Synopsis
As Moudou attempts to emigrate from Senegal, his patience and resilience are tested. He is sustained by hope for what lies ahead and memories of what came before.

Accolades
• Over 10 international awards
• Over a million YouTube views
• Premiered on Nowness

Senegal | 2025 | 11m

Did you know?
Patience features a cameo and a sample from Amadou & Mariam and their track Sabali, which was produced by Damon Albarn. This was one of the final on-screen appearances of the Grammy-nominated couple from Mali, who were both blind from childhood. Amadou Bagayoko passed away in 2025, age 70, just before the short was released.

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Synopsis
Lily, his claymation-inspired short, follows a lonely archivist whose life is upended by a doll that triggers his conscience.

Accolades
The inaugural AI Film Prize: $1 million from Google & the 1 Billion Followers Summit, beating 3 500 entries from around the globe.

Zoubeir ElJlassi | Tunisia | 2026 | 9 min

Did you know?
The heavyweight jury included Egyptian filmmaker Ali Ali, alongside executive creative directors from Google and YouTube, the co-founders of ElevenLabs, and Marina Mogilko from the Silicon Valley Girl podcast.

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Synopsis
The animated horror follows a married man who gives in to temptation, with even worse consequences than his wife finding out.

Accolades
• Competed at Annecy, the world’s most prestigious animation festival
• Over two million views on YouTube

Peter Oti Asamoah | Ghana | 2024 | 17 min

Did you know?
I’ve been a fan of Peter Oti Asamoah since I first saw his music videos as Poka. (Start with Worlasi BoozeHigh and then Juls Gwarn, featuring Burna Boy. Those were enough to put him on my wish-list for Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire.)

Last Night is his debut short film. An eight-month passion project, he created every frame himself.


Want more?
There’s a first-look at Last Night: Chapter Two here.

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Synopsis
In contemporary Cairo, a teenage girl is pushed to consider her own boundaries.

Accolades
• Premiered at SXSW
• Won Best Short Film Under 15m at Palm Springs
• Won the Student Short Film Showcase Award at Gotham
• Vimeo Staff Pick
• Short of the Week

Farida Zahran | Egypt | 2019 | 14 min

Did you know?
Egyptian director Farida Zahran went on to write on the Emmy-nominated comedy series Ramy.

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Synopsis
This oil painting-styled animation was Inspired by the true story of Alfred Nakache, a Jewish-Algerian swimmer who competed at the 1936 Olympics - in Nazi Germany.

Accolades
• 2026 Oscar nominee: Best Animated Short
• Best French Short Film Award, Annecy
• Generation Kplus: Best Short Film, Berlin

Algeria | 2024 | 14 min

Did you know?
This was the first Oscar nomination for 70-year-old French director Florence Miailhe. As a child, Florence had swimming lessons with Alfred’s younger brother, William. During one lesson, she was even asked to demonstrate her butterfly for Alfred.

It was only much later that she discovered the personal story behind the famous swimmer, including his time at Auschwitz.

“As soon as I came across his story, everything surprised me,” she told Animation Magazine. “It’s an incredible life. But a few things made a deep impression on me. The first is his return from the camps. In 1945, he weighed barely 40 and we’re talking about a top-level athlete here. It’s shocking to imagine a champion’s body in such a state. And the craziest thing is that in 1948, less than three years later, he was selected for the Olympic Games of London. This capacity for resilience is what amazed me the most. He experienced absolute horror, and he came back, swimming again at a world- class level. It’s almost unbelievable.

“Then there is a historical element that I was completely unaware of: the revocation of Algerian Jews’ citizenship during the Vichy regime. Algerian Jews had obtained French citizenship thanks to the Crémieux Decree (in 1870). But under Vichy, this nationality was taken away from them, and they became ‘Indigenes’ once again. Which explains why Alfred Nakache was excluded from French competitions: he was no longer considered a French citizen. This part of colonial and anti-Semitic history really struck me.”

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Synopsis
Binta tells us about everyday life in her village, the importance of education for girls, and her father’s great idea to make the world a better place.

Accolades
Oscar nominee: Best Live Action Short

Senegal | 2004 | 31 min

Did you know?
Spanish director Javier Fesser shot in Senegal, working with a non-professional local cast.

Listen out for Grammy winner Ali Farka Touré and Grammy nominees Salif Keita and Baaba Maal on the stunning soundtrack.

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Synopsis
After two friends photograph a gigantic fish, Zanzibar becomes a tourist hotspot - but not like they dreamed.

Accolades
• Competed at Sundance
• Swept the 2014 Shots Young Director Awards at Cannes Lions, winning Best Short Film, the Jury Special Award, and the Audience Award
• Short of the Week

Kibwe Tavares | Tanzania | 2013 | 17 min

Did you know?
The talent involved is undeniable:
• Daniel Kaluuya went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Get Out and win for Judas and the Black Messiah
• Malachi Kirby later won a BAFTA for Small Axe
• Jack Thorne won two Emmys for Adolescence last year
• Kibwe Tavares went on to make iconic ads, executive produce Noughts & Crosses, and co-direct Netflix UK’s #1 film The Kitchen with Kaluuya

Fresh eyes from outside Africa can be helpful, as long as they’re not the dominant gaze we internalise.

Even when they get the accents wrong.

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Synopsis
When a sniper’s hit goes wrong, he must rely on his deadbeat housemate.

Accolades
Vimeo Staff Pick

Ari Kruger | South Africa | 2016 | 9m

Did you know?
Jakkals13 was nearly never released. “It was such a stressful shoot that I wasn’t happy with how the edit came together, so I shelved it for two years,” says Ari Kruger, who went on to win five SAFTAs across SuzelleDIY and the Tali’s Diary franchise. “When I looked at it again, I realised it wasn’t so bad. We finished it up, put it out and got a Staff Pick! Glad that I got over myself and released it.”

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Synopsis
A Tunisian father is shaken when his son returns from fighting in Syria with a mysterious new wife.

Accolades
• Oscar nominee: Best Live Action Short
• Best Canadian Film, Toronto
• Short of the Week Short Award winner
• Vimeo Staff Pick Best of the Year

Meryam Joobeur | Tunisia | 2018 | 25m

Did you know?
If the casting feels uncannily good, it’s because Malek, Chaker and Rayene are brothers in real life.

Director Meryam Joobeur met Malek and Chaker by chance on a road trip. “I spotted two brothers leading a flock of sheep across a lush green hillside. The contrast of their unique, freckled faces against the green landscape immediately struck me. So I stopped the car to see if I could take their photograph,” she told Vimeo.

A year later, she went searching for the brothers to see if she could cast them in her short film. “Excitement and nerves built as I landed on their doorstep with the script for Brotherhood in hand. I had also written a role for a third, much younger brother (who I thought I would have to cast). But to my surprise, the first person to emerge from the house was their youngest brother, Rayene, with the same red hair and freckles... At first, they were baffled by my request, but I never doubted my instinct that there was something special about them.”

She has since expanded the story into a feature, Who Do I Belong To?, which competed for the Golden Bear in Berlin.

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