Enjoy some of the top short films from this year’s Show Me Shorts Film Festival. The collection is designed to entertain, delight and show off rising talent in the filmmaking scene from Aotearoa and abroad. The films include 7 Minutes directed by Ricky Gervais with his trademark awkwardness. Three homegrown shorts from rising stars of the local filmmaking scene also make their world premieres: Just Kidding, I Actually Love You directed by Anna Rose Duckworth, Stella directed by Alison Titulaer, and Ministry of Jingle by Maddie Dai. Enjoy uncovering the full box of cinematic delights.

Total length: 102 min

Rating: to be advised

The Films are:

Muscat

Drama, 16 mins, Canada

A 16-year-old Moroccan fisherman, Samir, discovers his attraction towards men when he meets a tourist traveling with his wife.

Dir/Writ: Philippe Grenier

Prod: Charlotte Beaudoin-Poisson

7 Minutes

Drama, 10 mins, United Kingdom

A desolate train track seems the perfect spot to end it all, until someone else turns up with the same idea. Awkward.

Dir: Ricky Gervais

Writ: Jonathan Parramint, Harry Carlile

Prod: Hussain Casey-Ahmed

Stella

Drama, 14 mins, New Zealand

Stella is out for a special date with her husband Stanley, whose mind is failing. She yearns for connection, capturing brief moments of lucidity before he slips away.

Dir/Writ: Alison Titulaer

Prod: Emma Mortimer, Stacey Murdoch

World Premiere

Las Visitantes

Comedy, 15 mins, Spain

Three retired women travel on a bus on their way to Europe. They have been listening to people talking about the wonders of tourism all their lives and are dying to experience it firsthand.

Dir/Writ: Enrique Buleo

Prod: Sandra Mora

Just Kidding, I Actually Love You

Comedy, 11 mins, New Zealand

A runaway fiancée breaks in to execute an ill-advised romantic gesture, and finds evidence her ex is happier without her.

Dir/Writ: Anna Rose Duckworth

Writ: Ali Burns

Prod: Casey Latch, Mikaela Rüegg

World Premiere

Ministry of Jingle

Comedy, 13 mins, New Zealand

Melody is the new hire at a Government department in charge of creating public safety jingles about the nation's most pressing issues: bathmats, scam calls, littering.

Dir/Writ: Maddie Dai

Prod: Carthew Neal, Verity Mackintosh

World Premiere

The Life of Lester Wink

Comedy, 17 mins, United States

A door-to-door pet insurance salesman with a phobia of talking with strangers must make a sale by 5pm or get fired.

Dir/Writ: Cassidy C Harrison

Prod: Greg Burrowes, Ronan Cassidy