MOVIATE Underground Shorts #5: Anatomy of Life

MOVIATE UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 2025

SHORTS COLLECTION #5

87 min | 8 Short Films

featuring a Post-Screening Q&A with filmmakers

“On the Second Floor” by Neil Ira Needleman (USA) 5 minutes
This work is part of a video series that was shot in an apartment building that provides subsidized apartments for residents who are mostly elderly and infirm. Each of the videos in the series explores the spaces and characteristics of a different floor of the building.

“Fake” by Stephen Crompton (USA) 23 minutes
A lone man travels to universities bearing a message that the moon landings were staged and warning that the earth is not what it seems.

“Kid With The Pearl Earring” by Abigail Holland (USA) 8 minutes
Obsessed with forgiveness, filmmaker Abigail Holland builds a self portrait through men and objects they left behind.

“Marking The Ends” by Mireille Tawfik (Canada) 19 minutes
Three women talk about the difficulty they have in recovering from their last breakup.

“A Poem” by Vasilios Papaioannu (USA) 3 minutes
In an underground garage, a voice message becomes the testament of a love left in limbo, while fleeting images allude to the moment that led to it.

“Full Out” by Sarah Ballard (USA) 15 minutes
In 19th century Paris at the Salpêtrière Hospital, patients were hypnotized on stage to reproduce the symptoms of hysteria for public audiences. Over a century later, high school cheerleaders are fainting en masse.

“Choreography of Light” by Homa Sarabi (USA) 7 minutes
The mechanical production of the camera is articulated through the mechanics of the body. This choreographic journey of a film strip overlays the physicality of the analog filmmaking process and the anatomy of the human body.

“The Motherfucker’s Birthday” by Said Alsaegh (Iraq) 7 minutes
Through dancing, the film shows the evil of the dictator and the horror people endure under powerful political leaders. Saddam dances, Bush dances, so what's left for the Iraqi people except to join in.