Travelling across landscapes of longing, taking root in constant change: These short films invite us to dive into the ocean, sink into the screen, and take refuge at a lake. As colonial histories of categorization and exploitation are excavated, healing and transformation sprouts all around. In This Is Not Your Garden, memories and a speculated future are nourished by collective pain, but also the desire to overcome. I’ve Heard A Siren Calling follows Nev, a young woman in the early stages of her transition who reintegrates back into the world she loves: surfing. The water becomes a site of reflection in Swan Like, as the filmmaker, living with Long Covid, dreams of healthier realms. Then, How a River Is Born invites yet another symbolism: Ayla wakes up in a mountainous landscape, and sets off on a journey of (self-)discovery, following the flow. With Emergiences, the program takes a turn to again reflect (post)colonial relations: A colonial-era propaganda film about communist insurgencies in Singaporean rubber plantations is blended with memories of the narrator’s ex-playmate. Eyes to See, takes on the lens of Khoe heritage, delving into how queerness is inherently woven into African cultural and spiritual practices. The program ends with Water Sports, an experimental fiction about Jelson and Ipe, students deep in love, that undergo trials of the mind and body as they prepare themselves to survive a world devastated by climate change. They soon learn that maybe the best way to survive the end of the world is to simply live, laugh, and love.

https://xposedfilmfestival.com/2026/shorts-6-emerging-ecologies/