Shorts Collection: Outstanding

To explore the concept of co-evolution, the passionate biologist Thomas Cassar retraces Darwin’s footsteps, studying the world’s most intricate and alluring orchids. Are these flowers merely created for human admiration, or do they serve a deeper purpose? The answer to this botanical mystery emerges only years after Darwin’s death.- Nasrin Reshadi

Psychonauts is a spellbinding stop-motion short that offers an honest look at mental health struggles and the use of antidepressants. Created in close collaboration with patients at the University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče in Zagreb, the film serves as a powerful advocate for the therapeutic potential of craft-making.- Thomas Streekstra

In Sweden, a group of professors attends a lecture by a French philosopher presenting his all-encompassing “revolutionary” theory. During the intermission, their admiration quickly spirals into a comically absurd intellectual contest. This witty film satirizes academic narcissism and the dangers of blind reverence for authority.- Saulė Savanevičiūtė

This eye-opening, hand-drawn animation, set to rhythmic beat poetry, tells the story of the Nommo: extraterrestrial Afro-hermaphrodite, anthro-amphibian migrants. In under seven minutes, the STARS Collective fuses gender studies, Indigenous knowledge, and decolonial thought into a bold, visionary space odyssey. – Thomas Streekstra

How do we deal with things that don’t fit our man-made categorizations? Students, archivists and professors at Radboud University study and collect a wide variety of objects. Moving between shelves, hands and minds, the objects’ meanings are altered in the process. How do we find an appropriate place for them, and what happens when no such place exists? This film follows three (groups of) objects in their pursuit of a spot within the University archives.