🎬 Salute Your Shorts Film Festival 2025 — Full Lineup & Spotlight Panels

Jul 23, 2025 • 10 min read

The 9th annual Salute Your Shorts Film Festival returns to Los Angeles this August with a daring and deeply curated slate of short films that embodies the festival’s signature films with aftertaste—stories that linger long after the credits roll. This year’s lineup spotlights breakout work from rising auteurs like Aisha Amin (Contours), Haley Watson (Motorcycle Mary), and Claire Titelman (remember me), while amplifying powerful international voices such as Emil Brulin and Hampus Hallberg (Blueberry, Sweden), Matty Crawford (Stomach Bug, UK), and Andrea Cañizares-Fernandez & Emilia Mendieta Córdova (And Usted También, Ecuador/USA). With selections from Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, and SXSW, SYSFF remains a launchpad for bold, personal filmmaking that surprises, resonates, and refuses to play it safe.

This year’s festival kicks off with a powerful Opening Night Panel featuring Fly Baby Fly, a raw and stylized portrait of choreographer Ryan Heffington as he reclaims his narrative through movement in the Mojave Desert. Following the screening, Heffington will join us for a live conversation on mentorship, radical vulnerability, and transforming trauma into performance. He’ll also be honored with our inaugural Vanguard Award for reshaping how movement is seen—and felt—on screen. The festival closes with Emmy-winning screenwriter Jacob Krueger (The Matthew Shepard Story) in a special session on building emotional power in storytelling. Presented with Antigravity Academy, Krueger will share his hypnotic tools for overcoming resistance, crafting immersive scenes, and connecting deeply with readers.

🌍 Full 2025 Lineup

An Ongoing List of Things Found in the Library Book Drop... – Dir. Kayla Abuda Galang (USA) A library worker catalogs unexpected objects left as bookmarks.

And Usted También – Dirs. Andrea Cañizares-Fernández, Emilia Mendieta Cabezas (Ecuador/USA) A bilingual merchant encounter sparks identity anxieties.

Belief – Dir. Christian Loubek (USA) A family discovers a letter that redefines their past.

Bitter Leaf – Dir. Omar S. Kamara (Sierra Leone/USA) In near-future streaming, ambition comes at a steep cost.

Blueberry – Dirs. Emil Brulin, Hampus Hallberg (Sweden) A grief-stricken son finds himself lost and transformed in the woods.

Bulldozer – Dirs. Joanna & Andrew Leeds (USA) A woman bulldozes through life searching for clarity.

Chow – Dirs. Kevin Armento & Jaki Bradley (USA) Obsession with a foreign meal leads to an unsettling quest.

Clementine – Dir. Zoe Davidson (USA) A childhood doll surprisingly sparks a young woman’s social confidence.

Contours – Dir. Aisha Amin (USA) A deaf couple reconnects through a role-play gone awry at an art museum.

Corpse Fishing – Dir. Jean Liu (USA) A teen searches for her missing father—through fishing for corpses.

Daly City – Dir. Nick Hartanto (USA) An Indonesian mother and son lie at a church potluck.

Dead Weight – Dir. Øyvind Tangseth (Norway) Scheming to cut dead weight could change everything.

Did You Forget Mr. Fogel? – Dir. Max Karpman (USA) A family wrestles with a loved one imprisoned abroad.

Dragfox – Dir. Lisa Ott (Switzerland/UK) A magical fox guides a boy to celebrate identity difference.

Dream Creep – Dir. Carlos A.F. Lopez (USA) A nocturnal odyssey into body-horror satire.

Endzgiving – Dir. Tina Carbone (USA) Will's final Friendsgiving gathering goes off script.

Flower Show – Dir. Elli Vuorinen (Finland) A surreal meditation on cultivation and control.

Fly Baby Fly – Dir. Stacey Lee (USA) A portrait of Ryan Heffington confronting his past through Broadway dance.

Freak – Dir. R.J. Sanchez (USA) A dancer in 2006 LA asks: to freak or not to freak.

Inner Demons – Dir. Jasmine J. Johnson (USA) A woman battles her own darkness in a gripping personal story.

Joey Earns Rewards… – Dir. Brad Roelandt (USA) A marriage proposal collides with drive-thru normalcy—captured in one take.

kamikaze – Dir. Ray Smiling (USA) A model’s photoshoot spirals into a toxic love triangle.

LIVE – Dir. Mara Tamkovich (Poland) Journalists face drone surveillance after covering protests.

Mildred 4 a Million – Dir. Kim “Kimmie P” Callaway (USA) A great-grandmother’s attempt to bond on TikTok sparks an unexpected connection.

Monster Slayer – Dir. Catherine Skipp (USA) A stripper converts assault into bold public performance.

Motorcycle Mary – Dir. Haley Watson (USA) The story of Mary McGee, the first US woman motorcycle racer.

On a Sunday at Eleven – Dir. Alicia K. Harris (Canada) A ballet class becomes a dreamscape celebrating Black girlhood.

One Day This Kid – Dir. Alexander Farah (Canada) A gut-wrenching exploration of silent struggle and future anxiety.

Pee Shy – Dir. Steven Brokaw Jackson (USA) A quirky triumph over the fear of public urination.

Playing God – Dir. Matteo Burani (Italy) Clay animation animates a sculpture’s dark, surreal life.

Private Moments – Dir. Jessica Barr (USA) A teen confronts personal truth in an acting class challenge.

Public Freakout – Dir. Julia Bales (USA) A sudden confrontation erupts at a gas station.

Queen of Hearts – Dir. Joey Ally (USA) A tech exec faces a shocking corporate mandate.

Quota – Dirs. Job, Joris & Marieke (Netherlands) Citizens grapple with personal CO₂ emissions limits.

Randy As Himself – Dir. Margaret Miller (USA) A Texas crew reenacts local murder for reality TV satire.

RAT! – Dir. Neal Suresh Mulani (USA) A journalist’s accusation unleashes pop-star followers’ wrath.

Red Light Green Light – Dir. Corey Grispo (USA) Two buttons. What happens when you press them?

Rehearsal – Dir. Jamie Gallo (USA) A history teacher and students defend a school-shooting roleplay.

remember me – Dir. Claire Lory Titelman (USA) A 40-year-old returns to dating after caring for her father.

Revenge of the Language Master 1757B – Dir. Michael Beeson (USA) A machine grants three students uninhibited speech.

Second Date with Wet Sarah – Dirs. Creston Whittington, Evan Enderle (USA) A second date spirals into the spooky and surreal.

Shanti Rides Shotgun – Dir. Charles Frank (USA) A legendary NYC driving instructor navigates loss behind the wheel.

Special Delivery – Dir. Emily Everhard (USA) Love, ADR, and porn collide in a bright, witty comedy.

Stomach Bug – Dir. Matty Crawford (UK) A father’s empty-nest grief manifests physically.

Sweet Talkin’ Guy – Dirs. Dylan & Spencer Wardwell (USA) A trans woman’s dates reveal fragile masculinity.

The Life We Have – Dir. Sam Price-Waldman (USA) A stage-four cancer survivor faces life with quiet grace.

The Lot – Dir. Raffaele Vesco (USA) An actor/used-car salesman juggles a deal and an audition.

The Music Store – Dir. Joe Gillette (USA) Estranged brothers fight to save their family’s music store.

The Shift – Dir. Sami Abdou (USA) A vet fights burnout and industry pressures in a revealing doc.

The Singers – Dir. Sam Davis (USA) A bar sing-off elevates unexpected voices.

The Truck – Dir. Elizabeth Rao (USA) A Chinese-American teen’s quest highlights post-Roe reality.

Two People Exchanging Saliva – Dirs. Alexandre Singh, Natalie Musteata (France/USA) Kissing is criminal—until one shopper defies the law.

Unholy – Dir. Daisy Friedman (USA) A Passover seder reunites a family around medical crisis.

Vermin Beings – Dir. Kat Messing (USA) A convenience-store rivalry reveals hidden feral instincts.

What Freedom – Dir. Paul James (USA) A project outside detention sparks a test of hope and escape.

Whitch – Dir. Hoku Uchiyama (USA) A break-in and dark ritual threaten a mother and child.

Wild Animal – Dir. Tianyun Lyu (USA/China) A hunter's heir and his bond with father are tested in Mongolia.

🎟️ Get Your Tickets

Full-festival passes, individual block tickets, and Opening Night Party access (open bar + red carpet!) are live now at www.saluteyourshortsfest.com.

The Salute Your Shorts Team 

Elle Shaw, Executive Director 

Erin Brown Thomas, Co-Founder and Artistic Director 

Lauren Reid Brown, Director of Programming 

Jillian Corsie, Programmer 

Kath Tolentino, Programmer 

Vincent DeLuca, Programmer 

Christopher Francis, Associate Programmer 

Anna Long, Associate Programmer 

Johnny Baca, Social Media 

Elizabeth Alan & Pete Schwartz, Graphic Design