The 16th edition of SLASH will once again feature a wide range of fantastic, heart-wrenching and wild short films 🖤. Our killer short film trailer edited by Joana Gil-Rico should get you in the mood for films that grapple with trauma, find new ways to address fear and navigate all manner of tricky relationships.
Five carefully curated programs and a select number of shorts before features bring a total of 38 short films from all corners of the world to Vienna. With a total of 25 Austrian, European, International or World premieres SLASH Film Festival once more celebrates the short form in its own right. All short film programs can be attended with a nonstop cinema subscription.
HOTEL KALURA (2021 GB, R: Sophie Koko Gate)
We kick things off with a double dose of animated goodness on the first Sunday of the festival with a matinee screening of MY FIRST SLASH (aimed at guiding young viewers and families on their first steps into the diverse world of genre cinema) as well as an evening screening of FANTASTIC FLINGS, which sees SLASH ‘hooking up’ with Tricky Women Tricky Realities for a co-curated animation program that explores relationships through a fantastical lens.
Among countless gems, attendees will be treated to an absurdist fling for the ages in HOTEL KALURA (directed by Sophie Koko Gate) and rediscover a junkyard romance in LOVE IS JUST A DEATH AWAY in the presence of its director, Bára Anna Stejskalová, who will also join the screening of MY FIRST SLASH to present her new film, 9 MILLION COLORS.
STOMACH BUG (2024 GB, R: Matty Crawford)
THE SHORT FILM COMPETITIONS
On weekday evenings, the expanded FANTASTIC SHORTS COMPETITION takes its spot in the limelight with a total of three chapters to accommodate a growing number of unique and exceptional genre shorts.
Fantastic Shorts I (22/9, 20:30, Metro)
Fantastic Shorts II (23/9, 20:30, Metro)
Fantastic Shorts III (26/9, 18:00, Metro)
A total of 14 shorts make up the Fantastic Shorts competition with what we believe are the freshest and fiercest genre shorts from the past year. The winner will be chosen by our most diligent judges—the SLASH audience—and receives 1,000 € in prize money.
Featuring an inexplicable pregnancy in STOMACH BUG (directed by Matty Crawford), gaping wounds in HOTEL ACROPOLE (directed by Sarah Lasry) and WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (directed by Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte) and all manner of creatures that are ancient (THE GNAWER OF ROCKS) or that portray mixed feelings about aging (CUB, OLD GOAT, GRANDMA IS THIRSTY), the competition shorts delve deep with visceral thrills that address transformation and find novel ways to communicate fears, traumas and desires.
SONG OF SILENCE (2025 US, R: Vasilisa Kuzmina)
FANTASTIC FUTURES
Playing across the aforementioned programs or waiting to be discovered as an opener before a feature film, a total of 7 shorts comprise the Fantastic Futures competition, which puts the spotlight on talented first-time or student filmmakers and offers a glimpse of how fantastic the future of genre cinema is.
Patriarchal horrors are on monstrous display and receive a feminist rejoinder in the European premieres of A YEAR OF MARRIAGE (directed by Pablo Camargo López) and SONG OF SILENCE (directed by Vasilisa Kuzmina). Also in the mix are WILD ANIMAL (directed by Tianyun Lyu), a jaw-dropping tale of survival set in the Mongolian wilds, and Student-Academy-Award-winning A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY FOR THE LADY AVENGERS, a dreamy and sultry reworking of giallo conventions, with writer-director Birdy Wei-Ting Hung scheduled to attend.
Juried by Bára Anna Stejskalová, the winning short film will receive a trophy in addition to a subscription to European streaming platform THIS IS SHORT.
Scattered across all five programs, SLASH attendees will also discover six Méliès d’argent contenders. With gothic hauntings (UNWELL WOMAN), nightly excursions to the woods (DON’T BE AFRAID) and underwater musicals (9 MILLION COLORS), the Méliès-nominated short films further underscore the diversity of this year’s short film lineup.
This year SLASH turns to the expertise of team members who aren’t involved with short film curating to decide who wins the Méliès d’argent (best European fantastic short) and thereby becomes eligible for the Méliès d’or at the Sitges Film Festival.