Show Me Shorts Reveals 2025 Programme
Show Me Shorts has announced the programme for 2025, marking the 20th anniversary of Aotearoa’s leading short film festival!
This year, the festival will run from 7-27 October at 40 cinemas and community venues across the motu. 83 shorts have been selected and will screen across 11 themed collections, many of which include DEGANZ members.
Check out the full list of DEGANZ’s members involved below:
Aotearoa
New Zealand filmmakers are known for their iconic coming-of-age stories, lush farmland locations and rich cultural traditions. They are also celebrated for their innovative world-building and bold, original ideas. The short films in this collection demonstrate all of that and more.
ACE
Director: Ray Edmonds
Riding along with his imaginary daredevil friend Ace, six-year-old Jimmy sets out on an epic quest to save his parents’ marriage.
Chrysanthemum
Writer/Director: Jolin Lee
Editors: Jolin Lee and Steven Chow
When her child mysteriously vanishes in a garden centre, an anguished gardener develops an unhealthy relationship with a chrysanthemum plant.
Hifi Ulu
Writer/Director: Chantelle Burgoyne
Editors: Rāhera Herewini-Mulligan and Janice Herewini-Mulligan
As Luka prepares for a significant Niuean rite of passage, the ceremony becomes a catalyst for cultural expectations and unspoken conflicts.
Farm
Writer/Director: Kate McGill
Editor: Sam Small
As Jeanie comes to terms with moving from the home she’s known for most of her adult life, she begins to believe a cow on her farm is the reincarnation of her dead husband.
20th Anniversary Retrospective
Celebrate twenty years of Show Me Shorts by looking back at some of the most successful and best-loved short films. The acclaimed Kiwi filmmakers behind these movies have built enviable careers, garnering awards and screening their work internationally. Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to revisit classic Aotearoa New Zealand shorts.
Take3
Writer/Director/Editor: Roseanne Liang
Three Asian actresses transcend professional rivalry to mock the racism rife within their industry.
This is Her
Director: Katie Wolfe
A deliciously wry fable that reminds us that the greatest moments of happiness can contain the seeds of disaster.
Uphill
Director: Jackie van Beek
A woman craving solitude escapes to a tiny hut in the mountains, but her dreams of isolation are thwarted by a couple that also turns up for the night.
Lucid Dreams
Filmmakers are the ultimate dreamweavers. In this collection of shorts, step through the looking glass to explore their bold visions and ideas. Help us find a mystical bear, meet misanthropic mermaids, and a boy who used to be a dog. Commune with nature, befriend a gravitational phenomenon, and find yourself playing a game in the underworld. It’s a colourful reverie you won’t want to wake from.
Open Looks
Editor: Alex Boyd
Far from their islands in Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiva, three sisters are raised by their father in a small village in Aotearoa. Rei, Upokoina and Matilda G, share a love of basketball.
Growing Still
Editor: Adam-Luka Turjak
An elderly woman, wilting away in a retirement home, longs to commune with the vibrant natural world outside.
Day One Shorts Premiere
Show Me Shorts Film Festival is partnering with Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading filmmaker development organisation, Day One Hāpai te Haeata, to host the world premiere of eight short films.
O Alofa Nei, O Alofa Nā (Love Me, Love You)
Writer/Director: Giselle Ilaoa
Manaia, a young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.
Ata Pūao
Producer: Angel Kameta
Amid the nightlife of a new city, a young Māori trans woman reckons with safety, isolation, and the fragile bonds of old friendships outgrown — as the promise of belonging rises just beyond the horizon.
Fearlessli
Writer/Director: Lee Li
Producer & Editor: Tyler Redmond
After her gender identity was denied in her homeland, Lee Li, a transgender asylum seeker, embarks on a journey toward belonging, freedom, and self-empowerment.
Frozen – My Eggs and Me
Writer/Director/Co-Producer: Shamin Yazdani
Single and approaching a mid-thirties birthday, Shamin, a first-generation New Zealander, confronts the question she’s long been avoiding: should she freeze her eggs?
Last updated on 18 September 2025
