Shorts Program

The award-winning shorts of CineYouth 2025 showcase the talent and vision of eight young filmmakers from around the world.

Unfulfilled dreams, dark obsessions, and illicit desires take center stage in this program that transports viewers into the bold and blood-curdling world of genre film. From ventriloquist dummies to unrequited love, these shorts expose our darkest fears… and create new ones.

Some worlds can only truly be conjured outside of physical reality. These eight thrilling shorts unfold in an inventive array of visual and narrative styles that come together to form a vibrant snapshot of contemporary animation.

Close ties abound in these short films spanning Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, and the U.S. These six shorts explore the complicated relationships between parents and children, aunts and nieces, artists and their craft, and even former lovers.

Chicago and Illinois-based filmmakers experiment with genre, topic, and form in this eclectic program by students, upcoming artists, and established directors.

Laugh away the woes of the world with this eclectic collection of comedies. From the absurd anxieties of wannabe filmmakers to the ridiculous delusions of the recently dumped, these stories are insightful, unexpected, and delightfully irreverent.

Unique perspectives and fresh stories drive this program of shorts by filmmakers new to the Festival who are reinventing cinema in ways both subtle and overt.

These films showcase the richness of the documentary form. Through observation, testimony, and poetic reimagining, six different complex corners of the world come into view.

In these five shorts, exceptional international filmmakers explore subjects ranging from sex and war to grief and hippos. Whether employing dark humor or grounded realism, these stories speak to the complexities of the human experience.

Clever animated shorts from across four continents appear in this delightful family program full of polar bears, empty cans of tuna, and beloved grandparents. Presented as a relaxed screening and recommended for cinema-enthusiasts ages 8 years and older.

The creators of these shorts unabashedly follow their own singular visions into wildly new and weird territories.