1. The Sampler

Sit back and enjoy some of the best and most vibrant short films from Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. This collection provides a great way to sample what Show Me Shorts is all about. Witness magical Colombian furniture, vicious Scottish lightning and village edicts from a powerful Sudanese matriarch. Fly a starship with your dad, or just chill with him and your imaginary friend. Just try to avoid the hitman…

Total length: 105 minutes
Rating: M Drug use & offensive language.(Select cinema for times and tickets…)Arrowtown – Dorothy BrownsAuckland Central – Rialto Cinemas NewmarketChristchurch – AliceDevonport – The Vic DevonportDunedin – Rialto CinemasGisborne – Dome CinemaGreat Barrier Island – Barrier Social ClubHamilton – The LidoHavelock – Havelock Town HallNew Plymouth – 4th Wall TheatreMatakana – Matakana CinemasMatamata – Matamata Little TheatreNapier – Suter GalleryŌtaki – Māoriland HubKatikati – The Junction TheatrePicton – Endeavour ParkRenwick – Renwick Sports & Event CentreStewart Island – Bunkhouse TheatreTakapuna – MontereyTakaka – Village TheatreTauranga – Rialto CinemaWaiheke Island – Waiheke Island Community CinemaWaikaia – The Lodge 223Wanaka – Rubys CinemaWhangarei – Whangarei Film SocietyWellington – Light House CubaŌrākei – Silky Otter Cinemas

Don vs Lightning

Comedy, 13 mins, United Kingdom

Dir: Big Red Button
Writ: Johnny Burns
Prod: Sonya Sier

All Don wants is a quiet life in the Scottish Highlands. Unfortunately the universe has other plans.

Al-Sit

Drama, 20 mins, Sudan/Qatar

Dir/Writ/Prod: Suzannah Mirghani
Prod: Eiman Mirghani
Special message from the filmmaker(s)

In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa’s future.

El tamaño de las cosas (The Size of Things)

Fantasy, 12 mins, Colombia

Dir/Writ: Carlos Felipe Montoya
Prod: Isabel Cristina Vásquez

Diego lives with his father in a house without furniture. One day Diego finds a chair deep in the woods but his father makes him return it. The next day Diego tries again to find it but he and the chair have changed.

Snorrie (Mustachio)

Comedy, 11 mins, Netherlands

Dir/Writ: Victoria Warmerdam
Prod: Trent

Freek returns to his family home to help pack up. He is reunited with his imaginary friend from the past, who is looking for closure.

Landline – The Phoenix Foundation

Music Video, 4 mins, New Zealand

Dir/Writ/Prod: Ezra Simons
Prod: Gussie Larkin, Caleb Corlett

Espionage and intrigue follow a giant phone and an oversized ear around a south coast Wellington dream-scape.

Green

Drama, 16 mins, New Zealand

Dir/Writ: Rachel Ross
Prod: Morgan Leigh Stewart, Samantha Dutton

An estranged father and daughter, both with life altering illnesses, smoke marijuana together for the first time and it becomes healing in more ways than one.

The Last Ferry From Grass Island

Drama, 14 mins, United States/Hong Kong

Dir/Writ: Linhan Zhang
Prod: Clifford Miu

A hitman retires to become a fisherman on the peaceful Grass Island in Hong Kong. One day, his Chinese apprentice shows up, tasked to kill him before the last ferry departs.

Space Invader

Comedy, 16 mins, New Zealand

Dir/Prod: Isaac Bell
Writ: Matt Kelleher
Prod: Lissandra Leite

Max is a small boy with a big imagination and a loyal co-pilot of a dad. But when Dad gets a new girlfriend, Max must find a way to confront this new menace before she steals his dad forever.

Screenings