SHORT FILMS

While the Night Falls

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Amir Aether Valen Ali • 17 mins • Short • Student • Family • Cuba • Spanish • 2023

While The Night Falls is an intimate portrait of the lives of Delvys and Carlos, siblings who live alone with their elderly mother in a rural part of a small Cuban town. The film portrays a family engulfed in their inner worlds. Between the sacrifices they make out of love for those who are present, and their longing for things that are absent, they struggle to find meaning as they reflect, contemplate, and carry the weight of existence, trying together, to move forward.

2025, SHORT FILMS

XE’IL – Threads of Culture, Tradition and Community

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Denise Speck • 5 mins • Documentary, Short • Social Issue Films, Cultural Documentaries, Observation, Poetic, Feminism Documentaries • Belize • Trinidad and Tobago • English • 2024

In “XE’IL – Threads of Culture, Tradition and Community,” the vibrant world of Indigenous Maya women in Southern Belize unfolds through the art of embroidery. This short documentary showcases XE’IL, a brand crafted “by Mayans for Mayans,” acting as a bridge between tradition and modernity, fostering a profound sense of pride and purpose among indigenous Maya artisans. Through their craft, these women not only preserve their cultural heritage but also forge a vibrant community.

2025, SHORT FILMS

Daddy Jumbie

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Jason C. Audain • 6 mins • Short • Experimental • Trinidad and Tobago • English • 2025

Adrian Young—known as Daddy Jumbie—transcends the physical act of stilt walking, embodying the living spirit of Moko with each step he takes. This short film captures the unique rhythm, grace, and quiet magic woven into his movements, offering a glimpse into a sacred tradition carried through blood, memory, and dream. More than performance, Adrian’s walk becomes ritual—an elevation of spirit that connects the earthly to the ancestral, revealing Moko not just as a towering figure, but as a living, breathing force within.

2025, SHORT FILMS

The Brittle Little Ones (Les bouts cassés)

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Jade Andrivon, Laura Cuvillier, Clémentine Damico, Régis Raphaël Marton, Samuel Roussas • 17 mins • Short • Guadeloupe • French • 2025

Elisa is a somewhat eccentric middle school student who is a victim of bullying. She discovers that her only friend, Jessie, plans to run away with an adult. Determined to protect her, Elisa embarks on a desperate mission that reveals a world she never knew existed. This journey confronts her with a dilemma that will change her forever.

2025, SHORT FILMS

Siembra

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Nathalia Lafuente & Miguel New • 12 mins • Short • Drama • Dominican Republic • Venezuela • 2025

The quiet rhythm of daily life — its simple, existential routines and the silent sowing of meaning beneath the surface — is suddenly pierced. Abruptly torn away, this fragile beauty is stripped bare by the return of what we so often forget.

2025, SHORT FILMS

Sugar Dumplin

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Tristan Barrocks • 19 mins • Short • Drama, Narrative • Canada • English • 2024

Ebony, a young Jamaican-Canadian woman, struggles to reconnect with her estranged father, Desmond, by reviving the one thing that once united them—cooking. As she prepares beloved Caribbean meals from her childhood, she discovers Desmond is battling early-stage dementia, adding urgency to their fragile bond. Through the shared act of cooking, they slowly mend their fractured relationship, proving that love, memory, and family can be rekindled one meal at a time.

2025, SHORT FILMS

Spirit Mas: Spirit Island

Posted on by Melanie Jones

by Shea Best • 7 mins • Short • Web, New Media, Fashion, Romance, Fantasy, Carnival, Folklore • Trinidad and Tobago • 2024

Two Secret Lovers escape their reality and get marooned on an island. They meet a nymph who presents them with a choice, go back to their previous life or retrieve artifacts from four spirits. This film is a collaboration with Spirit Mas Carnival and explores the joint venture of filmmaking and story telling in tandem with the cultural phenomenon that is Trinidad Carnival and the thematic presentation of their Carnival 2025 theme.