Shorts: Friendly Encounters
Synopsis
A pigeon, needy neighbours, statues, and a psychedelic toad - unlikely friendships arrive when we need them most.
THE PAINTING AND: THE STATUE: UK, 2025, 20 mins, F-rated
DIRECTOR Freddie Fox
Two lonely strangers meet across a crowded room. With just one look, one breathless moment, they are brought alive... literally.
THE PIGEON: UK, 2025, 12 mins, Triple F-rated
DIRECTOR Chloe Culpin
A bereaved young woman believes her sister has been reincarnated, as a pigeon.
THE LAST INGREDIENT, Italy, 2025, 8 mins
DIRECTOR Lorenzo Cioglia
A young man, determined to end it all, is repeatedly interrupted by his elderly neighbour’s increasingly absurd Bundt cake requests.
TODD AND THE TOAD: Germany, 2025, 13 mins, F-rated
DIRECTOR Julia Mücke
When a first date sends an anxious young man into panic, an unlikely hallucinatory therapist helps him confront his fears.
