipped the devil because I wore lots of black shirts and went out with someone who wore goth makeup. Such is life.

Don’t Screw This Up (2025): In this short film directed by Nathan Evans, a student screenwriter struggles to finish her script as her peers wait to actually complete the movie. As someone who is continually writing for other creatives, I felt the worry and nerves in this.

Elegancia (2025): A misguided filmmaker is transported into a dark fairytale world of her own creation, a place where the dance never stops. Directed and written by Maria Shevtsova, this is a fully formed vision that could totally be a full-length film all on its own. It looks gorgeous while also being frightening at times; how many of us who watch movies all day also wish that we could lose ourselves in our fantasy worlds? I loved this, even though the majority of my dancing consists of interpretive routines to the theme songs of true crime shows that my wife watches.

Rouge (2025): Directed by Nicholas Jackson, this short is an “absurdist comedy taking place on May 4, 1937, in Paris, France, when Detective Jean Martin is called to a local apartment building to investigate the murder of painter, Arthur Dubois.” It has such a unique look and feel, really setting itself on its own as a film that’s ideally suited for a short instead of being a truncated full-length or a test of an idea.

Something’s Wrong With Kit (2024): Directed and written by Lida Everhart, this is all about a newly turned teenage vampire and the issues that she has to deal with, from keeping her vampirism a secret from her only friend, Maria, to dealing with her horrible mother. Even having the power to rise from the dead to feed on others means that you’re still going to have to deal with your family.

Strings (2025): “Sally joins a dream summer trip to Sicily with her childhood bestie Poppy, hoping to reconnect before they start university. Confronted with Poppy’s volatile new friend Alex, Sally is strangely drawn to the traditional puppets decorating their villa, and the strings that bind the two friends threaten to rip them apart.” Directed by Ava Pearson, Eleanor Smith and Nina Zandvliet, this feels like “What if Stuart Gordon made a message movie about bullying” and I mean that with all the magic that question should make you imagine. Also: If you go to a villa and it’s filled with dolls, find another villa.

Two Breaths (2024): Directed and written by Kateryna Kurganska, this takes place in the not-too-distant future. A small-scale nuclear weapon has ruined an island paradise, sending everyone away but young Ava and her grandfather, who believes that he can save their dying home. He can’t and passes away himself, leaving Ava stranded with only a stuffed manta ray named Mr. Fish. Luckily, she also meets Two Breaths, a real manta ray who keeps her alive and helps her to finally leave this all behind. Several of the CFF films focused on the destruction of our ecosystem this year, a concern I’ve had for some time. Luckily, there is some hope.

The Pledge (2024): Charles and Sam are lifelong friends on their last day of pledgeship to a fraternity. Charles is worried, but Sam tells him that as long as they’re together, everything will be OK. I wish that were true, but when the frat brothers dose them with LSD, Charles goes out of control as he struggles to be alone and just get through this bad trip. Directed by Jackson Stofka, who co-wrote the script with Trenton Hancock, this film features murder by keg and an atmosphere that makes me realize I’m glad art school didn’t have fraternities. I want to see a full-length version of this!

Terroir (2025): A young wine critic (Madison Hu) returns to a French vineyard one year after giving it a bad review. There, she and her friends become the target of a masked maniac. Is he trying to get back at her for that review? Directed and written by Casey Rogerson, I’ve been waiting for a murder movie set in a winery ever since the opening of Heart Eyes. Well made!

The Humming Grows (2024): Directed and written by Aughbar, this short finds MMA fighter Jodie (Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz) breaking into her sister’s home to save her family. Why is her niece all chained up? Why is there a bloody family photo? What will she have to do to save everyone? Ramos-Ortiz is a capable actress and stunt performer, with this short serving as an excellent showcase for her to demonstrate her dramatic and athletic abilities. While a student film, this looks significantly better than you might expect.

The Things We Keep (2025): Directed by Joanna Fernandez, this finds its main character, Kate, forced into a caretaker position for her estranged mother. As she comes home to clean the hoarded house where her mother has lived alone for years — and where Kate has avoided — she learns that within these walls, the horror of her mother’s sickness remains. This movie made me think deeply about the ways that my wife has changed since the death of my father and how there are parts of my old family home that I haven’t visited in some time.

Tin Soldiers (2025): What is normal? That’s what this movie asks as a young man named Caius is put on prescription drugs that will influence the rest of his life. Directed and written by Aris Federman, this film about ADHD prompts you to consider other lives and the struggles people face.

to write the ending (2025): Directed and written by Shaler Keenum, this is the story of Soren, a street poet (Ali Alsaleh), who uses a magical typewriter to find true love with Cassiopeia, the girl of his dreams (Leigha Sinnott). I really liked how this takes the male ideal of romance and confronts it with the truth, that no woman wants the rest of the world to stop. Guys get too literal. The love language we learn from movies can sometimes lead us to become stalkers or incels. Luckily, it seems she may be able to help Soren work it all out.

What’s Left (2025): This is a short set in a future Tennessee where the consequences of global warming have drastically altered the world, as the ocean moves inland. Society collapses, as does the United States, as people struggle to get together. Directed and written by Ryan Gentle and Austin Quarles, this is science fiction for a very limited time; the coming soon on the poster is ominous because this is the place where we’ll all be living sooner than we’d like to believe.

Did My Heart Love Till Now (2025): Love potions never work, you know? I’m not sure, as I’ve never used one myself. But in this, a witch is so desperate for a lover that she drives the man of her dreams to mania. This didn’t go as planned. Directed by Veronica Tullo, this film boasts a gorgeous look and tells a compelling story. I wonder if the lead actress was cast because she bears a vague resemblance to Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic.

You can watch this and many other films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting reviews and articles, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watched films.